Questionner le sens dans l’accompagnement d’une transition vers la reconversion professionnelle : une recherche-intervention

This contribution is based on a research-intervention contracted by a team of researchers in social psychology with a local authority. It focuses on the support of public sector workers, declared medically inapt to occupy their current position, during the transition that is redeployment period. The contributions of two theoretical approaches allowing to understand this question are first crossed: existential psychology relative to the life-span career counseling on the one hand, and psychology of the socialization, underlied by the activities of personalization mobilized in the construction of meaning on the other hand. Secondly, these approaches are discussed in the light of the experience of support workshops developed and implemented in the field of this research. These workshops, organized in four sessions, aim to help participants to objectify the questions inherent in this professional transition and to give meaning to their life course and their experience of the situation. The exchanges made it possible for the participants to share views on issues such as the situation of inaptitude, their relationships to work or the redeployment package itself. These workshops give evidence of the possibility of supporting subjects, concerned by ruptures in their life, towards the development of a capacity to act and to transform their environment and highlight the psychosocial effects of a support designed as a social support for the change of professional activities.     

Religion as practices of attachment and materiality: the making of Buddhism in contemporary London

This article aims to explore Buddhism’s often-overlooked presence on London’s urban landscape, showing how its quietness and subtlety of approach has allowed the faith to grow largely beneath the radar. It argues that Buddhism makes claims to urban space in much the same way as it produces its faith, being as much about the practices performed and the spaces where they are enacted as it is about faith or beliefs. The research across a number of Buddhist sites in London reveals that number of people declaring themselves as Buddhists has indeed risen in recent years, following the rise of other non-traditional religions in the UK; however, this research suggests that Buddhism differs from these in several ways. Drawing on Baumann’s (2002) distinction between traditionalist and modernist approaches to Buddhism, our research reveals a growth in each of these. Nevertheless, Buddhism remains largely invisible in the urban and suburban landscape of London, adapting buildings that are already in place, with little material impact on the built environment, and has thus been less subject to contestation than other religious movements and traditions. This research contributes to a growing literature which foregrounds the importance of religion in making contemporary urban and social worlds.     

Consumer food waste behaviour in universities: Sharing as a means of prevention

In order to tackle food waste at the prevention stage of the waste hierarchy, an understanding of behaviour that leads to wastage is required. This article examines consumer food waste behaviour in a university setting and the implications for encouraging sharing as a means of mitigating food waste. The embodied and embedded nature of consumption and wasteful behaviours are contended, giving explanation to the transition of food into waste. By undertaking a mixed‐method study and a social media‐based intervention, behaviour that causes food to be wasted within a campus environment is discussed, furthering the current domestic focus of research. The paper argues that consumer food waste behaviour can be better understood by focusing on the practices, routines and habits of consumers given the hidden nature of the food waste issue. A number of barriers are also presented regarding the sharing of food as a means of food waste prevention. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Some religious beliefs and behaviours of Australian Catholic school students

Students in Catholic schools make up a significant sub group of the Australian population. As such, studies of this group provide valuable information about the religious beliefs and practices of some Australian youth. Many students in Catholic schools express traditional religious views and have relatively high levels of religious behaviours. Over time these levels diminish but in a fashion that invites careful analysis and comparison with standard theories of secularisation. An important finding suggests that student responses are indicative of a loosening of religious affiliation rather than a complete disengagement. These results suggest a more nuanced view of students in Catholic school be adopted with implication for the conduct of Catholic schools in secular cultural contexts.     

Beyond Tebowing and superstitions: religious practices of 15-year-old competitive athletes

Research of religious practices in sport typically limits investigation to Christian prayer and/or “superstitions” among professional or collegiate athletes. This study moves in a different direction by examining the religious spiritual practices reported by 13 adolescent competitive athletes in individual interviews and focus groups. With a mix of religious backgrounds among the 15-year-old participants, this sample of males and females reported religious practices such as talking with dead ancestors and different forms of prayer and meditation. The paper categorises these and other practices according to Nancy Tatom Ammerman’s 2014 study, enabling a conceptualisation of how adolescent athletes use religious practices in everyday ways to enable confidence in their play. The study overall points to a significant religious element within competitive youth sports that challenges cynical assumptions about elite athletes' use of religion found in other studies.     

A multiple case study of teachers referring to their own religious beliefs in mathematics teaching

There is a need to integrate religious education and spiritual education across school curriculum. This paper reports one of the few empirical studies on bridging the intention-practice gap in classrooms. Six school teachers deliberately designed and implemented mathematics lessons which referred to their own religious beliefs in teaching. It unfolds teachers’ intention to enact their religious beliefs in mathematics classroom teaching. Different modes were identified. Implications to religious education in schools are offered.     

The Potential Mediating Role of Parenting Practices in the Development of Conduct Problems in a Clinic-Referred Sample

Research has consistently found associations among parenting practices, socioeconomic disadvantage, ethnicity and conduct problems in children. We investigated whether parenting practices might mediate the relation between ethnicity and conduct problems and the relation between socioeconomic status (SES) and conduct problems. The subjects were 141 clinic-referred children between the ages of 6 and 17 and their primary custodial parents. Using multiple indicators for each construct, except ethnicity, the mediational role of parenting was tested using structural equation modeling. The results indicated that the effects of SES on conduct problems was largely mediated by the influence of ineffective parenting practices. In contrast, ethnicity was not associated with conduct problems in this clinic-referred sample, even prior to controlling for SES and parenting practices, suggesting that the link between minority status and conduct problems may be dependent on the demographic characteristics of the sample. Exploratory analyses also revealed that there were ethnic differences in the types of parenting practices that were most strongly associated with conduct problems.     

Second best choices and change in risk-taking

Subjects were to reveal their best as well as their second best choices in so-called choice-dilemma problems. It was found that the second best choices consistently tended to be more risk-filled than the best choices. Implications of this finding are discussed.