Meaningful patterns of activity amongst the long‐term inner city unemployed: a qualitative study

A number of studies have sought to establish the social psychological factors involved in the maintenance of active lifestyles during long‐term unemployment. The aim of this study was to describe and account for the development and maintenance of different patterns of activity, with reference to their perceived meaningfulness. This was undertaken with a sample of Birmingham's inner city, long‐term unemployed population recruited from three inner city Jobcentres, including men and women, and White, Asian and African Caribbean participants (N = 24). Interviews were conducted using a semi‐structured interview guide. Using the qualitative software program, NUD.IST, the data were analysed according to the principles of the grounded theory approach. Activities were characterized as: domestic; educational; work‐like; socializing; and none. A model of meaningful activity in the context of formal unemployment was developed. The main components of the model were: features of formal employment that inhibited participants' engagement in it; the requirements for personal meaningful activity (challenging activity, effort and commitment, and being valued by others); the consequences of meaningful activity (opportunities for self‐determination and self‐development, and achievement, competence, and confidence) and consolidating factors (social comparison, self‐appraisal, religious and political beliefs, and social support). Theories of unemployment of Jahoda, Warr, and Fryer are considered in the light of the present findings. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Collective Guilt and Collective Guilt Feelings

Can collectives feel guilt with respect to what they have done? It hasbeen claimed that they cannot. Yet in everyday discourse collectives areoften held to feel guilt, criticized because they do not, and so on.Among other things, this paper considers what such so-called collectiveguilt feelings amount to. If collective guilt feelings are sometimesappropriate, it must be the case that collectives can indeed beguilty. The paper begins with an account of what it is for a collectiveto intend to do something and to act in light of that intention.According to this account, and in senses that are explained, there is acollective that intends to do something if and only if the members of agiven population are jointly committed to intend as a body to do thatthing. A related account of collective belief is also presented. It isthen argued that, depending on the circumstances, a group's action canbe free as opposed to coerced, and that the idea that a collective assuch can be guilty of performing a wrongful act makes sense. The ideathat a group might feel guilt may be rejected because it is assumed thatto feel guilt is to experience a ``pang'' or ``twinge'' of guilt –nothing more and nothing less. Presumably, though, there must becognitions and perhaps behavior involved. In addition, the primacy, eventhe necessity, of ``feeling-sensations'' to feeling guilt in theindividual case has been questioned. Without the presumption that it isalready clear what feeling guilt amounts to, three proposals as to thenature of collective guilt feelings are considered. A ``feeling ofpersonal guilt'' is defined as a feeling of guilt over one's own action.It is argued that it is implausible to construe collective guiltfeelings in terms of members' feelings of personal guilt. ``Membershipguilt feelings'' involve a group member's feeling of guilt over what hisor her group has done. It is argued that such feelings are intelligibleif the member is party to the joint commitment that lies at the base ofthe relevant collective intention and action. However, an account ofcollective guilt in terms of membership guilt feelings is found wanting.Finally, a ``plural subject'' account of collective guilt feelings isarticulated, such that they involve a joint commitment to feel guilt asa body. The parties to a joint commitment of the kind in question may asa result find themselves experiencing ``pangs'' of the kind associatedwith personal and membership guilt feelings. Since these pangs, byhypothesis, arise as a result of the joint commitment to feel guilt as abody, they might be thought of as providing a kind of phenomenology forcollective guilt. Be that as it may, it is argued the plural subjectaccount has much to be said for it.     

Consequences of Feeling Dissimilar from Others in a Work Team

This study extended the current literature on group diversity by examining the moderating influence of perceived group openness to diversity on the relationships between perceived individual visible, informational, and value dissimilarity; individual task and relationship conflict; and work group involvement. A survey was administered to 129 public service employees who worked in intact teams. Results revealed that value dissimilarity had a positive association with task and relationship conflict and a negative association with work group involvement. Perceived group openness to diversity moderated the associations between visible and informational dissimilarity and work group involvement, and between value dissimilarity and task conflict. These results highlight the importance of managing differences by introducing norms promoting diversity and the involvement of all team members.     

Toward an Alliance Between the Issue-Processing Approach and Pragma-Dialectical Analysis

On the approach to discussions of policy choices that treats such discussions as instances of issue-processing, the joint use of the logic of questions and the logic of rules gives precise formulation to two sorts of issues. To one sort of issue belong issue-circumscribing questions; to another sort, issues-simplicter, which consist of disjunctions of policy proposals – so many proposed social rules – that are answers, in the case of each disjunction, to a given issue-circumscribing question. Work in pragma-dialectics can take over the issue-processing approach; and by doing so add to the pragma-dialectical repertory further dimensions in the analysis of issues and in protocol-narratives of discussion. The analysis and narratives would now include accounts of how issue-circumscribing questions generate initial standpoints and how discussions sometimes end with compromises between standpoints. Further research questions follow about transformations of issues and the comparison of successive rounds of discussion. A narrative of one period of discussion during `the War on Drugs' in the United States illustrates these points.     

Expanding the traditional user versus non‐user dichotomy amongst ecstasy users

Differences in the drug use characteristics and psychosocial variables in the use and non‐use of ecstasy within 845 16–25 year‐olds in the UK was examined. Based on levels of ecstasy use and intentions, two groups of non‐users (resistant and vulnerable), three groups of users (light, moderate and heavy) and an ex‐user group were identified. It was found that there is predictive utility in this way of expanding the widely employed ‘user versus non‐user’ dichotomy. Resistant non‐users were more likely to be younger, female, and were characterized by lower levels of use of four other drugs (amphetamine, cannabis, cocaine and LSD). Those ‘at risk’ of using ecstasy reported more frequent use of amphetamine, LSD, and cannabis than resistant non‐users. Heavy user groups reported using amphetamine, cocaine and LSD more frequently than all the other groups. Having ecstasy using friends increased the odds of being an ‘at risk’ non‐user or an ecstasy user. Normative influence also differentiated between the three user groups (light, moderate, and heavy). Beliefs about ecstasy use being immoral, ecstasy offers being difficult to resist, ecstasy use making one feel guilty and ecstasy being readily available differentiated between user and non‐user groups. These factors could usefully inform the content of health education materials designed to change ecstasy use. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Creative Occupational Therapist: It's About the Client Using Focus Groups to Explore Creativity in Occupational Therapy

Although creativity is an important aspect of occupational therapy theory and practice, there have been few studies that would explore this concept in the context of the occupational therapy process. This was the first qualitative study of creativity in occupational therapy in Slovenia. It was conducted as part of a larger mixed-methods study and included 22 experienced occupational therapists who participated in four focus groups. The focus of the study was on the exploration of different factors that could contribute to creativity and creative strategies in occupational therapy, in either a positive or a negative way. Since occupational therapy promotes a client-centered therapy approach, the role of the client as the motivating factor was of particular interest to our study. Six factors that can influence the creativity of occupational therapists emerged from the qualitative analysis (Strauss & Corbin, 1990). While the client was identified as the key factor, the potential of other factors was also recognized. This qualitative study increased the understanding of the concept of creativity and creative behavior in occupational therapy, and also provided empirical material that formed the basis for the development of a questionnaire on creativity in occupational therapy.     

工作场所的出勤主义行为：组织管理研究的新课题

出勤主义行为是指在生病时依然坚持工作的行为。工作场所的出勤主义行为不仅危害员工的个人健康，还会给企业带来额外的支出。近年来，出勤主义行为逐渐引起管理者的重视，并得到越来越多管理学和心理学研究者的关注。总结以往研究，对出勤主义行为的概念界定和测量方法进行了概述，从个人因素、工作相关因素、组织层面因素和团队层面因素四个方面探讨了出勤主义行为的影响因素，并总结了出勤主义行为对个人健康、工作方面和组织层面的影响。最后，对出勤主义行为未来的研究方向进行了展望。     

Jealousy at work: The role of rivals’ characteristics

The present study examined rival characteristics that may evoke jealousy in the workplace, differences between men and women in this regard, and the relationship between jealousy responses and intrasexual competitiveness and social comparison orientation. Participants were 426 male and female employees. By means of a questionnaire, participants were presented with a jealousy‐evoking scenario after which jealousy responses to 24 rival characteristics were assessed. Findings showed that a rival's social communal attributes evoked highest levels of jealousy, and that, compared to men, women reported more jealousy in response to a rival's physical attractiveness. Overall, as individuals had higher scores on intrasexual competitiveness and social comparison orientation, they also experienced more jealousy in response to their rival, regardless of his or her characteristics. These findings suggest that those characteristics that are highly valued in employees may backfire when employees perceive co‐workers as rivals.     

Introduction: An Emerging Consensus?

This paper is an introduction to a special issue on Nationalism, Multiculturalism and Liberal Democracy. It attempts to describe the state of the debate on issues of multiculturalism and nationalism within liberal-democratic theory. I suggest that there may be an emerging consensus on liberal culturalism – the view that certain group-specific rights or policies aimed at recognizing or accommodating ethnic and national groups are legitimate so long as they operate within certain constraints of liberal justice. I explore the possible reasons for this emerging consensus (including the lack of clear alternatives), and conclude with some suggestions about the likely avenues for future research in this area.     

Cognitive adjustment as an indicator of psychological health at work: Development and validation of a measure

Based on organizational socialization literature (e.g., Bauer, Bodner, Erdogan, Truxillo, & Tucker, 2007; Kammeyer-Mueller & Wanberg, 2003; Saks, Uggerslev, & Fassina, 2007) and Conservation of Resources theory (COR theory; Hobfoll, 1989, 2001), this article aims to develop a conceptualization and a measurement of cognitive adjustment at work (CAW), as an indicator of psychological health in the workplace. Two studies, including three independent samples (N_A = 296, N_B = 350, N_C = 139), were conducted to test an operational proposal of CAW. In Study 1, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, as well as reliability and temporal invariance analyses, were performed to test the structure of both the construct and the instrument. In Study 2, nomological network analysis was conducted. Results suggest strong empirical support for the structure and validity of CAW, defined as a second-order factor, which includes task adjustment, work group adjustment and organizational adjustment.