Identity, Self-Interpretation and Workplace Change: An Investigation of the Work Activity of Machining

The objective of this work was to study the development of identity in changing contexts. The site of study was machining work in the automotive industry. Machining is an economically critical activity undergoing rapid technological change, with the changes occurring within the working lives of individuals. The development of individuals was considered within the context of the culturally organized human activities in which they occurred. The informants were skilled machinists working for a major automotive company in the United States. A developmental perspective, based on cultural historical theory, together with C. S. Pierce’s theory of sign generation, provided an explanatory framework for the development of identity as a self-regulatory higher psychological function.     

Stressors and Coping Strategies of State University Students in a Developing Country

The study examined stressors and coping strategies of 281 Social Sciences students at the Midlands State University in Zimbabwe (49% female, 51% male). A questionnaire was used to collect data. The results showed that the 7 most common stressors were: finance, reading resources, accommodation, food, transport, inadequate infrastructure and lecturer related problems. The students mentioned 34 coping strategies that were categorized and then analysed for effectiveness. The effects of sex, residence status and academic year differences were evaluated using Mann Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis rank order analysis of variance. There were no significant differences in coping strategies for stressors by demographic variables.