Explaining the Integration Paradox Among Small Immigrant Groups in the Netherlands

Previous studies among the four largest immigrant groups in the Netherlands suggest that higher-educated immigrants, who are more apt to integrate, actually experience more discrimination than lower-educated immigrants, which is referred to as the integration paradox. In this study, we first investigate whether this paradox also exists among smaller immigrant groups (i.e. Afghani, Iraqi, Irani, Somali, Polish and Chinese) in the Netherlands. Second, we aim to explain the educational effect on perceived personal discrimination. We derive hypotheses from a theory of exposure and a theory of rising expectations. Data are drawn from a large-scale survey (SING2009) and include close to 1,000 face-to-face interviews for each of the small ethnic minority groups. Our study supports the existence of an integration paradox for small immigrant groups in the Netherlands. Our results show that higher-educated immigrants perceive more personal discrimination, which can be attributed to their exposure to Dutch politics, their experience of relative deprivation regarding their work and education and their participation in associations.     

The Rod of Discipline: Masochism, Sadism, and the Judeo-Christian Religion

Within the Judeo-Christian tradition, the scenario where a person, often a child, is being beaten by a parent, an authority figure, or even God, is often found. This essay searches for an explanation for this phenomenon by combining Sigmund Freud's thoughts on the masochism of the Oedipus complex and Martin Bergmann's belief that Western religion was impacted by the sadism of the Laius and Jocasta Complexes. The paper argues that, within the section of the Judeo-Christian tradition that sanctions the physical abuse of children, sadism and masochism find the perfect marriage.     

Use of Self-perspectives and their Sources to Predict the Mathematics Enrollment Intentions of Girls and Boys

An understanding of the differences in the ways in which self-efficacy and interest influence boys’ and girls’ intentions to continue enrollment in mathematics courses may provide insight into how to encourage continued mathematics enrollment for all students. Two competing theoretical models of mathematics self-efficacy and interest in predicting students’ enrollment intentions and achievement were evaluated separately across samples of middle level boys and girls. One model was empirically supported for both groups and indicated the independent influence of self-efficacy and interest in predicting enrollment intentions. Multi-group analyses revealed that self-efficacy’s influence in enrollment intentions and achievement was significantly stronger for boys than for girls, and interest was significantly more important in the prediction of enrollment intentions for girls than for boys.     

Resistance to Women in Ministry and the Psychodynamics of Sadness

The relationship between losses within mainline Protestant churches and the resistance to women in ministry is explored. Loss in congregations and denominations awakens an unconscious desire for a “dominant other” that will save the church from real or perceived loss or even the threat of death. Women are not seen as “dominant” and are thus overlooked when leadership for restoration is sought. Loss may also awaken unconscious resentment and hatred against women. Women are associated with the “wombishness” of Jesus, a trait historically rejected, but one that could not be destroyed even as it remained life-giving and nurturing.     

On Getting away with It: Jesus and the Temptation in the Desert

The experience of getting away with something is a well-known personal dynamic, yet it is relatively unexplored by psychodynamic theorists, even though such experiences impact both persons and society in significant ways. In reading the Gospels, one is left with the perception that Jesus got away with desire—that is, he withstood Satan’s temptations. The essay explores “getting away with it” in light of Jesus’ temptation in the desert. Ways this experience might have formed the person and ministry of Jesus are suggested.     

The Search to Be Real: Why Psychotherapists Become Therapists

This paper argues that one receives the calling to become a therapist to experience feeling real. Stated differently, therapists become therapists to heal themselves. Drawing on object relations theory, the author identifies five wounds therapists may consciously and unconsciously address by entering a therapeutic profession. The wounds are located in the capacity to believe, the capacity to imagine, the capacity for concern, the capacity to be alone, and the capacity of object usage. Achieving these capacities provides the therapist with a sense of wholeness, health, and holiness.     

Seeing Things Differently and Not Being Looked At

Three traits inform a pastoral theological hermeneutic. These include: interpreting “the living human web”; relying upon the unique location and nature of pastoral theological imagination; and embodying the power that comes with knowledge and the discernment of meaning. These traits often lead to pastoral theologians seeing things in a different light than colleagues in other theological disciplines, while often holding comparatively less power or influence in the academy. The image of the pastoral theologian as hermeneutical juggler is identified to complement existing metaphors that can inform the identity and hermeneutic of a pastoral theologian.     

Revisiting Forgiveness as a Pastoral Theological “Problem”

Jesus calls on his followers to forgive, lest they risk the denial of Divine forgiveness. Such forgiveness should not be confused with human forgiving. Human forgiveness is identified as a pastoral-theological ??problem,?? especially in the context of intimate violence. A working definition of forgiveness is provided and the nature of this ??problem?? is explored. Reader-response criticism is identified as a way to read Jesus on forgiveness. A compassionate understanding of forgiveness is encouraged.     

The Reproduction of the Hypermasculine Male: Select Subaltern Views

Since the 1500s, masculinity and the socialization of men have been defined by colonization. This essay explores the hypermasculine male as a person unemotional yet fearful of intimacy, void of non-masculine attachments and identifications, competitive and aggressive, strong, independent, dominant, powerful, rational, sexist, homophobic, and generally disconnected from his own sense of self and the self of others. Nancy Chodorow’s challenge for the reproduction of masculinity is understood as a call to decolonialize the hypermasculine male as exposed in the political and subaltern psychologies of Frantz Fanon and Ashis Nandy. When the hypermasculine male is not rehumanized, all people are dehumanized, especially persons of color, children, women, and the elderly, and all who are perceived as not manly enough or as not following the rules and systems set by men. The image of the hypermasculine male is recognized in select computer games, where the image is actively promoted.