518 research outputs found
Money Never Loves you Back: Subjective Perspectives on Meaning of Life, Work, and Life-Courses under Neoliberal Conditions of Everyday Life
No full textThis research originates from observations in the therapeutic practice of everyday challenges from subjects on career tracks and their suffering from the consequences when work and private life are put against each other under neoliberal conditions of life. 15 narrative stories are analyzed using hermeneutics to reconstruct subjective reasoning and meaning-making behind seemingly absurd actions, like purposefully missing the birth of the own children in favor of everyday work incidents. The findings reveal striking interrelations of the subjects' meaning of and relationship with work, including significant effects on relationship formations in friendship, romance, family, and marriage on two levels; Firstly, pragmatically, where work becomes the technical core of life through focus, time, dedication, and overall personal investment. Second, through an emphasis on an emotional and affective level, where loyalty, identification, and (romantic) love are projected into the relationship with work and the workplace
To live a decent life: a critical perspective on meaningful work through literary fiction analysis
No full textGiven its positive implications at the workers, organizations, and societal level, the phenomenon of meaningful work is receiving considerable attention by scholarly authors and practitioners. The literature in the field has seen an extensive spread of contributions referring to different disciplines. However, the expanding views on meaningful work conceptualizations reflect a certain level of contestations between authors in the field. This paper investigates the phenomenon of meaningful work and interrogates the complexity and variety of ways by which meaningful work can be experienced. To pursue these aims, the paper presents an analysis of Primo Levi’s The Wrench and relates to it as a means to extend the knowledge on the subject of meaningful work in the context of work and organizational psychology. Levi’s fictional novel is an explicit attempt at proposing an emancipatory account on the meaning of work, in which the author advances the idea that work is meaningful independently of individual experience and social representations. As such, work is conducive to human flourishing and makes life worth living. Drawing on this ideal of work, the analysis illustrates the organizational and institutional duties and responsibilities for meaningful work
P. Matthijs Bal's Quick Files
No full textThe Quick Files feature was discontinued and it’s files were migrated into this Project on March 11, 2022. The file URL’s will still resolve properly, and the Quick Files logs are available in the Project’s Recent Activity
Money never loves you back: Subjective meaningmaking of life, love, and work
No full textThis research originates from observations in the therapeutic practice with subjects on career tracks and their suffering from the consequences when work and private life are put against each other under neoliberal conditions of life. 15 narrative stories are analyzed using the method of crystallization to reconstruct subjective reasoning and meaningmaking behind seemingly absurd actions, like purposefully missing the birth of the own children in favor of everyday work incidents. The findings reveal striking interrelations of the subjects' meaning of and relationship with work, including significant effects on relationship formations in friendship, romance, family, and marriage, where neoliberal shaping of the career trajectories become threats to community and humanism; Firstly, such threats are constituted on a pragmatic level, where work becomes the technical core of life through focus, time, dedication, and overall personal investment. Secondly, on an emotional and affective level, the emphasis on work and the career becomes a threat to the private and the social self, where loyalty, identification, and (romantic) love are projected into the relationship with work and the workplace. The findings are discussed against a critical theoretical background of Erich Fromm and aim to move beyond the stereotypical division of society in supposed perpetrator-victim causalities, usually blaming managers for their actions, to instead elaborate understandings of (all) subjects’ reasonable mode of being in restrictive contexts. Finally, we aim to formulate questions about possible measures and practices toward a humanist order of life, love, work, and society
The use of fiction as a distinctively critical research approach to debunk work and organizational psychology constructs: initial thoughts
No full textIn this lightning talk, we will present some proposals regarding the potential usefulness of fiction as a distinctively critical research approach in work and organizational (W-O) psychology. Specifically, we aim to contribute to current critical debates around neoliberal ideology in W-O psychology by proposing a method to debunk (i.e., expose the hollowness of) some of the ubiquitous constructs of the W-O psychology object of research. Hence, we argue that current critical psychologists’ scrutiny of neoliberal ideology in W-O psychology is a signal of the regressivity of W-O research programs and themes of research (Lakatos, 1976). With this idea in mind, we present the epistemological and pragmatical assumptions for the use of fiction (and linked thematic analysis) as a method to debunk the “inflated” W-O constructs. With respect to the epistemological assumption, we will present the potential of the use of literary fiction in W-O psychology research arguing that novels due to their epistemological freedom, their interdisciplinary nature, and freer language, can offer a richer lens through which we can explore complex W-O psychology dynamics and phenomena. With respect to the pragmatic assumption, then, narrative texts can be a fictional ambience to verify theoretical assumptions; thus, work and organizational psychologists can refer to fictional narratives to explore the meanings of their theories and models through the analyses of texts as if they were data collected by surveys (Phillips, 1996; Beyes et al., 2019). Ultimately, we will carry out these assumptions by taking into account one literary example from the realm of the Japanese proletarian literature (Hoston, 10986), namely, Hiroko Oyamada’s The Factory (2013) to shed light on the very meanings of work. Drawing on our analysis, we will present a novel conceptualization on two over-inflated objects of study in W-O psychology, namely, work engagement and job performance, and the overestimated topic of job crafting behavior. In particular, our analysis will present the contradictory and dilemmatic nature of these phenomena taken into account the (neoliberal) subject at work. That is, literary stories and literary environments will offer indications to orient the conceptualization of these objects of study for what they are and could be independently of well-established mainstream theories. For example, Oyamada’s novel is an attempt at denouncing the wish for work engagement as a tool of the modern capitalistic work environment (i.e., neoliberal machine) for performative (powerless) working class. These will offer the occasion to, on the one side, remark the regressivity of mainstream W-O psychology, and, on the other side, discuss some implications and prospects of the use of literary fiction for W-O research wishing to value people and work
Money never loves you back: Subjective meaningmaking of life, love, and work
No full textThis research originates from observations in the therapeutic practice with subjects on career tracks and their suffering from the consequences when work and private life are put against each other under neoliberal conditions of life. 15 narrative stories are analyzed using the method of crystallization to reconstruct subjective reasoning and meaningmaking behind seemingly absurd actions, like purposefully missing the birth of the own children in favor of everyday work incidents. The findings reveal striking interrelations of the subjects' meaning of and relationship with work, including significant effects on relationship formations in friendship, romance, family, and marriage, where neoliberal shaping of the career trajectories become threats to community and humanism; Firstly, such threats are constituted on a pragmatic level, where work becomes the technical core of life through focus, time, dedication, and overall personal investment. Secondly, on an emotional and affective level, the emphasis on work and the career becomes a threat to the private and the social self, where loyalty, identification, and (romantic) love are projected into the relationship with work and the workplace. The findings are discussed against a critical theoretical background of Erich Fromm and aim to move beyond the stereotypical division of society in supposed perpetrator-victim causalities, usually blaming managers for their actions, to instead elaborate understandings of (all) subjects’ reasonable mode of being in restrictive contexts. Finally, we aim to formulate questions about possible measures and practices toward a humanist order of life, love, work, and society
“Loving your Work (Unfortunately, the Privilege of a Few)”: Primo Levi and What Makes Life and Work Meaningful
No full textIdeas of work as a source of happiness and self-flourishing are ever-expanding in the literature of psychology, particularly positive psychology. These ideas have led to numerous academic texts exploring the notion of meaningful work, which sparks discussions about employees' responsibility in achieving harmonious employment. While this view emphasizes the existence of work as fulfilling and personally satisfying, it also carries the danger of overlooking the societal, organizational, and relational dynamics that operate within work. These can potentially undermine subjective well-being or bring oppressive and negative conditions to the subject. In this paper, we draw on the ever-expanding psychological literature on meaningful work, while also highlighting the need for psychology to reexamine the understanding of the circumstances, experiences, and social structures of contemporary work. We do so by engaging with the reading of a literary text, Primo Levi's The Wrench (1978). In the novel, the characters engage in conversations about work and are reminded of the quest for meaningful work, which makes life bearable. According to the characters' perspective, work does not appear as a function for meaning per se (in a neoliberal sense), but rather, this is a privilege of a few who can love their work (in the sense, rhythmic, embodied, and socially structuring function stabilizing life). Using thematic reading of the text, we rediscuss the concept of work as a source of meaning and the conditions under which work can be experienced as meaningful. Our goal is to restore the balance in the understanding of meaningful work, considering its societal, organizational, and relational dynamics
De maatschappij-kritische missie van de arbeids- en organisatiepsychologie:Commentaar op Matthijs Bal: ‘Voorbij neoliberalisme in de arbeids- en organisatiepsychologie’
No full textMatthijs Bal (2015) is argued to be right when he observes that mainstream organizational psychology fails to sufficiently address problems that are inherent to today's organizations. His statement, however, that this state of affairs is due to a neoliberal paradigm which has gained control of the discipline is argued to be incorrect, simplistic and - most importantly - unfruitful in view of the desired development of innovative research agendas.</p
De maatschappij-kritische missie van de arbeids- en organisatiepsychologie:Commentaar op Matthijs Bal: ‘Voorbij neoliberalisme in de arbeids- en organisatiepsychologie’
No full textMatthijs Bal (2015) is argued to be right when he observes that mainstream organizational psychology fails to sufficiently address problems that are inherent to today's organizations. His statement, however, that this state of affairs is due to a neoliberal paradigm which has gained control of the discipline is argued to be incorrect, simplistic and - most importantly - unfruitful in view of the desired development of innovative research agendas.</p
De maatschappij-kritische missie van de arbeids- en organisatiepsychologie:Commentaar op Matthijs Bal: ‘Voorbij neoliberalisme in de arbeids- en organisatiepsychologie’
No full textMatthijs Bal (2015) is argued to be right when he observes that mainstream organizational psychology fails to sufficiently address problems that are inherent to today's organizations. His statement, however, that this state of affairs is due to a neoliberal paradigm which has gained control of the discipline is argued to be incorrect, simplistic and - most importantly - unfruitful in view of the desired development of innovative research agendas.</p
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