Alienation And Resistance

This collection draws together recent work by new and emerging scholars which examines the representation of alienation and resistance in texts and images, both modern and traditional. The essays collected here incorporate both “high” and “low” culture, covering a wide range of disciplines from traditional literary sources to the more modern mediums of film and comic. Informing each of the contributions is one overriding question: what are the roles, forms, and conditions of alienation and resistance in our culture and its diverse media? The contributors to this collection find examples of both alienation and resistance everywhere, from sixteenth century drama to contemporary fiction, from American comics to Eastern European cinema, from representations of the body to the site of the body itself. In seeking out these representations of alienation and resistance, the essays begin also to probe the limits and limitations of such terms. As such, the collection as a whole offers both a broad overview of the field of play as it stands today and makes tentative suggestions as to potential paths of future inquiry.

ÔTummersÕ book resurfaces alienation as an established and useful concept, but also as a forgotten and ignored reality. Shifts in policies affect the meaning of these policies, and reforms affect power balances. The analyses in this book are crucial to help understand why policies fail and why there is resistance to change. Tummers coins Òpolicy alienationÓ as an increasingly indispensable concept. Reforms would have been different if TummersÕ analysis on powerlessness and meaninglessness was more taken into account.Õ Ð Geert Bouckaert, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium and former President of the European Group for Public Administration ÔLars Tummers has written a must-read book! While systemic changes ushered in by market-oriented reforms have received attention, little is known about the plight of the individual in modern bureaucracies. Tummers presents a masterful and authoritative account of policy alienation that public service professionals experience. The breadth and depth of TummersÕs scholarship is impressive! This book has something of value for everyone from the casual reader to public management scholar.Õ Ð Sanjay K. Pandey, The State University of New Jersey, US ÔWhy do pubic sector professionals resist change? Tummers offers a compelling account of the alienation of professionals following new public management reforms. This timely and methodologically innovative book shows public managers how to implement organisational change, and provides scholars with a set of new measurement scales. Policy Alienation and the Power of Professionals is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand how professional organisations operate, and why professionals resist some changes, while embracing others.Õ Ð Steven Van de Walle, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands Professionals often have problems with governmental policies they have to implement. This ranges from Israeli teachers striking against school reforms, via British civil servants quitting their jobs as they have problems with New Public Management reforms focused on cost cutting, to US healthcare professionals feeling overwhelmed by a constant flow of policy changes, resulting in tensions, conflicts, and burn-outs. This eloquent book by Lars Tummers develops a framework to understand these important issues with policy implementation, using the innovative concept of Ôpolicy alienationÕ. Policies in healthcare, social security, and education are analyzed. The conclusions challenge the common assertions regarding the reasons why professionals resist policies. For instance, the impact of professional influence, often viewed as an end in itself, is nuanced. Lars Tummers reveals that it is far more important for professionals that a policy is meaningful for society and for their clients, than they have an influence in its shaping. Policy Alienation and the Power of Professionals is essential for public administration scholars, policymakers, change managers and professionals. To improve its academic and practical significance, a Ôpolicy alienationÕ questionnaire is developed to measure the degree of policy alienation felt by implementers. This instrument can be used to first understand and then improve policy performance in various settings.

The fast-accelerating world crisis is driving us towards barbarism and extinction. The capitalist system means ecological and social collapse. Mainstream politics, embedded in the system, has been reduced to irrelevance. Revolution has become an existential imperative. This book offers critical Marxist thinking about the nature of the crisis and what must be done to turn mass protest into the revolutionary transformation on which our survival depends.

This book addresses the concept of parental alienation – the belief that when a child of divorced parents avoids one parent, it may be because the preferred parent has persuaded the child to do this. It argues against the unquestioning use of parental alienation concepts in child custody conflicts. Increasing use of this concept in family courts has led at times to placement of children with abusive or violent parents, damage to the lives of preferred parents, and the use of treatments that have not been shown to be safe or effective. The 13 chapters cover the history and theory of "parental alienation" principles and practices. Methodological and research issues are considered, and diagnostic and treatment methods associated with "parental alienation" beliefs as well as those recommended by research and ethical evidence are analyzed. The connections of "parental alienation" with gender and domestic violence issues are discussed as are the experiences of individuals who have experienced "parental alienation" treatments. The book argues that "parental alienation" principles and practices should be avoided by family courts, in the best interests of children in custody disputes. This book will be useful reading for lawyers, judges, children’s services workers including social workers, child protection court workers, and mental health professionals involved in child custody decisions.

In Time, Capitalism and Alienation, Jonathan Martineau provides a socio-historical analysis of the modern temporal regime and its relationship to capitalist development, from the innovation of the clock until the advent of World Standard Time.

Building on the Marxian view of alienation as the inevitable consequence of wage labour that divests human beings of control over their life forces, this book provides insights into contemporary conditions. It explores how alienation is fostered not only by television freak shows and shock music, but also by programmed schooling.

This book provides detailed descriptions of how lives are narrowed by alienation. It also provides some alternative views on alienation. The book shows that the deformation of personality, characteristic of alienation, takes many different forms.