Julia C. Nentwich

Part‐Time Work as Practising Resistance: The Power of Counter‐Arguments

Contributing to a Foucauldian perspective on ‘discursive resistance’, this paper theorizes how part‐time workers struggle to construct a valid position in the rhetorical interplay between norm‐strengthening arguments and norm‐contesting counter‐arguments. It is thereby suggested that both the reproductive and the subversive forces of resistance may very well coexist within the everyday manoeuvres of world‐making. The analysis of these rhetorical interplays in 21 interviews shows how arguments and counter‐arguments produce full‐time work as the dominant discourse versus part‐time work as a legitimate alternative to it. Analysing in detail the effects of four rhetorical interplays, this study shows that, while two of them leave unchallenged the basic assumptions of the dominant full‐time discourse and hence tend instead to reify the dominant discourse, two other interplays succeed in contesting the dominant discourse and establishing part‐time work as a valid alternative. The authors argue that the two competing dynamics of challenging and reifying the dominant are not mutually exclusive, but do in fact coexist.

The same and the other: male childcare workers managing identity dissonance

As childcare workers, men are in a contested position. On the one hand, they are in danger of being depicted as the pedophile; on the other hand, they are expected to bring something new and innovative to the thus-far female-dominated field. These men are experiencing ‘identity dissonance’ and have to find ways to manage and facilitate legitimate subject positions as both childcare workers and as men. Applying a perspective of discursive positioning, this article discusses mens positioning practices in nine qualitative interviews conducted with male childcare workers in German-speaking Switzerland. We identified a total of six discursive practices that men engage in to manage identity dissonance and construct a legitimate subject position. We found that men are engaging in a greater variety of practices than have been discussed so far. Unlike findings from other studies of men in female-dominated occupations, ours do not point to a clear-cut typology with regards to hegemonic and alternative masculinities; instead they show a variety of practices that are mobilized throughout all interviews.

Change agency as performance and embeddedness: Exploring the possibilities and limits of Butler and Bourdieu

In this paper, we explore the dual role of human agency in maintaining the status quo and generating change. Judith Butler and Pierre Bourdieu offer differing conceptions of change agency in relation to organization and transformation of gender relations. Focusing on how those approaches would work, we analyse an empirical case study on a particular change process: getting women the right to vote in the Swiss cantons of Appenzell. We contribute to the current use of Butlers and Bourdieus theories in organization studies in three main ways. First, we explore stability and change from the lenses of these two scholars. Second, we illustrate how change agency looks from these two distinct perspectives. Finally, we offer an empirical analysis that identifies the main elements of change agency in the two frameworks and discuss the possibilities and limitations of bringing these two approaches together to better understand change agency.

Doing gender and professionalism: Exploring the intersectionalities of gender and professionalization in early childhood education

Men in early childhood education (ECE) are subjected to different discourses: while they are facing serious mistrust on the one hand, their otherness to the field is also interpreted as new and potentially innovative on the other hand. This article explores how male childcare workers create and take up different subject positions by drawing on these competing discourses in order to acquire a legitimate position as men in the female-dominated context of Swiss day-care centers. In constructing themselves as professionals they create a subject position that seems to move beyond the gender binary. Analysing the position of the professional in depth, the article first shows how this position is accomplished and then explores how gender unfolds between the lines by infusing professionalism with masculinity.

Vom Sinn der Soziologie

Contents: Video Analyses in Interpretive Social Research - Development and History of Visual Analyses - Specific Features and Types of Audiovisual Data - Overview of Methodological Approaches and Fields of Video Analysis - Videography - Video Interaction Analysis.

Home Heating, Technology and Gender: A Qualitative Analysis

Few empirical studies take gender into account when analysing sustainable consumption. Even those studies that consider gender are not without shortcomings in their theorizing on gender. Drawing on insights from gender theory, we use a multilevel approach to investigate the relevance of gender to domestic energy consumption in Germany.

A Guide to Discursive Organizational Psychology

This book offers a lively illustration of the dynamic relationship between discourse and organizational psychology. Contributions include empirically rich discussions of both traditional and widely studied topics such as resistance to change, inclusion and exclusion, participation, multi-stakeholder collaboration and diversity management, as well as newer research areas such as language negotiations, work time arrangements, technology development and change as intervention.

Manoeuvring acts: inclusion and exclusion in a women’s sports club

This book offers a lively illustration of the dynamic relationship between discourse and organizational psychology. Contributions include empirically rich discussions of both traditional and widely studied topics such as resistance to change, inclusion and exclusion, participation, multi-stakeholder collaboration and diversity management, as well as newer research areas such as language negotiations, work time arrangements, technology development and change as intervention.

Mapping the field: key themes in discursive organizational psychology

This book offers a lively illustration of the dynamic relationship between discourse and organizational psychology. Contributions include empirically rich discussions of both traditional and widely studied topics such as resistance to change, inclusion and exclusion, participation, multi-stakeholder collaboration and diversity management, as well as newer research areas such as language negotiations, work time arrangements, technology development and change as intervention.

Towards a discursive research agenda for organizational psychology

This book offers a lively illustration of the dynamic relationship between discourse and organizational psychology. Contributions include empirically rich discussions of both traditional and widely studied topics such as resistance to change, inclusion and exclusion, participation, multi-stakeholder collaboration and diversity management, as well as newer research areas such as language negotiations, work time arrangements, technology development and change as intervention.