Youth, personhood and 'practices of the self'

In contrast to most previous research in the field, this paper argues that the concept of 'youth' is best understood as an example of the governmental formation of a specific type of person. It is constructed at the intersection of a variety of diverse problematisations, being produced by the processes of individuation/ normalisation and the regulation of relations of time. Within programs such as those pertinent to the management of sex, an array of technologies structure the practices by which individuals pattern their own conduct - thereby fashioning a kind of habitus. This forms part of a general strategy of enrolling the objects of these programs in their own self-reformation. Consequently, `youth' can be understood as `the doing of specific types of work on the self'. By utilising this framework, the paper not only seeks to identify and better understand some of the sexual subjectivities associated with the construction of youth, it also seeks to offer some new directions for research in the area.

Youth, sex, and 'practices of the self'

The intention of this paper is to describe ways of avoiding the normalising, globalising and dichotomising tenor of previous research into 'youth'. With a specific focus upon the management of sex, it will be argued that the concept of 'youth' is best understood as an example of the governmental formation of specific types of person, and that 'youth' can be formulated in terms of 'the doing of certain kinds of work on the self'.

It’s not me, it’s you : a participant observation case study of the self-publishing musician in the 21st century

This thesis explores the business environment for self-publishing musicians at the end of the 20th century and the start of the 21st century from theoretical and empirical standpoints. The exploration begins by asking three research questions: what are the factors affecting the sustainability of an Independent music business; how many of those factors can be directly influenced by an Independent musician in the day-to-day operations of their musical enterprise; and how can those factors be best manipulated to maximise the benefit generated from digital music assets? It answers these questions by considering the nature of value in the music business in light of theories of political economy, then quantitative and qualitative examinations of the nature of participation in the music business, and then auto-ethnographic approaches to the application of two technologically enabled tools available to Independent musicians. By analyzing the results of five different examinations of the topic it answers each research question with reference to four sets of recurring issues that affect the operations of a 21st century music business: the musicians’ personal characteristics, their ability to address their business’s informational needs; their ability to manage the relationships upon which their business depends; and their ability to resolve the remaining technological problems that confront them. It discusses ways in which Independent self-publishing musicians can and cannot deal with these four issues on a day-to-day basis and highlights aspects for which technological solutions do not exist as well as ways in which technology is not as effective as has been claimed. It then presents a self-critique and proposes some directions for further study before concluding by suggesting some common features of 21st century Independent music businesses. This thesis makes three contributions to knowledge. First, it provides a new understanding of the sources of musical value, shows how this explains changes in the music industries over the past 30 years, and provides a framework for predicting future developments in those industries. Second, it shows how the technological discontinuity that has occurred around the start of the 21st century has and has not affected the production and distribution of digital cultural artefacts and thus the attitudes, approaches, and business prospects of Independent musicians. Third, it argues for new understandings of two methods by which self-publishing musicians can grow a business using production methods that are only beginning to be more broadly understood: home studio recording and fan-sourced production. Developed from the perspective of working musicians themselves, this thesis identifies four sets of issues that determine the probable success of musicians’ efforts to adopt new technologies to capture the value of the musicians’ creativity and thereby foster growth that will sustain an Independent music business in the 21st century.

Becoming a 'Bastion Against Tyranny' : Australian legal education and the government of the self

Research into legal education suggests that many students enter law school with ideals about using the law to achieve social change, but graduate with some cynicism regarding these ideals. It is often argued that law schools provide a negative, competitive, and conservative environment for students, pushing many away from social justice ideals towards more self-interested, vocational concerns. This article uses Michel Foucault’s work on the government of the self to suggest another way of understanding this process. It examines a range of prescriptive texts that provide students with advice about how to study law and ‘survive’ law school. In doing so, it posits that this apparent loss of social ideals does not necessarily always signify that the student has become politically conservative or has had a negative educational experience. While these legal personae may appear outwardly conservative, and indeed still reflect particular gendered or raced perspectives, by examining the messages that these texts offer students, this article suggests that an apparent loss of social ideals can be the result of a productive shaping of the self. The legal persona they fashion can incorporate social justice ideals and necessitate specific ways of acting on those ideals. This analysis adds to the growing body of research that uses Foucault’s work to rethink common narratives of power and the shaping of the self in legal education, and provides legal educators with new ways of reflecting on the effects of legal education.

Factor analysis of the Self Report Version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire in a sample of children with intellectual disability

The rate of emotional and behavioral disturbance in children with intellectual disability (ID) is up to four times higher than that of their typically developing peers. It is important to identify these difficulties in children with ID as early as possible to prevent the chronic co-morbidity of ID and psychopathology. Children with ID have traditionally been assessed via proxy reporting, but appropriate and psychometrically rigorous instruments are needed so that children can report on their own emotions and behaviors. In this study, the factor structure of the self-report version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was examined in a population of 128 children with ID (mean age = 12 years). Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis showed a three factor model (comprising Positive Relationships, Negative Behavior and Emotional Competence) to be a better measure than the original five factor SDQ model in this population.

Application of the self-efficacy model in nursing practice [自我效能模式於護理臨床應用之剖析]

Self-efficacy has two cognitive components, efficacy expectations and outcome expectations, and their influence on behavior change is synergistic. Efficacy expectation is effected by four main sources of information provided by direct and indirect experiences. The four sources of information are performance accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion and self-appraisal. How to measure and develop interventions is an important issue at present. This article clearly analyzes the relationship between variables of the self-efficacy model and explains the implementation of self-efficacy enhancing interventions and instruments in order to test the model. Through the process of the use of theory and feasibility in clinical practice, it is expected that professional medical care personnel should firstly familiarize themselves with the self-efficiency model and concept, and then flexibly promote it in professional fields clinical practice, chronic disease care and health promotion.

“I’m Happy with Who I Am” : A Discursive Analysis of the Self-characterisation Practices of Boys in “Behaviour” Schools

In this chapter, I draw on poststructural theories of language to examine the self-characterisation practices of 33 boys attending special schools for students with disruptive behaviour. During a semi-structured interview, each boy was asked to describe his personality and then to choose from a selection of positive/negative word pairs. The objective was to determine whether these young people would characterise themselves in positive or negative ways. Participants were then asked if there was anything they would change about themselves if they could. Responses were analysed and compared against a discourse model developed from media reports and interviews with their principals. Findings suggest that while discourse may well ‘form the objects of which it speaks’ (Foucault, 1972, p. 49) in the eyes of teachers, principals, psychiatrists and paediatricians, it also offers a means through which the constituted subject can re-author itself in a more positive frame.

Development and validation of the Self-Gifting Consumer Behaviour scale

Self-gifting consumer behaviour (SGCB) is on the rise as consumers seek reward and therapeutic benefits from their shopping experiences. SGCB is defined as personally symbolic, self-communication through special indulgences, which tend to be premeditated and highly context bound. Prior research into the measurement of this growing behavioural phenomenon has been fragmented because of differences in conceptualisation. This research builds upon the prior literature and through a series of qualitative and quantitative studies, develops a valid, multidimensional measure of SGCB that will be useful for future quantitative inquiry into self-gifting consumption.

Knowledge, identity, and dilemmas of the self in physical education teacher education

This study draws on an eclectic range of influences. The early research was guided by the traditions of Personal Construct Theory. The study was later extended by drawing on theoretical tenets of social constructionism and the notion of the Saturated Self and Anthony Gidden's work on structuration and his later work on self identity. This has provided a new way of investigating how becoming a PE teacher through constructed knowledge established a professional identity. The data suggest that during the process of constructing professional knowledge, the students forge their identities by establishing 'position' and 'role'. In doing so, the participants in this study experienced a series of dilemmas of professional self. These dilemmas are a product of what Giddens calls high modernity and what Gergen refers to as postmodernity. It seems that to become a PE teacher, the dilemmas must be worked through until a position of ontological security has been achieved. For some this was profoundly difficult. In spite of this, the methods of study allowed the participants to begin to articulate their theories and visions of teaching physical education, and the therapeutic qualities of Kelly's theory encouraged many of the students to 'see it differently' (Rossi, 1997) and to begin to develop a rationale for professional work in physical education based on socially just practices.

Instability of the self-similar flow into a cavity

In this paper we have investigated the instability of the self-similar flow behind the boundary of a collapsing cavity. The similarity solutions for the flow into a cavity in a fluid obeying a gas law p = Kργ, K = constant and 7 ≥ γ > 1 has been solved by Hunter, who finds that for the same value of γ there are two self-similar flows, one with accelerating cavity boundary and other with constant velocity cavity boundary. We find here that the first of these two flows is unstable. We arrive at this result only by studying the propagation of disturbances in the neighbourhood of the singular point.

Kinematic and Mechanical Profile of the Self-Actuation of Thermosalient Crystal Twins of 1,2,4,5-Tetrabromobenzene: A Molecular Crystalline Analogue of a Bimetallic Strip

A paradigm shift from hard to flexible, organic-based optoelectronics requires fast and reversible mechanical response from actuating materials that are used for conversion of heat or light into mechanical motion. As the limits in the response times of polymer-based actuating materials are reached, which are inherent to the less-than-optimal coupling between the light/heat and mechanical energy in them, 1 a conceptually new approach to mechanical actuation is required to leapfrog the performance of organic actuators. Herein, we explore single crystals of 1,2,4,5-tetrabromobenzene (TBB) as actuating elements and establish relations between their kinematic profile and mechanical properties. Centimeter-size acicular crystals of TBB are the only naturally twinned crystals out of about a dozen known materials that exhibit the thermosalient effect-an extremely rare and visually impressive crystal locomotion. When taken over a phase transition, crystals of this material store mechanical strain and are rapidly self-actuated to sudden jumps to release the internal strain, leaping up to several centimeters. To establish the structural basis for this colossal crystal motility, we investigated the mechanical profile of the crystals from macroscale, in response to externally induced deformation under microscope, to nanoscale, by using nanoindentation. Kinematic analysis based on high-speed recordings of over 200 twinned TBB crystals exposed to directional or nondirectional heating unraveled that the crystal locomotion is a kinematically complex phenomenon that includes at least six kinematic effects. The nanoscale tests confirm the highly elastic nature, with an elastic deformation recovery (60%) that is far superior to those of molecular crystals reported earlier. This property appears to be critical for accumulation of stress required for crystal jumping. Twinned crystals of TBB exposed to moderate directional heating behave as all-organic analogue of a bimetallic `strip, where the lattice misfit between the two crystal components drives reveriible deformation of the crystal.

Mechanical effects of the self-organization of dislocations and related critical characteristics

The effects of the dislocation pattern formed due to the self-organization of the dislocations in crystals on the macroscopic hardening and dynamic internal friction (DIF) during deformation are studied. The classic dislocation models for the hardening and DIF corresponding to the homogeneous dislocation configuration are extended to the case for the non-homogeneous one. In addition, using the result of dislocation patterning deduced from the non-linear dlislocation dynamics model for single slip, the correlation between the dislocation pattern and hardening as well as DIF is obtained. It is shown that in the case of the tension with a constant strain rate, the bifurcation point of dislocation patterning corresponds to the turning point in the stress versus strain and DIF versus strain curves. This result along with the critical characteristics of the macroscopic behavior near the bifurcation point is microscopically and macroscopically in agreement with the experimental findings on mono-crystalline pure aluminum at temperatures around 0.5T(m). The present study suggests that measuring the DIF would be a sensitive and useful mechanical means in order to study the critical phenomenon of materials during deformation.