An examination of the Western world's contemporary fascination with psychological life, and the historical developments that fostered it.In this book, sociologist Katie Wright traces the ascendancy of therapeutic culture, from nineteenth-century concerns about nervousness, to the growth of psychology, the diffusion of an analytic attitude, and the spread of therapy and counseling, using Australia as a focal point.Wright's analysis, which draws on social theor...

This book examines father-son relations and their role in the transfer of forms of masculinity and fathering practices. It also explores how far the psychosocial resources transferred from fathers to sons enable sons to navigate challenges in their everyday lives, particularly in contexts of disadvantage and marginalization. This study is a successor to an earlier book examining the inter-generational transfer of human wellbeing amongst Latin American migrant women and their daughters. By ...

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (2013– 17) was one of the largest public inquiries in Australian history and one of the most important investigations into child abuse internationally. It facilitated a national conversation about justice for victims and survivors and how to improve child safety in the future. Through the examination of practices in key social institutions, including churches, schools, sporting clubs, hospitals and voluntary organisati...

This book discusses how human wellbeing is constructed and transferred intergenerationally in the context of international migration. Research on intergenerational transmission (IGT) has tended to focus on material asset transfers prompting calls to balance material asset analysis with that of psychosocial assets – including norms, values attitudes and behaviors. Drawing on empirical research undertaken with Latin American migrants in London, Katie Wright sets out to redress the balance by...

Katie Wright explores how human wellbeing is constructed and how it 'travels' across spatial boundaries. She draws on empirical research, undertaken with Peruvian migrants based in London and Madrid and their Peru-based relatives and close friends to explore how human wellbeing is constructed and how it 'travels' transnationally.

This volume explores questions about hope, optimism and the possibilities of the ‘new’ as expressed in educational thinking on the nature and problem of adolescence. One focus is on the interwar years in Australian education, and the proliferation of educational reports and programs directed to understanding, governing, educating and enlivening adolescents. This included studies of the secondary school curriculum, reviews of teaching of civics and democracy, the development of guidance pro...

This volume offers a critical rethinking of the construct of youth wellbeing, stepping back from taken-for-granted and psychologically inflected understandings. Wellbeing has become a catchphrase in educational, health and social care policies internationally, informing a range of school programs and social interventions and increasingly shaping everyday understandings of young people. Drawing on research by established and emerging scholars in Australia, Singapore and the UK, the book cri...

In a time of ongoing global instability and the emergence of new fault lines of social inequality generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the rights of children and young people have been thrown into sharp relief. From uncertain futures arising from the climate crisis to concerns about regressive and reactionary politics to widespread experiences of harassment, abuse and violence, young people and their advocates are mobilising for social change and making their voices heard.Across a v...

The statistics are alarming and become more so every year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 1 in 68 children have been identified with an autism spectrum disorder, making it one of the fastest growing developmental disorders in the United States. Further, the CDC estimates that parents with a child on the autism spectrum can have nearly a 20 percent chance of having a second child with autism.In How to Prevent Autism, Dara Berger shares her per...

What stories can we tell of ourselves and others and why should they be of interest to others?Exploring Learning, Identity and Power through Life History and Narrative Research responds to these questions with examples from diverse educational and social contexts. The book brings together a collection of writing by different authors who use a narrative/life history approach to explore the experiences of a wide range of people, including teachers, nurses, young people and a...

Childhood has become central to socio-political debates and policy initiatives both nationally and globally. Despite the privileges afforded to children in the West, Western childhoods are no longer seen as the 'ideal' to which all should aspire. Recent reports and policy concerns suggest that growing up in the West may be marked by the commercialisation of childhood, leading to unhappiness, poor health, loss of innocence and a general lack of wellbeing among children themselves.Un...

Any organization's success depends upon the voluntary cooperation of its members. But what motivates people to cooperate? In Why People Cooperate, Tom Tyler challenges the decades-old notion that individuals within groups are primarily motivated by their self-interest. Instead, he demonstrates that human behaviors are influenced by shared attitudes, values, and identities that reflect social connections rather than material interests.Tyler examines employee cooperation in ...