DOCSLIB.ORG

Where Three Roads Meet: Triangulation in the Care Sector, a Psycho-Social View on Caring and Vulnerability

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Where Three Roads Meet: Triangulation in the Care Sector, a Psycho-Social View on Caring and Vulnerability Where Three Roads Meet: Triangulation in the Care Sector, A Psycho-Social View on Caring and Vulnerability SIEBELIEN FELIX Awarded Posthumously February 2017 December 2016 A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of the West of England, Bristol for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Health and Life Sciences University of the West of England, Bristol ABSTRACT Where Three Roads Meet: Triangulation in the Care Sector, A Psycho-Social View on Caring and Vulnerability In this thesis I explore the effect on the lived experience of care workers and their managers in the residential elderly care sector of The Netherlands in relation to changes in and around the sector. Like in most western societies The Netherlands has to deal with ever increasing health costs. In 2006 the Dutch government opted for (semi-) privatizing the sector in the hope that competition would lead to more efficiency and reduction of costs. One of the major changes is the emergence of a powerful third party: the private insurance companies. As of 2006 healthcare and health cure providers have to negotiate with these companies about costs and services. The research perspective is a psycho-social approach, which aims to achieve a beneath the surface understanding of the interaction between macro and micro level phenomena. In doing so I wish to avoid approaching this issue from a single perspective such as organisational studies or social policy, in an attempt to adopt a more holistic understanding, viewing it both psychologically from ‘inside’ this experience and culturally/politically from outside. The data is collected through two case studies - two Dutch care homes for the elderly- where I applied three research methods: organisational observation, facilitated workshops and psycho-social interviews. The data was analysed by using a thematic, theoretical, deductive top down approach and with the help of reflection groups and postgraduate supervision. In this thesis I argue that macro level phenomena indeed are projected into the care sector and influence the running of the organisations and the lived experience of those working in the sector. The macro level phenomena are two feelings of anxiety in wider society: The fear of death and vulnerability and the fear that society can no longer afford the cost needed to care for vulnerable elderly. As such these feelings engender social defence like reactions and leads to ‘as if’ behaviour. It is as if good care is being delivered but in reality abuse is around the corner. I also argue that the sector has to learn to deal with thirdness or a form of triangulation. By given a third stakeholder – the insurance companies – the task to reduce costs etc a form of triangulation is brought into the sector. However this form in practice turns out to create fear. Management constantly focuses on the outside world and tries to comply with rules and regulations and leaves the carers to their own devices. The third party is regarded as a punitive superego, a negative third. I argue for a different form of triangulation in which the -one-in the third is allowed to be so that a true dialogue can emerge between the three partners concerned; the care recipient, the care provider and the financier. Acknowledgements I am extremely grateful to everyone who helped me to set up this research, to develop my thinking and to make it possible for this research project to have taken place My director of studies professor Paul Hoggett and supervisor Matthew Jones, Associate Professor of Public Health, have been vital in this and have guided my through and have stimulated me to develop and use my creative thinking. I foremost am very grateful to the two case studies. Both organisations gave me access to their inner worlds and created time to speak to and follow the management, the key workers, the carers and the facilitating staff. Without their valuable input the data of this study would not have been able to emerge. The existence of the Centre of Psycho-Social studies founded by Paul Hoggett recently relaunched as the Centre for Understanding Social Practices, and finding a home with Lita Crociani-Winland as new psycho-social team leader has been of the utmost importance. May the Centre for a long time continue its creative thinking. All of the academic staff and my fellow researchers at the Centre for Psycho-Social Studies helped me to identify and explore unconscious dynamics that I might otherwise have overlooked. Many among my friends and family supported me and had faith in my efforts. Foremost my husband Leo van de Valk who inspired me, stood by me through out and who supported me through thick and thin. Throughout the course of this research my father died. I would like to dedicate this thesis to him, who was extremely proud of the fact that I undertook this effort and who would hopefully have been proud of the outcome of the thinking. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 Where Three Roads Meet: Triangulation in the care sector 1 Introduction ………………………………………………………………………….. 1 Research objectives ………………………………………………………….……. 6 Structure of thesis………………………………………………………………. 9 Chapter 2 The Dutch Health Care System …………………………….…….. 13 A brief overview of the situation before 2006 …………………….………….…….… 13 2006 and onwards …………………………………………………….………….….…. 18 The short-term health care market ……………………………………………………. 19 The long-term health care sector ……………………………………………………… 29 Overall trends ……………………………………………………………………………. 35 Chapter 3 A psycho-social perspective on care for the elderly … 36 A Psycho-social perspective…………………………………………………….. 36 Health, morbidity and care for the elderly …………………………………………… 59 Global issues concerning the care for the elderly …………………………………. 75 Economic and institutional forces and care for the elderly ……………………….. 79 Chapter 4 Methodology …………………………………………………… 98 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………. 98 Psycho-social case studies …………………………………………………………. 100 The psycho-social method of organisational observation ……………………… 107 Facilitated workshops ……………………………………………………………… 112 Psycho-social interviews ……………………………………………………………. 117 Reflexivity - working with the data …………………………………………………. 120 Working reflexively as a researcher ……………………………………………….. 122 Action research as a consultant …………………………………………………… 130 Cross-case analysis ………………………………………………………………… 131 Objectivity and data analysis ………………………………………………………. 132 Chapter 5 Two Care Organisations In The Netherlands ………… 134 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………... 134 Arborvitae: Background and description of the organisation …………………… 135 The Noturos care group: Background and description of the organisation …… 141 Observing the psychogeriatric unit at Arborvitae ………………………………… 146 Observing At Volte–Face 174 Concluding Reflections 178 Chapter 6 Anxiety And Defences Against Anxiety In Care Organisations180 Introduction 180 Sources Of Anxiety 180 The Impacts Of Anxiety 195 Conclusion 237 Chapter 7 Crossroads of two discourses: The acre discourse versus the business discourse 239 The Care Discourse 239 The Business Discourse 255 Care at the Cross Road of Two Discourses: The position of the Key Workers and their Experiences 271 Concluding Reflections 299 Chapter 8 Analysis of Findings 301 Introduction 301 Fear of dependency, vulnerability and dying 303 Anxiety about the collapse of the welfare state 306 Effect of anxieties 309 Reforms and the healthcare sector - the case studies 311 From a dyadic to a triadic form of cooperation: a process of triangulation 312 A closer look at triadic relationships 314 The triangular relationship in the mind 319 Unsuccessful forms of triangulation causes thick skinned behaviour and as-if like reactions 323 The business discourse triumphing over the care discourse 328 The care discourse triumphing over the business discourse 330 Intelligent kindness 332 Chapter 9 Synthesis 339 THE VERY OLD ONE SINGS 348 Bibliography 349 Appendix 1: Overview of Actors in the Dutch Health Care Sector 384 Appendix 2: Timeline and Overview of Research Encounters at Both Case Studies 387 Appendix 3: Informed Consent Forms 390 List of Figures Figure 2.1 The players and markets in the Dutch public health sector 21 Figure 2.2 The financial flows within the cure sector 29 Figure 2.3 Stakeholders In The Long-Term Care Sector 34 Figure 3.1 Three sets core values in public management 88 Figure 4.1 Research systems 121 Figure 5.1 Painting on the lift 138 Figure 5.2 The communal area 138 Figure 5.3 The ground floor 143 Figure 5.4 Grenier in 1957 144 Figure 5.5 Grenier in the present 145 Figure 5.6 The stairs at Arborvitae 149 Figure 5.7 Room name 166 Figure 5.8 Who’s in / out 172 Figure 6.1. Overview of The Collages 222 Figure 6.2 Collage of Acting Managing Director 223 Figure 6.3 Collage Of Care Manager, Psychogeriatric Unit 225 Figure 6.4 Collage Care Manager Hetty 226 Figure 6.5 Collage Pf Facility Manager Jacques 227 Figure 6.6 Collage Of Care Manager Cecilia 228 Figure 6.7 Collage Of HR Manager 229 Figure 6.8 Grenier Performance Measures 236 Figure 7.1 Marketing Pages Of The Website Of The Noturos Care Group 261 Figure 7.3 An Overview Of The Flipcharts 283 Figure 7.4 Picture chosen by key worker BZ 284 Figure 7.5 Picture chosen by key worker F 285 Figure 7.6 Picture chosen by key worker I 286 Figure 7.7 Picture chosen by key worker G 287 Figure 7.8 Picture chosen by key worker E 288 Figure 7.9 Picture chosen by key worker N 289 Figure 8.1 The triangular relationship in the Dutch care sector 313 Figure 8.2 The triangular relationship in the mind 320 Figure 8.3 Intelligent kindness 333 Figure 8.4 The triangular relationship in the mind at Volte-face 336 Figure A.1 Overview of Actors in the Dutch Health Care Sector 384 Figure A.1 List of abbreviations 385 Figure A.1 Consumer groups and branch Organisations 386 Where Three Roads Meet: Triangulation in the Care Sector A Psycho-Social View on Caring and Vulnerability Chapter 1 Where Three Roads Meet: Triangulation in the Care Sector Introduction Every state of affairs at a given moment is in reality merely a phase of a development: no matter how concise or static or how rigidly formed it may appear.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Views of the U.S. Left and Right on Whistleblowers Whistleblowers on Right and U.S
    The Views of the U.S. Left and Right on Whistleblowers Concerning Government Secrets By Casey McKenzie Submitted to Central European University Department of International Relations and European Studies In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Supervisor: Professor Erin Kristin Jenne Word Count: 12,868 CEU eTD Collection Budapest Hungary 2014 Abstract The debates on whistleblowers in the United States produce no simple answers and to make thing more confusing there is no simple political left and right wings. The political wings can be further divided into far-left, moderate-left, moderate-right, far-right. To understand the reactions of these political factions, the correct political spectrum must be applied. By using qualitative content analysis of far-left, moderate-left, moderate-right, far-right news sites I demonstrate the debate over whistleblowers belongs along a establishment vs. anti- establishment spectrum. CEU eTD Collection i Acknowledgments I would like to express my fullest gratitude to my supervisor, Erin Kristin Jenne, for the all the help see gave me and without whose guidance I would have been completely lost. And to Danielle who always hit me in the back of the head when I wanted to give up. CEU eTD Collection ii Table of Contents Abstract ....................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgments.....................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Compassthe DIRECTION for the DEMOCRATIC LEFT
    compassTHE DIRECTION FOR THE DEMOCRATIC LEFT MAPPING THE CENTRE GROUND Peter Kellner compasscontents Mapping the Centre Ground “This is a good time to think afresh about the way we do politics.The decline of the old ideologies has made many of the old Left-Right arguments redundant.A bold project to design a positive version of the Centre could fill the void.” Compass publications are intended to create real debate and discussion around the key issues facing the democratic left - however the views expressed in this publication are not a statement of Compass policy. compass Mapping the Centre Ground Peter Kellner All three leaders of Britain’s main political parties agree on one thing: elections are won and lost on the centre ground.Tony Blair insists that Labour has won the last three elections as a centre party, and would return to the wilderness were it to revert to left-wing policies. David Cameron says with equal fervour that the Conservatives must embrace the Centre if they are to return to power. Sir Menzies Campbell says that the Liberal Democrats occupy the centre ground out of principle, not electoral calculation, and he has nothing to fear from his rivals invading his space. What are we to make of all this? It is sometimes said that when any proposition commands such broad agreement, it is probably wrong. Does the shared obsession of all three party leaders count as a bad, consensual error – or are they right to compete for the same location on the left-right axis? This article is an attempt to answer that question, via an excursion down memory lane, a search for clear definitions and some speculation about the future of political debate.
    [Show full text]
  • White Working-Class Views on Belonging, Change, Identity, and Immigration
    White Working-Class Views on Belonging, Change, Identity, and Immigration July 2017 Harris Beider, Stacy Harwood, Kusminder Chahal Acknowledgments We thank all research participants for your enthusiastic participation in this project. We owe much gratitude to our two fabulous research assistants, Rachael Wilson and Erika McLitus from the University of Illinois, who helped us code all the transcripts, and to Efadul Huq, also from the University of Illinois, for the design and layout of the final report. Thank you to Open Society Foundations, US Programs for funding this study. About the Authors Harris Beider is Professor in Community Cohesion at Coventry University and a Visiting Professor in the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. Stacy Anne Harwood is an Associate Professor in the Department of Urban & Regional Planning at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Kusminder Chahal is a Research Associate for the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations at Coventry University. For more information Contact Dr. Harris Beider Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations Coventry University, Priory Street Coventry, UK, CV1 5FB email: [email protected] Dr. Stacy Anne Harwood Department of Urban & Regional Planning University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 111 Temple Buell Hall, 611 E. Lorado Taft Drive Champaign, IL, USA, 61820 email: [email protected] How to Cite this Report Beider, H., Harwood, S., & Chahal, K. (2017). “The Other America”: White working-class views on belonging, change, identity, and immigration. Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, Coventry University, UK. ISBN: 978-1-84600-077-5 Photography credits: except when noted all photographs were taken by the authors of this report.
    [Show full text]
  • Spatialized Corporatism Between Town and Countryside
    SHS Web of Conferences 63, 02003 (2019) https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20196302003 MODSCAPES 2018 Spatialized corporatism between town and countryside 1,1 Francesca Bonfante 1Politecnico di Milano, ABC Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering, 20133 Milan, Italy. Abstract. This contribution deals with the relationship between town planning, architectural design and landscape in the foundation of “new towns” in Italy. In doing so, I shall focus on the Pontine Marshes, giving due consideration to then emerging theories about the fascist corporate state, whose foundation act may be traced back to Giuseppe Bottai’s “Charter of Labour”. This political-cultural “model” purported a clear hierarchy between settlements, each bound for a specific role, for which specific functions were to be assigned to different parts of the city. Similarly, cultivations in the countryside were to specialise. In the Pontine Marshes, Littoria was to become a provincial capital and Sabaudia a tourist destination, Pontinia an industrial centre and Aprilia an eminently rural town. Whereas the term “corporatism” may remind the guild system of the Middle Age, its 1930s’ revival meant to effectively supports the need for a cohesive organization of socio-economic forces, whose recognition and classification was to support the legal-political order of the state. What was the corporate city supposed to be? Some Italian architects rephrased this question: what was the future city in Italy of the hundred cities? Bringing to the fore the distinguishing character of the settlements concerned, and based on the extensive literature available, this contribution discusses the composition of territorial and urban space, arguing that, in the Pontine Marshes, this entails the hierarchical triad farm-village-city, as well as an extraordinary figurative research at times hovering towards “classicism”, “rationalism” or “picturesque”.
    [Show full text]
  • The Radical Centre a Politics Without Adversary Chantal Mouffe
    soundings issue 9 summer 1998 The radical centre A politics without adversary Chantal Mouffe There is no 'third way'. The antagonisms of left/right politics are more relevant than ever. Tales of the end of the right/left distinction have been with us for some time. Since the late 1980s this was accelerated by the collapse of communism - we have witnessed a clear move towards the centre in most socialist parties. But with New Labour in power a new twist has been added to this tale. We are told that a third way is now available: the 'radical centre'. After promoting the label of 'centre-left', Blair and his advisers now seem to prefer avoiding altogether any reference to the left. Since its victory, New Labour has begun to market itself as a radical movement, albeit of a new type. The novelty of this third way of 'radical centrism' supposedly consists in occupying a position which, by being located above left and right, manages to overcome the old antagonisms. Unlike the traditional centre, which lies in the middle of the spectrum between right and left, this is a centre that transcends the traditional left/right division by articulating themes and values from both sides in a new synthesis. This radical centre, presented as the new model for progressive politics and This article is dedicated to the memory of Ralph Miliband, who, on this issue, I hope would have agreed. 11 Soundings as the most promising alternative to old fashioned social democracy, draws on ideas developed by Anthony Giddens in his book Beyond Left and Right.
    [Show full text]
  • Anti-Establishment Careers of Dutch Nonvoters and PVV Voters
    Becoming politically discontented: Anti-establishment careers of Dutch nonvoters and PVV voters Roy Kemmers* Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands Jeroen van der Waal Erasmus University Rotterdam Stef Aupers KU Leuven, Belgium Published in: Current Sociology (ISSN 1461-7064), published online before print November 18, 2015, doi: 10.1177/0011392115609651, or http://csi.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/11/15/0011392115609651.abstract * Corresponding author: Roy Kemmers, Erasmus University College, Faculty of Social Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Nieuwemarkt 1A, 3011 HP Rotterdam, The Netherlands. e-mail: [email protected] Abstract Popular political discontent has become increasingly salient in western countries in recent decades, as can be witnessed by the rise of populist anti-establishment parties, nonvoting and increasing distrust in politics. However, these phenomena have predominantly been treated as ‘democracy’s deviants’, neglecting the perspectives of the people concerned. Taking an inductive approach, this article examines how ordinary citizens come to turn away from established politics. Drawing on in-depth interviews with politically discontented Dutch nonvoters and PVV voters, the article develops a three-stage ‘anti-establishment career’ – ‘introduction’, ‘validation’ and ‘consolidation’ – through which their conceptions of politics gradually change. This deviant career model takes into account the dynamics and agency involved in the process, in contrast to conceptions of discontented citizens as utterly passive and anomic. The article concludes by arguing for more cultural-sociological sensitivity in the use of concepts referring to social-political action. Keywords: cultural sociology, deviant careers, narrative, nonvoting, political discontents, political distrust, populism In contemporary Western Europe, popular attitudes towards established politics display a growing sense of cynicism and distrust.
    [Show full text]
  • Democratic Stress, the Populist Signal and Extremist Threat a Call for a New Mainstream Statecraft and Contact Democracy
    Democratic stress, the populist signal and extremist threat A call for a new mainstream statecraft and contact democracy By Anthony Painter with additional research and contributions from Claudia Chwalisz Published in 2013 by Policy Network Copyright © 2013 Policy Network Policy Network 11 Tufton Street, London, SW1P 3QB Tel: +44 20 7 340 2200 Email: [email protected] Website: www.policy-network.net All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Design and layout: Alan Hunt Printed by: John Drewe Policy Network is a leading thinktank and international political network based in London. We seek to promote strategic thinking on progressive solutions to the challenges of the 21st century, impacting upon policy debates in the UK, the rest of Europe and the wider world. Through a distinctly collaborative and cross-national approach to research, events and publications, Policy Network has acquired a reputation as a highly valued platform for perceptive and challenging political analysis, debate and exchange. www.policy-network.net Democracy under stress Contents Executive Summary 7 Introduction 9 1. Stress and crisis 14 2. The underlying causes of democratic ‘stress’ 16 3. Populist response to democratic ‘stress’ 19 4. Extremism and populism 25 5. The ‘demand’ for populism and extremism 27 6. Mainstream party strategies to cope with democratic stress 31 7. Contact democracy as a strategic response 49 Conclusion - a renewed mainstream statecraft and ‘contact democracy’ 50 Annex 53 About the Author Anthony Painter is a political researcher and writer.
    [Show full text]
  • On a Possible Triangulation of Some Present Political Positions
    On a Possible Triangulation of Some Present Political Positions Bruno Latour When entering a recent exhibition called Reset Modernity! at the Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe (ZKM), visitors were requested to follow a series of specific procedures to reset the instruments that allow them to find their way in this highly complex question: Where is modernity heading, and how can we orient ourselves through its metamorphosis? Visitors were handed a precious little booklet that was called a field book because they were invited, really, to play an active role in surveying the quickly trans- forming political landscape. At the end of each procedure, a cryptic message was provided about a somewhat mysterious triangle. The curators seem to be arguing that once this triangle had been understood things will become really much clearer. It is this claim that I would like to comment on by de- tailing what this triangle could mean and how it has been drawn. Let me start from the world-historical episode of 12 December 2015 when François Hollande famously exclaimed “Vive la France, Vive les Nations Unies, Vive la planète!” (Long live the planet!). I am sure you re- member the unanimous approval of the treaty concluding the Paris con- ference on climate (COP 21). If I say that it was a world historical episode, it is not, assuredly, because any concrete policy came out of the conference. So far, it is the catastrophic business-as-usual trajectory along which all the signatories to the conference are quickly sliding. If I say it, it is because of the unprecedented diplomatic situation that it created; for the first time in history, all 189 “sovereign” nations realized as never before that the world A version of this paper was given as the Mosse Lecture at Humboldt University, Berlin, 12 May 2016.
    [Show full text]
  • The Hegemony of the Neoliberal Narrative
    The Hegemony of the Neoliberal Narrative: Right Wing Discourses of ‘Common Sense’, the Weaponization of the Term ‘Liberal’, and the Shifting of the Political Spectrum by Victor M. A. Nascimento A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Sociology ©Victor Nascimento, 2021 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. The Hegemony of the Neoliberal Narrative: Right Wing Discourses of ‘Common Sense’, the Weaponization of the Term ‘Liberal’, and the Shifting of the Political Spectrum by Victor M. A. Nascimento Supervisory Committee Dr. Steve Garlick, Supervisor Department of Sociology Dr. Edwin Hodge, Departmental Member Department of Sociology ii Abstract Among the most notable trends of the last several decades in the United States have been the rise of corporate power, the entrenchment of neoliberalism, the rise in inequality, along with discussions regarding the ‘culture wars’ and the phenomenon of polarization. The onset of the neoliberal era has been accompanied and facilitated by a decades-long marketing campaign propagating the consistent narrative of individualism over the collective, that government is the problem rather than a solution to problems, while associating freedom exclusively with the market. This thesis project draws on critical theory, Bourdieu’s concept of symbolic power, discourse, narrative and communications theory, along with some insights from social psychology to examine the discursive shifting of the political spectrum that has occurred over the last four decades and has helped to entrench market fundamentalism as a hegemonic common sense.
    [Show full text]
  • The Collapse of Bill Clinton's Third
    1 The Collapse of Bill Clinton’s Third Way Margaret Weir University of California, Berkeley Forthcoming in New Labour, edited by Stuart White and SusanGiaimo (Macmillan) In the waning years of his administration, Bill Clinton seized on the idea of the third way to frame his achievements in office, anxious to be remembered for something other than scandal. The notion of a third way--a policy and politics threaded between the market and old style social democracy--is inherently ambiguous. But in the United States, which never embraced many of the main tenets of postwar social democracy, charting a third way is especially murky. Some versions of the third way envision a more ambitious role for government than that of the American federal government even in the heyday of postwar liberalism; others propose that government do considerably less.i Part of Clinton’s political genius–his election in an era when Democrats appeared doomed to lose presidential contests and his against-all-odds reelection and impeachment survival– lay in his ability to be many things to many people. His initial electoral rhetoric excited the hopes of both traditional Democrats and the self- proclaimed new Democrats. In the end, however, Clinton presided over the implementation of very constricted version of the third way whose short-term political and market successes mask the limits of its institutionalized policy achievements. With the exception of the expanded earned income tax credit and the increased minimum wage, the administration did little to address the sharp inequality that has become the hallmark of the American road to prosperity.
    [Show full text]
  • Brock University Open Journal System
    The Brock Review Volume 13 No. 1 (2017) © Brock University Dialectics of the Swing (Voter): Notes on The Formation of the Radical Centre Andrew Pendakis Abstract: This paper aspires to offer a brief genealogy of a new figure of political discourse that I call the "radical centre." In opposition to earlier centrisms, discourses which emphasized moderation, harmony, and balance, this new configuration imbues the centre with a kind of revolutionary or radical potential linked to its capacity to avoid being "trapped" by the traditional political poles. Though this thought envisions itself as beyond ideology and in some sense beyond repetition of any kind, the tropology of the centre is filled with repeating motifs and figures. The claim of this paper is that the radical centre has become the dominant political rhetoric of our time and that its hegemony works to preempt the possibility of genuinely new (and inventive) forms of political imagination. ~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~ I am euer for the Medium in euery thing. Between foolish rashnesse and extreame length, there is a middle way King James I (164, 1994) I am not a centrist because I can’t make my mind up about Right and Left, rather it is because each of those has proved itself to be so non- optimal that rationality and experience move me toward the dynamic moving center. Paul Samuelson …we need political innovation that takes America’s disempowered radical center and enables it to act in proportion to its true size, unconstrained by the two parties, interest groups and orthodoxies that have tied our politics in knots.
    [Show full text]
  • The Racial Triangulation of Asian Americans
    POLITICSCLAIRE JEAN & SOCIETY KIM The Racial Triangulation of Asian Americans CLAIRE JEAN KIM 1. INTRODUCTION Recently, the call to go “beyond Black and White” in discussions of race has become something of a mantra in scholarly circles. The conventional trope of “two nations, Black and White”—crafted and reproduced over the past half- century by Gunnar Myrdal, the Kerner Commission, Andrew Hacker, and oth- ers—seems increasingly outdated as unprecedented levels of Asian and Latin American immigration continue to diversify the U.S. population. While the multi- racial composition of the American populace has always given the lie to a bipolar racial framework, these post-1965 demographic changes have thrown the frame- work’s shortcomings into especially bold relief. But what does it mean to go “beyond Black and White” in thinking about race? As with most ritualistic exhor- tations, the need to do something is more apparent than how it is to be done. Scholars have adopted two broad approaches to going “beyond Black and White,” both of which, in my view, have certain shortcomings. The first approach, which I call the different trajectories approach, examines racialization (or the creation and characterization of racial categories) as an open-ended, variable process that has played out differently for each subordinated group. Michael Omi and Howard Winant’s discussion of distinct and independent group trajectories—“Native Americans faced genocide, blacks were subjected to racial slavery, Mexicans were invaded and colonized, and Asians faced I would like to thank the following for their comments on an earlier draft of this paper: Rogers Smith, Harry Eckstein, Helen Ingram, David Easton, Bernard Grofman, Akhil Gupta, and Sanjeev Khagram.
    [Show full text]