Neoliberalism and remote body psychotherapy

Welcome to this themed issue of Australian Journal of Outdoor Education. All of articles in this issue examine question of relationships with others. The scope and breadth of articles is indicative of complexity of how relationships with others work, why developing positive relationships with others is important and how outdoor education can contribute to this. Dewey (1938) argued that learning occurs through interaction. Learning, in this sense, is not something that happens in isolation, it is something that happens in relation to individual who has experience, others involved, and environment in which it occurs. According to Dewey conceptualises learning relationships learners have with others is fundamental to process of learning. This runs counter to learning, particularly experiential learning, is construed as individual experience by many contemporary authors. For example Beard and Wilson (2006), point out that learning is personal and filtering of experience is individual process. The picture of learning that Beard and Wilson draw here appears to have little to do with interaction. If learning is such a personal and individual process, interaction may in fact get in way of learning. Fenwick (2001) suggests that a major conception of experiential education presumes an independent learner, cognitively reflecting on concrete experience to construct new understandings, perhaps with assistance of educator, toward some social goal of progress or improvement (p. 7). Here learning is still seen as individual process, but Fenwick suggests there may be a place for interactions with a teacher or instructor to assist with that learning. The shift from learning occurring through interaction to learning being a personal and individual experience has occurred in a broader context where neo-liberal political and economic ideologies have come to fore in many Western countries. The rise of neo-liberalism has seen promotion of logic of market-place in all aspects of our lives. This works on assumption that individuals make rational choices based on their best interest and that this is more 'efficient' at directing social distribution of goods and services than political institution of state (Hales, 2006, p. 55). Numerous writers within field of outdoor education have made links between neo-liberal ideologies and contemporary outdoor education practices. In 1998 Chris Loynes wrote about adventure in a bun. He was commenting on how adventure has come to be seen as a commodity like any other commodity in a capitalist society. He argued that capitalist markets have stripped outdoor education of its transformative potential and it is like any other commodity that can be packaged and replicated in a standardised fashion. Connection and relationships are lost in this process of commodification of outdoor education. Like Loynes, Jay Roberts (2012) also utilises work of Ritzer (1993; 2001) in drawing parallels between contemporary practices of experiential education and processes of McDonalisation that are replicated in so many aspects of our lives. The dimensions of McDonalisations that he particularly focuses on are efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control. Roberts illustrates how these dimensions shape contemporary outdoor education practices, particularly in relation to ropes courses. He argues that in this neo-liberal complex the individual is not located socially, transformatively, or critically ... but rather consumptively as a decontextualized and depoliticised individual consumer (Roberts, 2012, p. 95, original emphasis). Learning in this environment is not only individual process, but individual who learns is disconnected from social world and environment in which they are located. Robert Hales (2006) extended this argument by suggesting that outdoor educators have to think carefully about how they respond to rise of individualism. …

This thesis examines the changing academic work environment in Australian universities and the impact of this change on academics. In particular, this thesis explores the lived experience and perceptions of university academics working in public universities in Australia. Across the globe, universities are facing complex issues that can lead to transformational change. The main drivers of change are globalisation, burgeoning knowledge-based economies, the rapidity of new technology adoption, and global competition. The impact of these drivers and the subsequent reforms are ultimately reflected in the changing nature of academics’ work and in their analysis. Over the past four decades since the Australian government reforms in the 1980s, public universities in Australia have been experiencing change, mainly influenced by new political and economic ideologies, including neoliberalism, corporatisation, managerialism, marketisation, and commodification of education. The consequences of these influences are reportedly having detrimental effects on academics, whereby academics’ esteem value, academic identity, academic freedom, and academic autonomy are all undermined. Academics report experiencing intimidation, bullying, mistrust, and harassment. As such there is a need and urgency for a research study, giving voice to Australian academics themselves, to investigate this problem to better understand it. The public university system in Australia is a vast industry with a large workforce, and the services it provides to the country and economy are many. University academics who play a main role in this industry need to be happy, effective, and efficient in order to be productive. It is therefore important to provide academics with a work environment that enables them to exercise academic freedom, academic autonomy, and an academic professional identity esteemed by their peers. Given the scale of the public university system and the impact of its services on, and economic contribution to the country, this study is relevant and significant. This study emphasises the importance of prioritising attention to academics to ensure that the changing nature of academic work does not result in detrimental effects on academics and that they can effectively operate in a conducive work environment. To date, there is little research that has focused on Australian academics’ lived experience and perceptions relating to their changing academic work environment. Hence this thesis is unique and significant because it explores the lived experience and perceptions of academics in Australian public universities. The study adopts a qualitative research approach, employing an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to explore and analyse the lived experience of the participants. To support inductive research and commence a generation of “new” thinking, the data collection method consists of 16 in-depth, one-on-one, and face-to-face interviews with academics working in eight Australian public universities who are experiencing change. The study takes the approach of standpoint theory. The thesis points to two findings. The first is the formulation of the academic predicament model (APM), which explains the erosion of academic professionalism and how the change de-professionalises academia in Australia. The second is an understanding of the conflicting forces impacting on academics. On the one hand, in the changing learning environments, academics are expected by management to be innovative, collegial and collaborative, and involved in excellent research activities. On the other hand, with changing university governance, academics’ autonomy and academic freedom are challenged. Academics’ esteemed identity is devalued and undermined. Some academics feel a sense of obligation to conform to Senior Management directives and adhere to the introduced mechanisms of accountability. They report being pressured and stressed by what they regard as undue compliance, competition, and university managements’ high expectations of innovative creativity. The key recommendations of the study call for strategies for enhancing respectfulness and collegiality, strategies to resist constraining ideologies, strategies for resolving work intensification, and strategies for improving existing processes and procedures relating to academics.

Outdoor adventure education utilizes expeditions and experiential education to provide students with opportunities for personal growth. However, by selling the possibility of adventure and character development, outdoor adventure education organizations unknowingly entangle the field with neoliberal ideologies. Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that promotes decentralization of governance, the rule of law, individual rights, and a free market. Despite its prevalence in the literature of related fields, outdoor adventure education scholars seldomly address neoliberalism, especially its effect on the field’s social justice efforts. In this paper, we examine how outdoor adventure education’s subscription to neoliberal principles, most notably individual rights and the free market, inhibits the field’s attempts to contribute to social justice. Social justice is a process that seeks to unearth the institutional and systemic roots of injustice to work toward greater social equity. Institutions working toward social justice must disentangle from elements of a dominating neoliberal system that actively perpetuates social inequities. By understanding neoliberalism’s influence, the outdoor adventure education field can become a leader for social justice by identifying the problems, and subsequent inequities, associated with neoliberalism. However, if outdoor adventure education hopes to progress beyond the oppressive structures imposed by neoliberal ideologies, we argue that the field needs to critique its current political, economic, and pedagogical practices. Outdoor adventure education organizations must embrace their role in developing citizens for a more just society by taking systematic and collective action. In an effort to make a tangible contribution, we offer potential strategies for mitigating the effects of neoliberalism and advancing social justice efforts in outdoor adventure education.

There is growing interest in how genes affect political beliefs. To better understand the role of genes in politics, we examine the relationship between cognitive style (the need for cognition, the need for cognitive closure) and various measures of political attitudes (issue‐based ideology, identity‐based ideology, social ideology, economic ideology, authoritarianism, and egalitarianism). We show, for the first time, that the need for cognition and the need for cognitive closure are heritable and are linked to political ideology primarily, perhaps solely, because of shared genetic influences; these links are stronger for social than economic ideology. Although prior research demonstrated that Openness to Experience shares genetic variance with political ideology, we find that these measures of cognitive style account for distinct genetic variance in political ideology. Moreover, the genetic Openness‐ideology link is fully accounted for by the need for cognition. This combination of findings provides a clearer understanding of the role of genes in political beliefs and suggests new directions for research on Big Five personality traits and ideology.

The study of interpersonal relationships has received continued empirical attention from behavioral scientists since Newcomb's classic study involving college roommates (Newcomb, 1953). Additionally, phenomenologists have exhibited increasing interest in the inner workings of interpersonal perception (Garfinkel, 1964; Icheiser, 1955; Laing, Phillipson, and Lee, 1966; Schutz, 1962; Stark, 1970). In spite of such attention, there has been a general failure to account for differences in an individual's ability to accurately take the role of others. Perhaps this is because the majority of empirical investigations have been carried out by the more psychologically oriented researchers who, for the most part, have chosen to use the concept empathy in instances where the more socially oriented researcher and theorist would prefer the concept role-taking. The result has been a greater emphasis given to the psychological, intrapersonal, and emotive aspects of the phenomenon rather than to the more social, interpersonal aspects. The present report is an attempt to account for individual role-taking ability through an analysis of differing dyadic characteristics of the nuclear family. The theory employed in the present work has been suggested, to one degree or another, by a body of authors which numbers among its members both psychologically and sociologically oriented social psychologists (Broxton, 1963; Byrne, 1961; Byrne and Blaylock, 1963; Levinger and Breedlove, 1966; Newcomb, 1959, 1961; Osgood and Tannenbaum, 1955; Peak, 1958; Scheff, 1967). These authors are in agreement that, in the explanation of role-taking phenomena, the balance model may be useful. In addition, the theory is tied to the work originated by Festinger (1957), Heider (1958), and Newcomb (1953) and is based on the major principle common to all these: that individuals' perceptions will be consistent with their attitudes. This principle is used to create two propositions, one at the intrapsychic level and the other at the dyadic or relationship level, which allow for the generation of hypotheses about role-taking accuracy. The basic statement of the current theory is that accuracy of role-taking is a function of the level of affect in interpersonal relationships together with the degree of similarity of value systems. The first proposition, at the cognitive level of analysis, states that if actor possesses a high positive affective attitude toward other he will perceive other as similar to himself on behavioral dimensions; and conversely, a negative affective attitude will lead actor to perceive other as different from himself. This cognitive balance proposition has received support from a number of authors (Fiedler, 1951, 1953, 1954; Fiedler and Senior, 1952; Fiedler, Blaisdell, and Warrington, 1952; Fiedler, Hartman, and Rudin, 1952; Byrne and Blaylock, 1963; Levinger and Breedlove, 1966). The second proposition in the theory employs the concept of cognitive consistency to determine the similarity or dissimilarity between two individuals. At the dyadic level of analysis, the second proposition holds that two persons sharing similar value systems will advocate similar responses in behavioral (problem-solving) situations. And, conversely, persons with generally dissimilar value systems will advocate different responses in behavioral situations. For example, two persons who agree on political ideology will likely agree on economic ideology; and two persons who differ on political ideologies will likely differ on economic ideologies. Thus, the relationship requires two individuals, both of whom exhibit cognitive balance which results in similaritydissimilarity between individuals. *This research was conducted from June to December, 1970, and was partially supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF-GS-2650) and a Research Grant in Aid from Washington State University. We wish to thank Viktor Gecas for help on an earlier version and Bernard Babbitt, Marlene Huntsinger, and Lorrie Rippee for computer programming assistance. The names are listed in alphabetical order as the responsibility for this work is truly coauthored.

Political Ideology has been termed as an individual perspective, idea or belief about political or social information. Factors like personality traits, brain structure, thinking style, environment may influence political ideology. Various western research has shed light on association of political ideology, dark tetrad traits and intuition among adults. But few have looked at relationship from Indian perspective. This correlational study aims to understand the relationships between political ideology, dark tetrad traits, and types of intuition among adults in India. The sample of 220 adults were employed through convenient sampling. This study utilized three instruments - Political Ideology Scale by Puthillam and others (2021), Short Dark Tetrad (SD4) by Paulhus and others (2020), Types of Intuition Scale (TIntS) by Pretz and other (2014). Key findings include purity-based cultural norms having significant correlations with psychopathy, machiavellianism, and sadism traits, while obedience to hierarchical authority was linked to narcissism and machiavellianism. In terms of intuition, obedience to authority was positively correlated with inferential intuition and negatively with affective intuition. Economic ideology was negatively associated with holistic–abstract and positively with affective intuition. Machiavellianism was associated with inferential and holistic-big picture intuition, while psychopathy and sadism were linked to holistic-abstract intuition. Narcissism was positively associated with inferential intuition.

The Soviet ideological formation of the Stalin period was closely linked with the class struggles and the economic and social transformations of that period. This article examines two major themes running through the some times contradictory ideology of Stalinism: 1) "state socialism" as a political ide ology, and 2) the "socialist mode of production" as an economic ideology. On the first theme, the reinforcement of the state was identified with the reinforce ment of socialism. The denial of social contradictions was combined with praise for the dictatorial apparatus. "Workerism" meant that certain pretended qual ities of workers (discipline, self-sacrifice) were used as a means of repression and that the existence of a "worker base" was seen as a guarantee of the party's revo lutionary character. The second section, on economic ideology, is only summar ized here. Socialism was increasingly identified with a planned economy subject to objective laws — an organized form of capitalism.

Do neoliberal values provide a fertile soil for suicidal ideation?

This article examines how changing political and economic ideologies and projects—first socialism, then neoliberal capitalism—were worked out in a Polish industrial town called Nowa Huta. Nowa Huta was initially built after World War II as a town that would embody the socialist state's goals of industrialization, urbanization, and the creation of a working class. Following the collapse of the socialist government in 1989 and the ensuing market reforms, Nowa Huta experienced deindustrialization, privatization of state enterprise, unemployment, and decay of urban infrastructure. The article traces how this changing political economy was worked out in the cityscape and in the relationship between place, work, and community. It argues that the case of Nowa Huta allows us to see how global processes, such as industrialization and deindustrialization, and the changing organization of economy and work, are domesticated in local places and in relation to local politics and histories.

The processes of globalisation are having profound effects on education across the world. The paper addresses two questions, each of which has led to a variety of controversies in the academic literature. The first is 'what is globalisation?' It is argued that the latter is a multi-faceted rather than a singular condition that is associated with various consequences at the economic, political and socio-cultural levels. The second question is 'how is globalisation affecting education world-wide?' The direct impact of globalisation on curriculum and pedagogy has been relatively small. However, the more general effects of economic restructuring and associated economic and political ideologies have been great. The implementation of neo-liberal economic reforms and associated structural adjustment policies have led to the increasing privatisation of educational provision, with the emergence of a new managerial and professional discourse adapted to a competitive market-led model of education. Research on the impact of globalisation on education suggests that, contrary to the predictions of some hyperglobalists that the influence of nation states would wither away, national control over education has remained strong. The similarities and differences in national educational responses to global pressures are illustrated in the paper by two comparative qualitative research projects comparing the work of primary school teachers in England and Finland and England and New Zealand respectively. On the one hand, in Finland, the pressures of globalisation have been mediated by pre-existing national ideologies of social welfarism and equity. This has led to marked discontinuities of response in England and Finland. For example, where England introduced a national curriculum, Finland dismantled its previous national curriculum and moved instead to school-based curricula, arguing that this was more appropriate for the kind of flexible and lifelong learning approach required in a globalised era. In addition, unlike the strong target-based and audit culture developed recently in England, Finland abandoned its national school inspection system and moved to a policy of school self-evaluation. On the other hand, in New Zealand, whose government shared with England a neo-liberal market ideology, there were strong continuities in response between the two countries. There were very similar changes to curriculum and pedagogy and the development in each country of a strong audit culture and discourse of 'new professionalism' in primary schools.

ABSTRACTOrdoliberalism is widely considered to be the dominant ideology of the German political elite today and consequently responsible at least in part for its hard ‘austerity’ line during the recent Eurozone crisis. This article presents a genealogy of the main concerns, concepts and problems around which early German ordoliberalism was formed and structured as a political and economic ideology. Early ordoliberalism is shown to be rooted in an interwar Germanophone Lutheran Evangelical tradition of anti-humanist ‘political ethics’. Its specific conceptions of the market, the state, the individual, freedom and duty were developed on a Lutheran Evangelical basis. Analytically, the article considers ideological influences of theology on political and economic theory not so much in terms of consensus and ideational overlap, but rather in terms of shared concerns, concepts and problems across different positions.

The EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is demonstrative of a trend towards the use of market based mechanisms by states attempting to reduce their domestic greenhouse gas emissions. The adoption of this measure in favour of a carbon tax is arguably rooted in the neoliberal ideology of the economic and political systems of the EU. The use, and efficacy of the ETS, serves to highlight the asymmetry between economic and environmental considerations when addressing climate change mitigation, which often results in the prioritisation of economic benefits above environmental degradation. Yet, centrally, the limited effect in terms of greenhouse gas reductions that these types of measures have so far demonstrated is not because they are a product of neoliberal economic and political ideology, but instead, the political reluctance to reform the ETS to the extent necessary for it to contribute meaningfully to the EU’s climate change mitigation commitments. Nonetheless, the use of economic measures within the field of climate governance is arguably one useful means, within a plethora of other public and private mechanisms, of addressing EU greenhouse gas emissions.

In this article, I examine Argentina's neoliberal reforms throughout the 1990s from a Marxist theoretical perspective, analysing how money, monetary policy and law constitute a fundamental mode of ideological regulation in neoliberal capitalism. Situating this analysis in the context of the capitalist crisis of the mid-1970s, the article discusses the politics of effacement that in Argentina's case paved the way for the use of monetary policy as a form of social control intended to embed the nation-state into global capitalism. Examining economic legislation, macro-economic policies, political ideologies, consumer discourses and pension privatization, I analyse how the neoliberal monetary regime ideologically underpinned a whole state imaginary based on exchange rate parity with the US dollar. Further, I investigate the ideological function of money in symbolically reordering the relationships of workers and citizens to the state, capital and culture. The article concludes with an exploration of the political significance of the monetary collapse of the Argentine neoliberal reform in 2001–2002, comparing Argentina's crisis of hegemony with that of other states within global capitalism.

In this introduction we shall analyze the spread of neo-liberalism within the context of recent historical developments and the fall of the communist bloc. Perhaps the case studies presented in this issue of the IJPE can illustrate the theoretical and historical arguments, because economic, political, and social mutations always occur within a historical and geographical context. In this respect area studies can have the merit of pointing to some structural elements determining the sequence of events and making the functioning of societal forces more transparent. So neo-liberalism can be analyzed as an ideology accompanying recent economic changes in the world economy, but also as an instrument necessarily adopted by the less developed countries in order to adjust their economies to the pressure exercised by the major economic powers. Until now neo-liberalism as political and economic ideology has been one of the most successful elements of the reconstruction of capitalist hegemony over the global system. This occurred a few decades after capitalism and communism had silently agreed on the principle of peaceful coexistence and competition for political and economic influence in and over the formerly colonial countries. In reality two competing systems of accumulation were striving for world hegemony. Within the realm of this competition several specific features could be recognized as having a serious impact on the political, ideological, and military setting of both blocs. The Western capitalist world had to recognize the supremacy of the United States after the defeat of fascism in Europe and the subsequent implosion of European

This chapter discusses the relationship between occupational therapy and managerialism in three sections. The first section explores what is meant by management and managerialism, and illustrates how a culture of managerialism can come to dominate health services. The second section positions managerialism in relation to neoliberal political and economic ideologies, and considers the role of management in the exercise of power. The third section looks at how managerialism affects the work of occupational therapy practitioners, finishing with a case study to illustrate how one occupational therapist has experienced the impact of general management.