Working in welfare: Youth policy's contradictions and dilemmas
2010
As human beings we live in societies whose structures and cultures seem to
confront us as alien forces beyond our control, ways of living into which we
involuntarily enter and whose presence is felt in terms of a powerful, sometimes
determining, presence over the conduct of our lives. Yet as human beings we are
also aware of our own powers to determine future courses of action. As active
agents in possession of what sociologists may refer to as a uniquely reflexive
quality, we hold understandings of how we exist in relation to the social contexts
in and through which we live, and how these forces exert an influence over our
preferred ways of living and working (Archer 2005). It is from this reflexive
character, this essential and universal condition of human existence, that the
powers of structural and cultural forces are mediated by us as human subjects.
When faced with social contexts that appear to stand in our way or which we
are not readily inclined to follow, it is from our reflexivity that we go about the
redefinition of our ongoing concerns, draw upon those resources over which
we can exercise some command, formulate new ways of working, and resist or
cooperate with whatever it is that seems to impede our sense of what is right and
proper.
Keywords:
- Correction
- Source
- Cite
- Save
- Machine Reading By IdeaReader
1
References
14
Citations
NaN
KQI