Anxiety and defense in sustainability

Mnguni, Peliwe

doi:10.1057/pcs.2009.33

Cited by 13 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…To Mnguni (2010), sustainability is thought of as a quest for meaningful coexistence within, and amongst, social systems (sociocultural sustainability); and between social and ecological systems (ecological sustainability). It is a search for a state of psychological maturity and integration whereby each person is, for the most part, able to demonstrate capacities for reality-based relatedness and for transcending the kinds of paranoid-schizoid splits that characterize the psychological functioning of an infant.…”

Section: The Cultural Narrative About Climate Change and Subjectivity: Important Findings In Convergent Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Importance of the Concept of Subjectivity: New Lines of Research

Seixas

Hoefel²

2021

Quality of Life, Environmental Changes and Subjectivity

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The central objective of this chapter is to analyse the role and importance of the concept of subjectivity and its close relationship to environmental and climate change. From the identification of a gap present in the literature, we seek from an interdisciplinary approach to bring a new perspective of analysis and also a contribution to the theme. The principals aspects in this chapter are: Approaches, Disciplinary dimensions: expanding views and concepts, Climate change and subjectivity, The construction of climate change narratives: 'nightmare' or 'false comfort', Climate change and psychoanalysis, The cultural narrative about climate change and subjectivity: Important Findings in Convergent Approaches, and Some important considerations about objective advances in the relationship of subjectivity, psychoanalysis, and climate change: and the construction of networks.

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Section: The Cultural Narrative About Climate Change and Subjectivity: Important Findings In Convergent Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Importance of the Concept of Subjectivity: New Lines of Research

Seixas

Hoefel²

2021

Quality of Life, Environmental Changes and Subjectivity

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“…It draws on and contributes to attempts that employ object relations thinking (Klein, 1959) to make sense of anxiety and defence within organisations in general (Bain, 1998;Cilliers & May, 2010;Cummins, 2002;Gould, Ebers & Clinchy, 1999;Jaques, 1955), social service institutions (Bott-Spillus, 1990;Gibson & Swartz, 2000, 2001Menzies-Lyth, 1988;Obholzer & Roberts, 1994;Willshire, 1999) and public service organisations (Dartington, 2004;Dempsey, 2007;Hoggett, 2006;Mnguni, 2010Mnguni, , 2008. Whereas most of these studies concur that anxiety within public and social service organisations derives primarily from the intrinsic nature of their primary task, Hoggett (2006) problematises the very notion of a primary task as simplistic.…”

Section: Research Purposementioning

confidence: 99%

“…This, of course, does not mean there will always be a fit. Relational problems usually arise due to collective defences not being shared by all members of a social system (Menzies-Lyth, 1988;Mnguni, 2010Mnguni, , 2008. To the extent that organisational membership requires a good-enough fit between individual and collective defences, a significant gap between the two can culminate in the termination of a work relationship and/or organisational membership.…”

Section: Social Defense Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Deploying culture as a defence against incompetence: The unconscious dynamics of public service work

Mnguni

2012

SA j ind psychol

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Orientation: The intractability of public service delivery and a polarised societal landscape heighten anxiety and reinforce a propensity for public service organisations to be used for defensive purposes.Research purpose: This article employs social defense theory to explore manifestations of anxiety and defense within South African public service organisations.Motivation for the study: Dominant discourse on public service institutions over-relies on political, sociological and public administration theories and tends to ignore psychosocial explanations. Further, whilst the psychodynamics of social service work are generally understood, the unconscious dynamics of generic public service work remain under-theorised. Research design, approach and method: This conceptual article draws on my personal observations as a reflective citizen and experiences as a consultant to government departments.Main findings: Herein, an argument is advanced that the deployment of ill-qualified party loyalists to key positions in the public service is perverse: it serves as a collective defense against the impossible aspects of the task at hand. The appointees, in turn, deploy organisational processes to defend against feelings of incompetence and the inevitability of failure. This practice, coupled with acute resource constraints, sets up front line staff for scapegoating.Practical/managerial implications: An appreciation of the multiple meanings of public service work and the defensive role played by public institutions stands to inform purposeful change towards sustainable public service organisational practice.Contribution/value-add: The discussion seeks to contribute to attempts that employ systems psychodynamics to make sense of anxiety and defense within organisations in general and public service institutions in particular.How to cite this article: Mnguni, P.P. (2012). Deploying culture as a defence against incompetence: The unconscious dynamics of public service work. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology/SA Tydskrif vir Bedryfsielkunde, 38(2), Art. #1000, 9 pages. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/sajip.v38i2.1000

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“…Despite the challenges of such analysis-where what is attended to includes what is not being spoken of directly-Norgaard manages to present a compelling and vivid portrait through the words of her participants, her sensitive reflections, and the benefit of the psychological theories she looks to. However as she is not a psychological researcher, I do feel this work can be extended, deepened, and enhanced through active dialogue and collaboration with those who address emotional, affective, and unconscious dimensions of environmental threats in greater detail and with more nuance (Mnguni, 2010;Randall, 2009). In addition, this work would benefit from recognizing and engaging with literature on social defense theory-psychoanalytically informed social analyses of how anxieties and affects are managed in organizational and social contexts, through the establishment of myriad practices as well as what is spoken of (Hinshelwood & Chiesa, 2001;Hinshelwood & Skogstad, 2000;Menzies Lyth, 1958/1988Mnguni, 2010).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However as she is not a psychological researcher, I do feel this work can be extended, deepened, and enhanced through active dialogue and collaboration with those who address emotional, affective, and unconscious dimensions of environmental threats in greater detail and with more nuance (Mnguni, 2010;Randall, 2009). In addition, this work would benefit from recognizing and engaging with literature on social defense theory-psychoanalytically informed social analyses of how anxieties and affects are managed in organizational and social contexts, through the establishment of myriad practices as well as what is spoken of (Hinshelwood & Chiesa, 2001;Hinshelwood & Skogstad, 2000;Menzies Lyth, 1958/1988Mnguni, 2010). Furthermore, psychosocial researchers are beginning to articulate these deeper dimensions with much-needed, and complementary, analyses of the psychic implications of an apocalyptic imagination (Ben-Asher & Goren, 2006;Hoggett, 2011).…”

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confidence: 99%

Book Review: Living in Denial: Climate Change, Emotions and Everyday Life

Lertzman

2011

Organization & Environment

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There is a fundamental puzzle at the heart of the contemporary encounter with the implications of climate change. It concerns the nature of human perception and the confluence of psychological, social, political, economic, and ecological forces constituting what we call "behavior." In recent years, the literature concerning "behavior change" in relation to mitigation and adaptation practices in the face of climate change has exploded. It tends to focus on the individual and takes a rationalist, cognitive approach-measuring and assessing what people say in relation to what they actually do (Kollmus & Agyeman, 2002).It seems, regardless of one's disciplinary background, scholars, journalists, and researchers of many stripes are weighing in on the psychological dimensions of climate change-and all are in desperate search for the right combination of incentives, pressures, structures, and practices that will unlock what appears as stubborn resistance to facing reality. This (often perplexing) refusal to confront and creatively engage with the consequences of a carbon-heavy global economic system is also commonly referred to as climate denial-a term increasingly bandied around as a viable descriptor of inaction (Gore, 2011;Krugman, 2011;Marshall, 2009). Rarely addressed in such analyses is a consideration of how subjectivity, social constructions, and the nuanced, complex interplay between social and psychic worlds that inform how we behave.Kari Norgaard's book, Living in Denial: Climate Change, Emotions and Everyday Life, is a refreshing, lucid, and much-needed analysis that defies easy categorization between the psychic, social, and geographic domains. Living in Denial, based on Norgaard's doctoral research, is a thoughtful study of the social processes of climate denial, during a particularly warm winter in a Norwegian village. Her book could easily read as a whodunit, as she begins with her arrival in Norway, and a growing realization that all was not quite right. She noticed with sociological acuity a curious "double speak" between what people were saying about the unusually warm winter (and climate change implications) and the lack of any real mobilization to address the problems. This led her to formulate a new set of questions than what she arrived with, and as an investigator, she leads us through her inquiry to find out what may be taking place. The result effectively reframes, complicates, and problematizes how we conceptualize climate denial.A third-generation Norwegian American, Norgaard sets her story in the village of Bygdaby (a fictional name) in Norway. Why this place? As Norgaard writes, "Bygdaby and Norway are important precisely because people there are so sincere in their concerns for the wider world and engaged in so much political activity on its behalf" (p. i). The site and its cultural, ecological, political, and social attributes set up a rich case study, setting in stark relief the contradictions, paradoxes, and tensions attending climate change.Norgaard's investigative tack was informed by ...

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Anxiety and defense in sustainability

Cited by 13 publications

References 14 publications

The Importance of the Concept of Subjectivity: New Lines of Research

The Importance of the Concept of Subjectivity: New Lines of Research

Deploying culture as a defence against incompetence: The unconscious dynamics of public service work

Book Review: Living in Denial: Climate Change, Emotions and Everyday Life

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