The Subjectivity Of Participation : Articulating Social Work Practice with Youth in Copenhagen

Using an innovative approach in critical psychology this study examines collectivity, participation and subjectivity, and the social theories that may help us understand these matters. What is a 'we' - a collective - and how can we use such communal self-knowledge to help people? This book is about collectivity, participation, and subjectivity - and about the social theories that may help us understand these matters. It also seeks to learn from the innovative practices and ideas of a community of social/youth workers in Copenhagen between 1987 and 2003, who developed a pedagogy through creating collectives and mobilizing young people as participants. The theoretical and practical traditions are combined in a unique methodology viewing research as a contentious modeling of prototypical practices. Through this dialogue, it develops an original trans-disciplinary critical theory and practice of collective subjectivity for which the ongoing construction and overcoming of common sense, or ideology, is central. It also points to ways of relating discourse with agency, and fertilizing insights from interactionism and ideology theories in a cultural-historical framework What is a 'we' 6 a collective 6 and how can we use such communal self-knowledge to help people? This book is about collectivity, participation, and subjectivity 6 and about the social theories that may help us understand these matters. It also seeks to learn from the innovative practices and ideas of a community of social/youth workers in Copenhagen between 1987 and 2003, who developed a pedagogy through creating collectives and mobilizing young people as participants. The theoretical and practical traditions are combined in a unique methodology viewing research as a contentious modeling of prototypical practices. Through this dialogue, it develops an original trans-disciplinary critical theory and practice of collective subjectivity for which the ongoing construction and overcoming of common sense, or ideology, is central. It also points to ways of relating discourse with agency, and fertilizing insights from interactionism and ideology theories in a cultural-historical framework Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Overture: One Day at The Crew....Pages 3-17 Position: A Critical Psychology Accomplice....Pages 18-45 History: A Rear-View Mirror Guide to the Idea of Collectivity....Pages 46-83 Situating Data....Pages 84-101 Front Matter....Pages 103-103 Collectives as Situated Units of Praxis....Pages 105-131 The Collective as Framed....Pages 132-164 The Collective as Recognized in Ideology....Pages 165-192 Constructing Subjectivity in Participation....Pages 193-230 Front Matter....Pages 231-231 Practice Research as Collective Prototyping and Critique....Pages 233-261 Back Matter....Pages 262-292