Living With Uncertainty: Creating the Postmodern Self in Contemporary Australia. Life in postmodernity is marked by rapid change and uncertainty. Increasingly, as tradition is worn away, individuals must create new scripts to give life meaning and structure. Through a case study of gays and lesbians, this project will investigate how a group of Australians are creating postmodern selves. Drawing on in-depth interviews, it traces the relationship between discursive and psychological accounts of t ....Living With Uncertainty: Creating the Postmodern Self in Contemporary Australia. Life in postmodernity is marked by rapid change and uncertainty. Increasingly, as tradition is worn away, individuals must create new scripts to give life meaning and structure. Through a case study of gays and lesbians, this project will investigate how a group of Australians are creating postmodern selves. Drawing on in-depth interviews, it traces the relationship between discursive and psychological accounts of the postmodern self and their political effects. With a particular interest in emotional life, this study will provide critical information on how individuals and communities can manage creatively the uncertain conditions of postmodernity.Read moreRead less
Work and self-development: a philosophical reappraisal. Many Australians are worried about work, perhaps in more complex ways than ever before. Young people entering work lack the orientation once provided by established career paths, mid-life workers are often subject to disorienting shifts in role and difficulties finding the right 'work-life' balance, and many people leaving work find their lives suddenly bereft of meaning. This project will shed light on these anxieties by framing work withi ....Work and self-development: a philosophical reappraisal. Many Australians are worried about work, perhaps in more complex ways than ever before. Young people entering work lack the orientation once provided by established career paths, mid-life workers are often subject to disorienting shifts in role and difficulties finding the right 'work-life' balance, and many people leaving work find their lives suddenly bereft of meaning. This project will shed light on these anxieties by framing work within an image of the human that does justice to the depth and complexity of contemporary work experience. It promises a deeper understanding of work that would help promote good health and strengthen Australia's social and economic fabric.Read moreRead less
Applying the Ethics of Recognition: Work and the Social Bond. Work matters to most Australians. It is not just of instrumental value, worth it just for the money: a good, fulfilling job is integral to a fulfilled life. Our sense of well-being is inseparably bound up with how things are going at work. But how is this well-being sustained? What moral expectations do we bring to work and what happens when they are not met? This project will develop new answers to these questions by focusing on clai ....Applying the Ethics of Recognition: Work and the Social Bond. Work matters to most Australians. It is not just of instrumental value, worth it just for the money: a good, fulfilling job is integral to a fulfilled life. Our sense of well-being is inseparably bound up with how things are going at work. But how is this well-being sustained? What moral expectations do we bring to work and what happens when they are not met? This project will develop new answers to these questions by focusing on claims for recognition arising out of work. Experiences of misrecognition at work, we propose, seriously damage one's capacity to lead a fulfilling life. By identifying ways in which recognition can be given or denied at work, the project will be of great community benefit.Read moreRead less
The social theory of the gift; implications for volunteering, charity and community giving. This study will encourage debate about the value of generosity. We expect to find that when people give wholeheartedly to the community they become able to receive what the community has to offer. It is this give-and-take that makes life fulfilling. By studying fulfilment that comes from work in the areas of health, charity, hospitality and care, we will encourage vocations in these areas. By investigatin ....The social theory of the gift; implications for volunteering, charity and community giving. This study will encourage debate about the value of generosity. We expect to find that when people give wholeheartedly to the community they become able to receive what the community has to offer. It is this give-and-take that makes life fulfilling. By studying fulfilment that comes from work in the areas of health, charity, hospitality and care, we will encourage vocations in these areas. By investigating the gift of respect, we will encourage debate about the virtues of civility.Read moreRead less
Governing Climate Futures: The Social and Political Ramifications of Climate Modification. In light of the slow progress of international climate negotiations momentum has been developing behind a range of proposed strategies for manipulating climatic systems. Collectively referred to as ‘geoengineering’, current projects include technologies designed to reflect sunlight away from the Earth and techniques for directly removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Though these techniques may prove ....Governing Climate Futures: The Social and Political Ramifications of Climate Modification. In light of the slow progress of international climate negotiations momentum has been developing behind a range of proposed strategies for manipulating climatic systems. Collectively referred to as ‘geoengineering’, current projects include technologies designed to reflect sunlight away from the Earth and techniques for directly removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Though these techniques may prove to be a cost effective response to global warming, the deployment of these technologies will pose significant social, political and diplomatic challenges. This project will document the international development of geoengineering and will provide critical insights into the wider social and political ramifications of these developments.Read moreRead less