Underemployed Workers Handout
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The document discusses the challenges faced by underemployed workers in America, highlighting the discrepancy between low unemployment rates and the struggles of those in jobs that do not utilize their skills or offer adequate compensation. It emphasizes the importance of narrative, imagination, and vocational advice in addressing these issues and encourages individuals to seek personal growth and fulfillment in their work lives. Key concepts such as mimesis, autopoeisis, and the significance of storytelling in shaping one's identity and future are explored.
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Culture
and
Work
Presentation
Spring
2011
Kimberly
Renee
Knowles
Vocational
Advice
“…if
you
are
attracted
to
the
most
difficult
books
out
of
an
urgent
need,
and
can
spare
four
years
to
devote
yourself
to
them,
go
to
college…but
if
this
is
not
the
case…the
good
news
is
you
don’t
have
to
go
through
the
motions
and
jump
through
the
hoops
for
the
sake
of
making
a
decent
living.”
(Crawford
2009:53)
“...[seek]
out
the
cracks
where
individual
agency
and
the
love
of
knowledge
can
be
realized
today,
in
one’s
own
life.”
(Crawford
2009:87)
Mimesis
“When
we
look
at
the
already
figured
world,
the
take-‐for-‐granted
world
in
mimesis1
we
connect
this
to
the
new
world
we
want
to
live
in,
mimesis3,
we
see
ourselves
in
different
capacities:
we
see
a
self
enlarged
by
the
appropriation
of
a
proposed
world
which
interpretation
unfolds.”
(Herda
1997a:62
quoted
in
Herda
1999:77)
“With
Mimesis2
opens
the
kingdom
of
the
as
if.”
(Ricoeur
1984:64)
Autopoeisis
“Both
organizations
and
people
as
living
systems
need
to
continuously
renew
and
reconfigure
themselves
through
a
process
whereby
the
integrity
of
each
remains
in
place…successful
leadership
will
encourage
this
process.”
(Herda
1997:35,
speaking
of
autopoeisis)
Imagination
“If
we
cannot
imagine
how
our
organizations
could
improve,
we
can
never
live
in
a
world
different
from
the
current
conditions.”
(Herda
1999:77)
“…the
mode
of
being
of
the
world
opened
up
by
the
text
is
a
mode
of
the
possible,
or
better
of
the
power-‐to-‐be:
therein
resides
the
subversive
power
of
the
imaginary.”
(Ricoeur
1981:93)
“Thinking
poetically,
acting
poetically,
dwelling
poetically
are
all
modalities
of
imagining
poetically.
They
are
ways
of
realizing
the
fundamental
possibilities
of
what
we
are.
For
as
Emily
Dickinson
wrote,
‘possibility
is
the
fuse
lit
by
the
spark
of
imagination.’”
(Kearney
2004:175)
2](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/underemployedworkershandout-110704184441-phpapp02/85/Underemployed-Workers-Handout-2-320.jpg)
Underemployed Workers Handout
- 1. EDU 728 Culture and Work Presentation Spring 2011 Kimberly Renee Knowles Underemployed Workers in America Underutilized, Unpaid, and Unhappy “…politicians and the popular press have made a low unemployment rate the symbol of wellbeing for American families. Largely ignored have been the economic and emotional problems of those who are underemployed in jobs requiring significantly less education and work experience than they possess, often in positions offering much lower wages, fewer benefits, fewer working hours, and less job security than in their last jobs (Feldman 1996:385).” Primary Concepts to Consider: Re-‐remembering, Narrative, Fiction/Artistic Pursuits, Vocational Advice, Mimesis, Autopoeisis, and Imagination Quotes Re-‐remembering “To embrace the future, one must forget the past in a gesture of inauguration, beginning and rebeginning, as in rituals of initiation.” (Ricoeur 2004:504, paraphrasing Mark Augé in Les Formes de l’oubli) “What ‘godly diversion’ as Kierkegaard calls forgetting the worry to distingish it from ordinary distractions, would be capable of bringing man to consider: how glorious it is to be a human being? …Carefree memory on the horizon of concerned memory, the soul common to memory that forgets and does not forget.” (Ricoeur 2004:505, quoting Kierkegaard) Narrative “A conversation is an event during which several things take place: we evaluate ourselves and others, we tell and retell our story, we see the past, and we pose possibilities for the future.” (Herda 1999:72) “Stories allow us to mediate the past and the future to the present, to bring into one plot many inconsistencies in our lives.” (Herda 1997:37) Fiction/Artistic Pursuits “…the more we learn about emplotment in fiction, the more we learn to plot our own lives (that is how to combine and configure the various elements of our temporality and identity).” (Kearney 2004:171) “…art is, ‘an open-‐access laboratory of imaginative exploration.’” (Kearney quoted in Palmo 2010:142-‐3) “..by its mimetic intention, the world of fiction leads us to the heart of the real world of action.” (Ricoeur 1981:296) 1
- 2. EDU 728 Culture and Work Presentation Spring 2011 Kimberly Renee Knowles Vocational Advice “…if you are attracted to the most difficult books out of an urgent need, and can spare four years to devote yourself to them, go to college…but if this is not the case…the good news is you don’t have to go through the motions and jump through the hoops for the sake of making a decent living.” (Crawford 2009:53) “...[seek] out the cracks where individual agency and the love of knowledge can be realized today, in one’s own life.” (Crawford 2009:87) Mimesis “When we look at the already figured world, the take-‐for-‐granted world in mimesis1 we connect this to the new world we want to live in, mimesis3, we see ourselves in different capacities: we see a self enlarged by the appropriation of a proposed world which interpretation unfolds.” (Herda 1997a:62 quoted in Herda 1999:77) “With Mimesis2 opens the kingdom of the as if.” (Ricoeur 1984:64) Autopoeisis “Both organizations and people as living systems need to continuously renew and reconfigure themselves through a process whereby the integrity of each remains in place…successful leadership will encourage this process.” (Herda 1997:35, speaking of autopoeisis) Imagination “If we cannot imagine how our organizations could improve, we can never live in a world different from the current conditions.” (Herda 1999:77) “…the mode of being of the world opened up by the text is a mode of the possible, or better of the power-‐to-‐be: therein resides the subversive power of the imaginary.” (Ricoeur 1981:93) “Thinking poetically, acting poetically, dwelling poetically are all modalities of imagining poetically. They are ways of realizing the fundamental possibilities of what we are. For as Emily Dickinson wrote, ‘possibility is the fuse lit by the spark of imagination.’” (Kearney 2004:175) 2
- 3. EDU 728 Culture and Work Presentation Spring 2011 Kimberly Renee Knowles Bibliography Books/Articles/Dissertations Crawford, Matthew 2009 Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work. New York: The Penguin Press. Feldman, Daniel 1996 The Nature, Antecedents, and Consequences of Underemployment. Journal of Management 22:385-‐407. Herda, Ellen 1997 Global Economic Convergence and Emerging Forms of Social Organization. Paper presented at the World Multiconference on Systemic, Cybernetics and Informatics, Venezuela, July 7-‐11. 1999 Research Conversations and Narrative: A Critical Hermeneutic Orientation in Participatory Inquiry. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger. Jacobe, Dennis 2011 Gallup finds U.S. Unemployment at 10.2% in Mid-‐March. Gallup. Electronic Document, http://www.gallup.com/poll/146666/Gallup-‐Finds-‐Unemployment-‐Mid-‐ March.aspx, accessed April 28, 2011. Kearney, Richard 2004 On Paul Ricoeur: The Owl of Minerva. England: Ashgate Publishing Limited. Palmo, Maria 2010 The Artistic Process in Community Development: Disclosing Cultural Narrative and Identity Through Art Practices in Uganda. Ph.D. dissertation, School of Education, The University of San Francisco. Ricoeur, Paul 1981 Hermeneutics and the human sciences: Essays on language, action and interpretation: Cambridge: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge. 1984 Time and Narrative, vol. 1. Kathleen McLaughlin and David Pellauer, trans. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press. (originally published 1983) 2004 Memory, History, Forgetting. Kathleen Blamey and David Pellauer, translators. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Videos Couric, Katie 2004 Moms Moving Back Into the Workforce. Today Show. NBC, October 21. Stossel, John 2009 Is College Worth It? ABC 20/20. ABC, January 16. 3
- 4. EDU 728 Culture and Work Presentation Spring 2011 Kimberly Renee Knowles Vargas, Elizabeth 2009 Down But Not Out: From Hedge Funds to Pizza Delivery. ABC 20/20. ABC, March 20. Images Gordon, Jullien 2009 Letter to an MBA. The Purpose Finder. Electronic Document, http://julliengordon.mvmt.com/2009/11/26/letter-‐to-‐an-‐mba/ Hybrid Lava 2010 Stunning and Beautiful Digital Manipulation Art. Hybrid Lava: for Web Designers, Designers, and Tech Geeks. Electronic Document, http://www.hybridlava.com/odd-‐ stuff/stunning-‐and-‐beautiful-‐digital-‐manipulation-‐art/, accessed April 28, 2011. Kobliner, Beth 2010 Malemployment on the Rise. Beth’s Blog. Electronic Document, http://www.bethkobliner.com/beths-‐blog/tag/college?currentPage=2, accessed April 28, 2011. Undercover Dragon 2008 Oman Reduces Oil Price Assumption for 2009 Budget from $55 to $45. Muscat Confidential (blog). Electronic Document, http://muscatconfidential.blogspot.com/, accessed April 28, 2001. 4