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<div>"Work and Self-Development: an Interdisciplinary Conference" </div>
<p>November 10-11th, 2011, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.</p>
<p>Many people are worried about work, perhaps in more complex ways than ever <br>before. Young people entering work lack the orientation once provided by <br>established career paths, mid-life workers are often subject to <br>
disorienting shifts in role and difficulties finding the right ‘work-life’ <br>balance, and many people leaving work find their lives suddenly bereft of <br>meaning. It is widely believed that work has become increasingly stressful <br>
and demanding over the past few decades, with rises in levels of <br>depressive illness, psychological disorders related to low self-esteem, <br>and even suicides, attributed to it. At the same time, working provides <br>
people with opportunities to develop skills, capacities, and social <br>relations that can sustain a healthy sense of self -- opportunities that <br>might not be found in other spheres of modern life. </p>
<p>The aim of this conference is to throw light on the role of work in <br>processes of self-formation, self-realization, and pathologies of the <br>self. Papers are invited from any disciplinary or theoretical perspective <br>
that can illuminate the link between work and self-development. Papers <br>that address the following issues are especially welcome:</p>
<p>- Self-development is partly a matter of cognitive capacities reaching <br>maturation. How is the development of cognitive capacities affected, both <br>positively and negatively, by new types of work and patterns of working <br>
activity? </p>
<p>- Self-development also involves the formation of emotional capacities, <br>including the ability to have appropriate feelings. How are these affected <br>by work, especially work that involves emotional labour? </p>
<p>- How does working activity affect the development of social skills and <br>moral competences? In what ways, and to what extent, do the demands of <br>successful work undermine or help to sustain moral consciousness? </p>
<p>- Can changing levels of psychological illness, or for that matter <br>physical illness, be explained by changes in the organization of work? </p>
<p>- What practical measures can be introduced to address the pathologies of <br>self associated with working? </p>
<p>- In modern, liberal, pluralist societies, identities can be constructed <br>in many different ways. Is it legitimate, then, to claim that work has a <br>special role in self-formation? Is work central to self-development, or it <br>
just one possible determinant of it amongst others?</p>
<p>Abstracts of up to 300 words should be submitted no later than August 31st <br>to Dr Paul Taylor: <a href="mailto:paul.taylor@mq.edu.au" target="_blank">paul.taylor@mq.edu.au</a>.</p>
<p>Conference organisers: Prof Nicholas Smith and A/Prof Jean-Philippe <br>Deranty. <br>Conference coordinator: Dr Paul Taylor.<br clear="all"><br>-- <br></p>
<div>A/Prof Jean-Philippe Deranty</div>
<div>Acting Head of Department<br>Philosophy<br>Faculty of Arts<br>Macquarie University<br>NSW 2109<br>AUSTRALIA<br><br>tel: 61 2 9850 6773<br><br>staff page: <a href="http://www.phil.mq.edu.au/staff/deranty.htm" target="_blank">www.phil.mq.edu.au/staff/deranty.htm</a></div>
<br></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>
<div>----------------------------------------------------------<br>Dr Amanda Wise<br>Senior Research Fellow<br>Centre for Research on Social Inclusion, </div>
<div>Macquarie University NSW 2109<br>Ph: +61 2 9850-8835<br>Email: <a href="mailto:amanda.wise@mq.edu.au" target="_blank">amanda.wise@mq.edu.au</a></div><br>