In several industries, projects are now the normal form of work for individuals. The consequences of project work have not so far been subject to critical inquiry, however. This implies inquiry not only on how people handle project work at work, it also means inquiring into how they live their lives when working by projects. In this paper, we study this from a constructionist gender perspective, in which project work is seen as an ongoing construction of patterns of femininity and masculinity in society. The aim of the paper is to contribute to an understanding of how project work is related to the ongoing construction of femininity and masculinity in the work and lives of human beings. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2006.
In this article, we argue that an increased focus on the processes of projectification would be beneficial to project research. By introducing a distinction between narrow and broad conceptualisations of projectification, we extend this research area from its current concern with the increased primacy of projects in contemporary organisational structures into an interest for cultural and discursive processes in society in which notions of projects are invoked. Through an illustration from our earlier empirical research on the sustenance of project work form and the consequences thereof, the implications of applying broad conceptualisations are further discussed.
Stress and depression consistently elevate inflammation. Stress and depression are often experienced simultaneously, which is exemplified by people in troubled relationships. Troubled relationships also elevate inflammation, which may be partially explained by their ability to engender high levels of stress and depression. People who are stressed, depressed, or in troubled relationships are also at greater risk for health problems than their less distressed counterparts. Inflammation, a risk factor for a variety of age-related diseases including cardiovascular disease, Type II diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and frailty, may be one key mechanistic pathway linking distress to poor health. Obesity may further broaden the health implications of stress and depression; people who are stressed or depressed are often overweight, and adipose tissue is a major source of proinflammatory cytokines. Stress, depression, and troubled relationships may have synergistic inflammatory effects; loneliness, subclinical depression, and major depression enhance inflammatory responses to an acute stressful event. The relationship between distress and inflammation is bi-directional; depression enhances inflammation and inflammation promotes depression. Interesting questions emerge from this literature. For instance, some stressors may be more potent than others and thus may be more strongly linked to inflammation. In addition, it is possible that psychological and interpersonal resources may buffer the negative inflammatory effects of stress. Understanding the links among stress, depression, troubled relationships and inflammation is an exciting area of research that may provide mechanistic insight into the links between distress and poor health.
The sequelae of cancer treatment may increase systemic inflammation and create a phenotype at increased risk of functional decline and comorbidities, leading to premature mortality. Little is known about how this trajectory compares with natural aging among peers of the same age without cancer. This longitudinal study investigated proinflammatory cytokines and comorbidity development over time among breast cancer survivors and a noncancer control group.
MethodsWomen (N = 315; 209 with breast cancer and 106 in the control group) were recruited at the time of their work-up for breast cancer; they completed the baseline questionnaire, interview, and blood draw (lipopolysaccharide-stimulated production of interleukin [IL] -6, tumor necrosis factor-a, and IL-1b). Measures were repeated 6 and 18 months after primary cancer treatment (cancer survivors) or within a comparable time frame (control group).
ResultsThere were no baseline differences in comorbidities or cytokines between survivors and the control group. Over time, breast cancer survivors had significantly higher tumor necrosis factor-a and IL-6 compared with the control group. Survivors treated with surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy accumulated a significantly greater burden of comorbid conditions and suffered greater pain associated with inflammation over time after cancer treatment than did the control group.
ConclusionSurvivors who had multimodal treatment had higher cytokines and comorbidities, suggestive of accelerated aging. Comorbidities were related to inflammation in this sample, which could increase the likelihood of premature mortality. Given that many comorbidities take years to develop, future research with extended follow-up beyond 18 months is necessary to examine the evidence of accelerated aging in cancer survivors and to determine the responsible mechanisms.
In this article, we study emotional processes associated with the project management discourse. Employing a constructionist approach where emotions are experienced within an ordering discursive context, the study identifies four distinct emotional processes associated with the invocation of the project management discourse in daily work practices. From a study of theatre and opera house employees, we suggest that the project management discourse tends to normalize feelings of rigidity and weariness in project-based work, while emphasizing projects as extraordinary settings creating thrill and excitement. Moreover, we argue that this discourse is invoked in ways that lead individuals to internalize emotional states related to chaos and anxiety, while ascribing feelings of certainty and confidence to external organizational norms and procedures. The study highlights how employees construct project-based work as a promise of exciting adventures experienced under conditions of rational control, but also how the negative and suppressed aspects of project-based work are constructed as inevitable and to be endured. Through these emotional processes, the project management discourse is sustained and reinforced.
In this paper, we examine how the discourses related to project‐based work and management are drawn upon in the organising of contemporary work, and the implications they have for project workers. We are interested in how project workers and projectified organisations become vulnerable to decline, decay and exhaustion and why they continue to participate in, and so sustain, projectification processes. The critical perspective taken here, in combination with our empirical material from the ICT sector, surfaces an irreversible decline of the coping capacity of project workers and draws attention to the addictive perception of resilience imposed on and internalised by them as a condition of success and longevity. Under those circumstances, resilience is made sense of and internalised as coping with vulnerability by letting some elements of life being destroyed; thus re‐emerging as existentially vulnerable rather than avoiding or resisting the structures and processes that perpetuate vulnerability.
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