Ole Jacob Madsen
Biographic Data
| ID | 348947 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ole Jacob Madsen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ole Jacob |
| FAMILY NAME | Madsen |
| SIGNATURE | MADSEN O J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Oslo |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9204-3275 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 20 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 20 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Rebels With a Cause
The influence of radical protests on public attitudes towards social movement actors and issues remains a critical inquiry. This systematic literature review examines the empirical evidence regarding radical effects. The analysis reveals that positive radical flank effects are frequent, though negative effects also occur, especially when protests involve violent tactics. The findings suggest that the clear distinction of moderate factions from ra…
The achievement society
Dissecting the achievement generation
The notion of the achievement society and the achievement generation has, in recent years, become an influential way of explaining the increase in mental health and psychosomatic complaints among Scandinavian youth. However, the theories produced about the social pathologies of twenty-first-century teenage life have been less inclined to empirically investigate the relevance of achievement among contemporary youth. We conducted focus groups and i…
Understanding digital disconnection beyond media studies
Digital disconnection or ‘digital detox’ has become a key reference point for media scholars interested in how media technology increasingly gains influence on our everyday lives. Digital disconnection from intrusive media is often intertwined with other types of human conduct, which is less highlighted. There is a potential for media scholars to engage with what seems to be a mainstreaming of digital disconnection from self-help literature via m…
It’s my definition of a relationship, even though it doesn’t fit yours’
One pervasive societal norm in Western societies is that of monogamy as the ‘natural’ way of practising relationships. Polyamorous individuals, who practise consensual non-monogamy, risk experiencing prejudice, discrimination, and marginalisation. The present study documents a thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with 11 Norwegian participants currently in polyamorous relationships, which resulted in three themes: (1) Wishing for normalisatio…
But what are we doing to that baby?’ Attachment, psy-Speak and designed order in social work
In this paper, we will examine how attachment has become imperative psychological vocabulary in social work. In a case study of social work practice in one Danish municipality, the use of attachment theory shows that the social workers have undeveloped professional insights into attachment theory, yet still use the concept to help comprehend difficult cases. However, their frequent use of the concepts ‘attachment’ and even ‘detachment’ appears th…
The Routledge International Handbook of Global Therapeutic Cultures
Routledge International Handbook of Global Therapeutic Cultures
“Nowadays there is gender ”
This article analyzes the intersection of psychology with global development policy and practice, reviewing how gender as a concept is negotiated and understood amongst men and women in rural Malawi. We argue that gender, considered from a psychological perspective, has been narrowed down to meet the standards of global policy actors. By empowering individuals to “self-actualize,” policy implementers expect social and economic spin-off effects su…
Exploring Local Knowledge on Climate Variability in Bangladesh
What Motivates Green Living? A Qualitative Investigation of Sustainable Life Choices
On the Relation Between Social Dominance Orientation and Environmentalism
Approval of hierarchy and inequality in society indexed by social dominance orientation (SDO) extends to support for human dominance over the natural world. We tested this negative association between SDO and environmentalism and the validity of the new Short Social Dominance Orientation Scale in two cross-cultural samples of students ( N = 4,163, k = 25) and the general population ( N = 1,237, k = 10). As expected, the higher people were on SDO,…
Co-benefits of addressing climate change can motivate action around the world
Optimizing the Self
The Therapeutic Turn
In what ways has psychology become more influential in Western society? In this book author Ole Jacob Madsen considers the notion of a ‘Therapeutic Turn’ in Western culture – the tendency for psychology to permeate ever new spheres within society. The Therapeutic Turn evaluates the increasing prevalence of psychology in several areas of Western society: Western consumer culture, contemporary Christianity, self-help, sport and politics. Madsen pro…
Governmentality
Psychology oblivious to psychology
George A. Miller’s presidential address to the American Psychological Association in 1969 urged psychologists “to give psychology away” in order to solve social problems related to human health and welfare, and has since become a standard reference for calls for social responsibility. But Miller also envisioned a psychological revolution that would ultimately change humankind’s concept of itself. In the decades that followed, according to numerou…
The mind is a brittle object
This article takes a historical look at abortion in Norway, especially the parliamentary debates and the legislation on selective abortion. By using metaphor theory and discourse analysis we disclose that mental health issues came into practice as a legitimate cause for selective abortion for women in Norway from the 1960s and recur in more recent debates about important amendments in 1996 and 2003. In order to abort, women must simultaneously ad…
I am a philosopher of the particular case’
When Ian Hacking won the Holberg International Memorial Prize 2009 his candidature was said to strengthen the legitimacy of the prize after years of controversy. Ole Jacob Madsen, Johannes Servan and Simen Andersen Øyen have talked to Ian Hacking about current questions in the philosophy and history of science
Me at My Best
This article examines "the therapeutic culture" in contemporary women's magazines. A qualitative content analysis of the leading Norwegian women's magazines KK and Tara reveals how psychological experts, self-help advice, and the presentation of the self reflects a therapeutic ethos which has become a norm for women, offering a manageable way of dealing with individual self-realization. Leading theorists on the modern self argue that therapeutic …
Lost in Paradise
This article examines the Norwegian and Danish versions of the reality television series Paradise Hotel. The reality show emulates what postmodern consumer society wants us to believe in: a kind of 'second transgression' for the human being, in which she is both free and without anxiety. The guests (predominantly male in line with prevailing gender norms) at Paradise Hotel may qualify as shameless-after spells of physical and psychological revela…
Me at My Best
This article examines "the therapeutic culture" in contemporary women's magazines. A qualitative content analysis of the leading Norwegian women's magazines KK and Tara reveals how psychological experts, self-help advice, and the presentation of the self reflects a therapeutic ethos which has become a norm for women, offering a manageable way of dealing with individual self-realization. Leading theorists on the modern self argue that therapeutic …
It’s my definition of a relationship, even though it doesn’t fit yours’
One pervasive societal norm in Western societies is that of monogamy as the ‘natural’ way of practising relationships. Polyamorous individuals, who practise consensual non-monogamy, risk experiencing prejudice, discrimination, and marginalisation. The present study documents a thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with 11 Norwegian participants currently in polyamorous relationships, which resulted in three themes: (1) Wishing for normalisatio…
I am a philosopher of the particular case’
When Ian Hacking won the Holberg International Memorial Prize 2009 his candidature was said to strengthen the legitimacy of the prize after years of controversy. Ole Jacob Madsen, Johannes Servan and Simen Andersen Øyen have talked to Ian Hacking about current questions in the philosophy and history of science
Dissecting the achievement generation
The notion of the achievement society and the achievement generation has, in recent years, become an influential way of explaining the increase in mental health and psychosomatic complaints among Scandinavian youth. However, the theories produced about the social pathologies of twenty-first-century teenage life have been less inclined to empirically investigate the relevance of achievement among contemporary youth. We conducted focus groups and i…
But what are we doing to that baby?’ Attachment, psy-Speak and designed order in social work
In this paper, we will examine how attachment has become imperative psychological vocabulary in social work. In a case study of social work practice in one Danish municipality, the use of attachment theory shows that the social workers have undeveloped professional insights into attachment theory, yet still use the concept to help comprehend difficult cases. However, their frequent use of the concepts ‘attachment’ and even ‘detachment’ appears th…
Lost in Paradise
This article examines the Norwegian and Danish versions of the reality television series Paradise Hotel. The reality show emulates what postmodern consumer society wants us to believe in: a kind of 'second transgression' for the human being, in which she is both free and without anxiety. The guests (predominantly male in line with prevailing gender norms) at Paradise Hotel may qualify as shameless-after spells of physical and psychological revela…
Me at My Best
This article examines "the therapeutic culture" in contemporary women's magazines. A qualitative content analysis of the leading Norwegian women's magazines KK and Tara reveals how psychological experts, self-help advice, and the presentation of the self reflects a therapeutic ethos which has become a norm for women, offering a manageable way of dealing with individual self-realization. Leading theorists on the modern self argue that therapeutic …
Lost in Paradise
This article examines the Norwegian and Danish versions of the reality television series Paradise Hotel. The reality show emulates what postmodern consumer society wants us to believe in: a kind of 'second transgression' for the human being, in which she is both free and without anxiety. The guests (predominantly male in line with prevailing gender norms) at Paradise Hotel may qualify as shameless-after spells of physical and psychological revela…
The mind is a brittle object
This article takes a historical look at abortion in Norway, especially the parliamentary debates and the legislation on selective abortion. By using metaphor theory and discourse analysis we disclose that mental health issues came into practice as a legitimate cause for selective abortion for women in Norway from the 1960s and recur in more recent debates about important amendments in 1996 and 2003. In order to abort, women must simultaneously ad…
I am a philosopher of the particular case’
When Ian Hacking won the Holberg International Memorial Prize 2009 his candidature was said to strengthen the legitimacy of the prize after years of controversy. Ole Jacob Madsen, Johannes Servan and Simen Andersen Øyen have talked to Ian Hacking about current questions in the philosophy and history of science
The Therapeutic Turn
In what ways has psychology become more influential in Western society? In this book author Ole Jacob Madsen considers the notion of a ‘Therapeutic Turn’ in Western culture – the tendency for psychology to permeate ever new spheres within society. The Therapeutic Turn evaluates the increasing prevalence of psychology in several areas of Western society: Western consumer culture, contemporary Christianity, self-help, sport and politics. Madsen pro…
Governmentality
Psychology oblivious to psychology
George A. Miller’s presidential address to the American Psychological Association in 1969 urged psychologists “to give psychology away” in order to solve social problems related to human health and welfare, and has since become a standard reference for calls for social responsibility. But Miller also envisioned a psychological revolution that would ultimately change humankind’s concept of itself. In the decades that followed, according to numerou…
Co-benefits of addressing climate change can motivate action around the world
Optimizing the Self
Exploring Local Knowledge on Climate Variability in Bangladesh
What Motivates Green Living? A Qualitative Investigation of Sustainable Life Choices
On the Relation Between Social Dominance Orientation and Environmentalism
Approval of hierarchy and inequality in society indexed by social dominance orientation (SDO) extends to support for human dominance over the natural world. We tested this negative association between SDO and environmentalism and the validity of the new Short Social Dominance Orientation Scale in two cross-cultural samples of students ( N = 4,163, k = 25) and the general population ( N = 1,237, k = 10). As expected, the higher people were on SDO,…
The Routledge International Handbook of Global Therapeutic Cultures
Routledge International Handbook of Global Therapeutic Cultures
“Nowadays there is gender ”
This article analyzes the intersection of psychology with global development policy and practice, reviewing how gender as a concept is negotiated and understood amongst men and women in rural Malawi. We argue that gender, considered from a psychological perspective, has been narrowed down to meet the standards of global policy actors. By empowering individuals to “self-actualize,” policy implementers expect social and economic spin-off effects su…
Understanding digital disconnection beyond media studies
Digital disconnection or ‘digital detox’ has become a key reference point for media scholars interested in how media technology increasingly gains influence on our everyday lives. Digital disconnection from intrusive media is often intertwined with other types of human conduct, which is less highlighted. There is a potential for media scholars to engage with what seems to be a mainstreaming of digital disconnection from self-help literature via m…
It’s my definition of a relationship, even though it doesn’t fit yours’
One pervasive societal norm in Western societies is that of monogamy as the ‘natural’ way of practising relationships. Polyamorous individuals, who practise consensual non-monogamy, risk experiencing prejudice, discrimination, and marginalisation. The present study documents a thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with 11 Norwegian participants currently in polyamorous relationships, which resulted in three themes: (1) Wishing for normalisatio…
But what are we doing to that baby?’ Attachment, psy-Speak and designed order in social work
In this paper, we will examine how attachment has become imperative psychological vocabulary in social work. In a case study of social work practice in one Danish municipality, the use of attachment theory shows that the social workers have undeveloped professional insights into attachment theory, yet still use the concept to help comprehend difficult cases. However, their frequent use of the concepts ‘attachment’ and even ‘detachment’ appears th…
The achievement society
Dissecting the achievement generation
The notion of the achievement society and the achievement generation has, in recent years, become an influential way of explaining the increase in mental health and psychosomatic complaints among Scandinavian youth. However, the theories produced about the social pathologies of twenty-first-century teenage life have been less inclined to empirically investigate the relevance of achievement among contemporary youth. We conducted focus groups and i…
Rebels With a Cause
The influence of radical protests on public attitudes towards social movement actors and issues remains a critical inquiry. This systematic literature review examines the empirical evidence regarding radical effects. The analysis reveals that positive radical flank effects are frequent, though negative effects also occur, especially when protests involve violent tactics. The findings suggest that the clear distinction of moderate factions from ra…
Sociology (13 works) · Psychology (12 works) · Political science (10 works) · Social Psychology (9 works) · Law (6 works) · Politics (6 works) · Epistemology (5 works) · Environmental Education and Sustainability (4 works) · Social Psychology (4 works) · Early Childhood Education and Development (3 works)