{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,26]],"date-time":"2026-09-26T06:18:02Z","timestamp":1790403482511,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2010,12,24]],"date-time":"2010-12-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1293148800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":2032,"URL":"http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/termsAndConditions#vor"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["British J Social Psychol"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2005,6]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>The aim of this article is to explore the predicament of one man in difficult circumstances, in order to produce a psychosocial analysis that could contribute to a social psychological understanding of agency. After a brief review of the problem of dualism in theorizing agency and relevant developments in theories of self, and a critique of assumptions about unitary rational subjects, we emphasize the effects of unconscious conflict on choice and agency. We also identify the importance of including people's biographically motivated investments in specific discursive positions. Vince, a middle\u2010aged, working\u2010class man from the north of England, the subject of our case study, had already been faced with difficult choices in order to hold on to a job that was bad for him. Now the choice appeared to be taken out of his hands by an illness without a discernible organic base and with no prospect of improvement that, for 5 months, had forced him to be on sick leave. Our approach in this paper, based on interpretation of material from two interviews, is to detail the multiple and contradictory meanings of Vince's job to him. In each of three areas \u2013 the daily experience of the job, the meaning of having a respectable job, and Vince's relationship with his boss \u2013 we illustrate the power of a psychosocial analysis to escape the limitations of both voluntaristic and deterministic accounts of individual action. In conclusion we define the agent of choice in Vince's case as the divided psychosocial subject of unconscious conflict; a subject located in social realities mediated not only by social discourses but by psychic defences.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1348\/014466604x18983","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2005,6,26]],"date-time":"2005-06-26T23:42:39Z","timestamp":1119829359000},"page":"147-163","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":68,"title":["Panic and perjury: A psychosocial exploration of agency"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"44","author":[{"given":"Wendy","family":"Hollway","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tony","family":"Jefferson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2010,12,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_10_2_1","volume-title":"Pattern and growth in personality","author":"Allport G.W.","year":"1961"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4135\/9781446219140"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_4_1","volume-title":"The bonds of love","author":"Benjamin J.","year":"1988"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_5_1","volume-title":"Learning from experience","author":"Bion W.","year":"1962"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_6_1","volume-title":"In search of respect: Selling crack in El Barrio","author":"Bourgois P.","year":"1995"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_7_1","volume-title":"Acts of meaning","author":"Bruner J.","year":"1990"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_8_1","volume-title":"Goliath: Britain's dangerous places","author":"Campbell B.","year":"1993"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_9_1","volume-title":"The imaginary institution of society","author":"Castoriadis C.","year":"1987"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1525\/9780520924086"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_11_1","volume-title":"The power of feelings","author":"Chodorow N.","year":"1999"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_12_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4135\/9781446278963"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_13_1","volume-title":"Coal is our life","author":"Dennis N.","year":"1956"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_14_1","volume-title":"Social theory and psychoanalysis in transition","author":"Elliott A.","year":"1992"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_15_1","volume-title":"Concepts of the self","author":"Elliott A.","year":"2001"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_16_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1348\/014466603763276117"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_17_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/ejsp.2420190513"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_18_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-349-16161-4"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_19_1","volume-title":"Manhood in the making: Cultural concepts of masculinity","author":"Gilmore D.","year":"1993"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_20_1","volume-title":"Farewell to the working class: An essay on post\u2010industrial socialism","author":"Gorz A.","year":"1982"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_21_1","volume-title":"Critique of economic reason","author":"Gorz A.","year":"1989"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_22_1","first-page":"318","volume-title":"The self","author":"Harre R.","year":"1977"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_23_1","volume-title":"Changing the subject: Psychology, social regulation and subjectivity","author":"Hollway W.","year":"1984"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_24_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/13698030408405041"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_25_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.4135\/9781849209007","volume-title":"Doing qualitative research differently: Free association narrative and the interview method","author":"Hollway W.","year":"2000"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_26_1","volume-title":"Haven in a heartless world","author":"Lasch C.","year":"1977"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_27_1","volume-title":"Who's that girl? 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