The article I am going to propose is a reflection on the theme of recognition in working and social contexts, and focuses on problems and troubles people cope with in this historical moment. This is a period during which reciprocity and recognition relationships involving our education and work career seem to have no more value, because the world of work now focuses on involving people in production and does not care about involved subjects' life plans. I also wish to point (...) out risks and sufferance affecting subjects who perceive with always greater precision that they are more and more often oppressed by labor and mind exploitation, rather than considered human resources with a working competence who can participate in a wider project. (shrink)

This article focuses on cultural misunderstanding in care relations, starting from the analysis of the effects misunderstanding causes in the relation between doctor and migrant patient. The Western medical model tends to be based on objective data, which can be diagnosed through more and more precise and detailed techniques, but it excludes human and cultural aspects of subjectivity and relation from care. This exclusion creates distance, which increases when doctor and patient do not share a cultural homogeneity but differ for (...) their language and the way they conceive their body, health, and disease. By showing some clinical examples, this contribution points out how specialized competence can cause dark areas of obscurity, disagreement, and misunderstanding, although being successful in many distressing situations. The interpretation of misunderstanding in the field of healthcare delimits our observation to disease, treatment, and the relation between doctor and patient, but the identification and comprehension of misunderstanding are possible also, focusing our attention on the organizational and institutional environment where misunderstanding takes place. (shrink)

This reflection addresses a very important topic for care professions, with a special look at psychotherapy. To clarify the role of subjectivity and the birth and maturation of a professional role,...