Foucault speaks of the formation of an individual’s identity, or the process of becoming someone else, as a worthy game. For postmodernists, it is considered a life-long process of reconstruction and re-evaluation. The identities that are the focus of this research are psychiatrists, but also the self. This research follows previous post-graduate research that reflected on knowledge, power, space, surveillance, the body and organisational control. The major questions of this earlier research was; “What constituted normality in the work place and who were the arbiters of this normality” Chapter one of this work - Psychiatrists in Post-modernity, introduces the research project through the research questions, motivation for the project and the challenges to be met. Chapter two is a theoretical chapter that presents Post-modern Philosophical Perspective and discusses the history of development of post-modern thought in social research. Chapter three – History, Myth and Reality, places today’s psychiatry in Australia, in historical context. Chapter four – People, Politics and Purpose, considers the current state of mental health policy in Australia. Chapter five – Methodology and Methods, considers the methodological debate in the social sciences between qualitative and quantitative research methods. Chapter six – Outcomes and Interpretation presents an interpretation of the research interviews and discusses the connections and possible meanings of the stories told by psychiatrists, within the context of the post-modern philosophical perspective. Chapter seven – Post-modern Psychiatry considers the question: is there or can there be a post-modern psychiatry? It takes the interpretations, connections and meanings from Chapter six and locates them in the wider social context of the Australian National Mental Health Strategy / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

published_or_final_version / Sociology / Master / Master of Social Sciences