Therapy Culture:Cultivating Vu

by Furedi,Frank

• ISBN13: 9780415321600
• ISBN10: 0415321603
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-11-19
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

We air our feelings and dirty laundry on television talk shows. Many Americans rely on advice from a therapist to get them through daily crises and boost our self-esteem. The news media constantly relays stories of people "at risk". And our lunch conversations are sprinkled with the phrases "scarred for life," "emotionally fragile", and "How did I get here." Frank Furedi, author of the critically acclaimedParanoid Parenting, turns his sharp eye to explore the powerful influence of therapeutic imperative in contemporary society in his latest bookTherapy Culture. In recent decades virtually every sphere of life has become subject to a new emotional culture. Furedi suggests that the recent cultural turn toward the realm of the emotions coincides with a radical redefinition of who we are. Increasingly vulnerability is presented as the defining feature of our psyches. Furedi questions the widely accepted notions that this new culture represents an enlightened shift towards emotionsand shows how this turn is primarily about imposing a new conformity through the management of our emotions. Through framing the problem of everyday life through the prism of emotions, therapy culture incites everyone to feel powerless and ill. Drawing on developments in popular culture, politics, and social life, Furedi provides a path-breaking analysis of modern life.

Table of Contents

List of figures	vii
Acknowledgements	ix
Introduction	1	(23)
The culture of emotionalism	24	(20)
The politics of emotion	44	(22)
Targeting privacy and informal relations	66	(18)
How did we get here?	84	(22)
The diminished self	106	(21)
The self at risk	127	(16)
Fragile identity: hooked on self-esteem	143	(19)
Conferring recognition: the quest for identity and the state	162	(13)
Therapeutic claims-making and the demand for a diagnosis	175	(20)
Final thoughts: does it matter?	195	(10)
Notes	205	(21)
Bibliography	226	(11)
Index	237