Details

Affect, Alienation, and Politics in Therapeutic Culture


Affect, Alienation, and Politics in Therapeutic Culture

Capitalism on the Skin

von: Suvi Salmenniemi

117,69 €

Verlag: Palgrave Macmillan
Format: PDF
Veröffentl.: 12.08.2022
ISBN/EAN: 9783031105722
Sprache: englisch

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Beschreibungen

<p>This book contributes to research on therapeutic culture by drawing on longstanding ethnographic work and by offering a new theoretical reading of therapeutic culture in today's society<b>.&nbsp;</b>It suggests that the therapeutic field serves as a key site in which a number of contradictions of capitalism are confronted and lived out. It shows that therapeutic engagements are inherently ambivalent and contradictory, as they can be articulated and engaged with in many different ways and harnessed for diverse, and often contradictory, political projects. The book takes issue with the interpretation of therapeutic culture as merely individualising, depoliticizing and working in congruence with neoliberalism, and shows that therapeutic engagements may also open up a space for contestation and critique of neoliberal capitalism, animate collective action for social change and articulate alternative forms of life and subjectivities. The book will speak to a wide variety of audiences in the social sciences and will be of particular interest to those working in the fields of sociology, anthropology, critical psychology, cultural studies, gender studies, and critical social theory.<br></p>
<p>1 Introduction.-2 Crystals, Care, and Consciousness Raising: Politics in the Therapeutic Field.-3 Cage, Machine, and Whip: Alienation in Performance Society.-4 Recognition: Contesting Mainstream Marginality.-5 The Ties that Bind: Affect in Therapeutic Engagements.-6 The Deep Story of Femininity: Politics of Gender in the Therapeutic Field.-7 Conclusion</p><p>&nbsp;</p> &nbsp;<p></p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<b>Suvi Salmenniemi</b>&nbsp;is Professor of sociology at the University of Turku, Finland. Her areas of expertise include therapeutic culture, political sociology, cultural studies, feminist research, ethnography and critical social theory.<br>
<p>“This book represents a much-awaited study of the uses of therapeutic practices by people who try to navigate the uncertainties in which capitalist societies have thrown them. Written lucidly, it engages the reader in the best of cultural analysis: a discourse as powerful and hegemonic as psychology turns out to be politically ambivalent and a useful tool to empower the self.”- Eva Illouz, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.</p>

<p>This book contributes to research on therapeutic culture by drawing on longstanding ethnographic work and by offering a new theoretical reading of therapeutic culture in today's society<b>.&nbsp;</b>It suggests that the therapeutic field serves as a key site in which a number of contradictions of capitalism are confronted and lived out. It shows that therapeutic engagements are inherently ambivalent and contradictory, as they can be articulated and engaged with in many different ways and harnessed for diverse, and often contradictory, political projects. The book takes issue with the interpretation of therapeutic culture as merely individualising, depoliticizing and working in congruence with neoliberalism, and shows that therapeutic engagements may also open up a space for contestation and critique of neoliberal capitalism, animate collective action for social change and articulate alternative forms of life and subjectivities. The book will speak to a wide variety of audiences in the social sciences and will be of particular interest to those working in the fields of sociology, anthropology, critical psychology, cultural studies, gender studies, and critical social theory.</p>

<p><b>Suvi Salmenniemi</b> is Professor of sociology at the University of Turku, Finland. Her areas of expertise include therapeutic culture, political sociology, cultural studies, feminist research, ethnography and critical social theory.</p>
Offers an ethnographic interpretation of therapeutic culture Engages with a range of theories including articulation theory, critical theory and feminist theory Argues that the therapeutic field serves as a lens through which to understand the realities of capitalism
“This book represents a much-awaited study of the uses of therapeutic practices by people who try to navigate the uncertainties in which capitalist societies have thrown them. Written lucidly, it engages the reader in the best of cultural analysis: a discourse as powerful and hegemonic as psychology turns out to be politically ambivalent and a useful tool to empower the self.”- Eva Illouz, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.<p></p>“As, on the one hand, contemporary capitalism goes digital and develops unforeseen powers of Big Data and algorithmic surveillance, on the other hand it creeps and crawls under our skins, steering our affects, yearnings, fears and emotions from the inside in a therapeutic culture geared towards self-optimization even when it comes in a wholly different guise. It is this latter aspect that Suvi Salmenniemi’s eye-opening new book takes on and explores in a highly original ethnographic approach.” - Hartmut Rosa, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany.<p></p><p></p>“A thoroughly theorised, well researched and beautifully nuanced account of therapeutic culture. Suvi Salmenniemi’s latest book makes a vital contribution to our understanding of the growing popularity of therapeutic culture, engagements with therapeutic practices and discourses, and the ways these are lived out on an affective level. Motivated by curiosity, and a commitment to tracing ambiguities and contradictions, the book provides a well-rounded account of the ambivalences and contradictions of therapeutic engagements. Salmenniemi’s focus on a range of aspects of the therapeutic field, including its political potential, processes of alienation, practitioners’ struggles for recognition, affect and gendered dynamics provides the basis for a timely and original analysis of the therapeutic field. A must-read for students, scholars and wider audiences interested in therapeutic culture” - Christina Scharff, King’s College London, UK<p></p><p></p>“Affect, Alienation, andPolitics in Therapeutic Culture: Capitalism on the Skin is a pathbreaking study of therapeutic seeking. This book offers theoretically sophisticated insight into therapeutic practices in neoliberal societies. Salmenniemi centres on in-depth portrayals of the experiences of women navigating the therapeutic domain. These portrayals provide a lens for exploring not only therapeutic practices but also challenges inhering in living in the contemporary capitalist world. Through understanding therapeutic engagement as deeply political, and as a means of navigating systemic problems within capitalist societies, Affect, Alienation, and Politics in Therapeutic Culture offers genuinely novel ways of making sense of the expansion and meaning of therapeutic seeking. Affect, Alienation, and Politics in Therapeutic Culture is indispensable reading for future scholarship on therapeutic engagement” - Eeva Sointu, York St John University, UK.<p></p>