Affect, Alienation, and Politics in Therapeutic Culture

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. 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.

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

Autorentext

Suvi Salmenniemi 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.

Inhalt

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