Saving the Modern Soul: Therapy, Emotions, and the Culture of Self-Help
by Eva Illouz
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Description
The language of psychology is all-pervasive in American culture-from The Sopranos to Oprah, from the abundance of self-help books to the private consulting room, and from the support group to the magazine advice column. Saving the Modern Soul examines the profound impact of therapeutic discourse on our lives and on our contemporary notions of identity. Eva Illouz plumbs today's particular cultural moment to understand how and why psychology has secured its place at the core of modern show more identity. She examines a wide range of sources to show how self-help culture has transformed contemporary emotional life and how therapy complicates individuals' lives even as it claims to dissect their emotional experiences and heal trauma. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
4.5 braaaahhh wat the fuck
enjoyed how she tied communication to class and gender / intimacy as an emotional commodity / communication as language ideology
need to reread this
also want to see her connect this to other constructs of identity
also love her writing style so many as satisfying ass quotes
“What Weber describes here is the most powerful form of preservation of the status quo, namely the retrospective explaining and therefore legitimizing of good or bad fortune by hidden virtue or vice. Psychology resuscitates such forms of theodicy with a vengeance. In the therapeutic ethos there is no such thing as senseless suffering and chaos, and this is why, in the final analysis, its cultural impact should worry us.”
Excerpt From
Saving show more the Modern Soul
Unknown
This material may be protected by copyright. show less
enjoyed how she tied communication to class and gender / intimacy as an emotional commodity / communication as language ideology
need to reread this
also want to see her connect this to other constructs of identity
also love her writing style so many as satisfying ass quotes
“What Weber describes here is the most powerful form of preservation of the status quo, namely the retrospective explaining and therefore legitimizing of good or bad fortune by hidden virtue or vice. Psychology resuscitates such forms of theodicy with a vengeance. In the therapeutic ethos there is no such thing as senseless suffering and chaos, and this is why, in the final analysis, its cultural impact should worry us.”
Excerpt From
Saving show more the Modern Soul
Unknown
This material may be protected by copyright. show less
Eine geballte Ladung Soziologie wird auf Intimität, Habitus und Gefühle im Kapitalismus losgelassen. Für eine Rezension zu komplex und detailliert. Augenöffnend.
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Modern Emotions
18 works; 1 member
Therapeutic Society
61 works; 1 member
Author Information
37+ Works 843 Members
Eva Illouz is Professor of Sociology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Common Knowledge
- Original title
- Saving the Modern Soul: Therapy, Emotions, and the Culture of Self-Help
- Epigraph
- The tragedy of the modern spirit consists in that it has
“solved the enigma of the universe,” only to replace it
with the enigma of itself.
Alexandre Koyre, Newtonian Studies
To be sure, the concept of enlightenment must not be too
restricted methodologically, for, as I understand it, it embraces
more than just logical deduction and empirical verification,
but rather, beyond these two, th... (show all)e will and the ability to
speculate phenomenologically, to empathize, to approach
the limits of reason. . . . Emotions? For all I care, yes. Where
is it decreed that enlightenment must be free of emotion? To
me the opposite seems to be true.
Enlightenment can properly fulfill its task only if it sets
to work with passion.
—Jean Amery
By words one person can make another blissfully happy
or drive him to despair, by words the teacher conveys his
knowledge to his pupils. Words provoke affects and are in
general the means of mutual influence among me... (show all)n.
—Sigmund Freud - First words
- Studies and critiques of therapy have steadily accumulated for the past
three decades. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)In the therapeutic ethos there is no such thing as senseless suffering and chaos, and this is why, in the final analysis, its cultural impact should worry us.
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, Sociology, General Nonfiction, Philosophy, History
- DDC/MDS
- 306.4 — Society, Government, and Culture Social sciences, sociology & anthropology Social Behavior - Dating, Marriage, Divorce Specific aspects of culture
- LCC
- HN90 .M6 .I35 — Social sciences Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform Social history and conditions. Social problems. By region or country
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 55
- Popularity
- 553,969
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (4.50)
- Languages
- English, German, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 7
