The Rise of the Therapeutic Society

Download or read book The Rise of the Therapeutic Society written by Katie Wright and published by New Acdemia+ORM. This book was released on 2015-02-25 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An examination of the Western world’s contemporary fascination with psychological life, and the historical developments that fostered it. In this book, sociologist Katie Wright traces the ascendancy of therapeutic culture, from nineteenth-century concerns about nervousness, to the growth of psychology, the diffusion of an analytic attitude, and the spread of therapy and counseling, using Australia as a focal point. Wright’s analysis, which draws on social theory, cultural history, and interviews with therapists and people in therapy, calls into question the pessimism that pervades many accounts of the therapeutic turn and provides an alternative assessment of its ramifications for social, political, and personal life in the globalized West. Special Commendation, TASA Raewyn Connell Prize