Saving the modern soul : therapy, emotions, and the culture of self-help / Eva Illouz.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 249-286) and index.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

1. Introduction : A cultural sociology of the therapeutic -- The therapy as an new emotional style -- Texts and contexts -- Cultural critique and the psychology -- 2. Freud: a cultural innovator : Psychoanalysis as a charismatic enterprise -- The social organization of Freudian charisma -- Freud in America -- The Freudian cultural matrix -- The romance of psychology and popular culture -- Conclusion -- 3. From Homo economicus to Homo communicans -- Emotional control in the sociology of organizations -- The power of control and the control of power -- Psychologists enter the market -- A new emotional style -- Emotional control -- The communicative ethic as the spirit of the corporation -- Emotional, moral, and professional competence -- Conclusion -- 4. The tyranny of intimacy -- Intimacy: an increasingly cold haven -- Beyond their will? Psychologists and marriage -- What feminism and psychology have in common -- Intimacy: a new emotional imagination -- Communicative rationality in the bedroom -- Toward the ideology of the pure emotion -- The cooling of passion -- Conclusions -- 5. Triumphant suffering -- Why therapy triumphed -- The therapeutic narrative of selfhood -- Performing the self through therapy -- a narrative in action -- Conclusion -- 6. A new emotional stratification? -- The rise of emotional competence -- Emotional intelligence and its antecedents -- The global therapeutic habitus and the new man -- Intimacy as a social good -- Conclusion -- 7. Conclusion : Institutional pragmatism in the study of culture.

"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 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"--Provided by publisher.

English.

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