Control and Consolation in American Culture and Politics: Rhetoric of Therapy / Edition 1

by Dana L. Cloud

Overview

In this perceptive analysis, Dana Cloud traces the replacement of social and political activism by the pursuit of personal, psychological change. She identifies the new movement as the "rhetoric of therapy", where a persuasive cultural discourse that applies concepts such as coping and adapting replaces active attempts to reform flawed systems of social and political power. Cloud focuses on the therapeutic discourse that emerged after the Vietnam War and links its rise to specific political and economic interests.

Critical case studies identify the extent to which therapeutic discourses are persuasive, including: the rhetoric of "family values"; media coverage of "support groups" during the Gulf War; Gloria Steinem's Revolution from Within; the film Thelma and Louise; and literature of the New Age Movement.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761905073
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	11/26/1997
Series:	Rhetoric and Society series , #1
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.46(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction
On Therapy and the Therapeutic
Perspectives on the Therapeutic
The Therapeutic History
Inventing and Disciplining the Modern Self
Family Therapies
From the White House to the Hood
The Support Group Nation
The Therapeutics of Feminism
From Self-Esteem to Suicide
The New Age of Post-Marxism
Conclusion
Antidotes to the Therpeutic Hegemony

Editorial Reviews

Cloud (speech communication, U. of Texas-Austin) describes the shift in American culture from social and political activism to the pursuit of personal psychological change, and attributes it to the rhetoric of therapy. She finds that the rhetoric applies the constructive language of healing, coping, adaptation, and the restoration of a previous existing order to social and political conflict, and argues that the misdirection is intended to protect flawed systems of social and political power from reform. Her case studies include family values, support groups during the Persian Gulf War, Gloria Steinem's , the film , and literature of the New Age Movement. She also suggests how to resist the pressure. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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