Von der Gesellschaftsgeschichte zur Zeitgeschichte des Selbst – und zurück

Eitler, Pascal; Elberfeld, Jens

doi:10.1515/9783839430842-001

Cited by 4 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…Sensitivity training was also introduced at a time when psychotherapy was gaining in importance and influence in Sweden; a process in line with other Western democracies (see, e.g., Eitler & Elberfeld, 2015; Illouz, 2008; Marks, 2018; Maasen et al, 2011; Rosner, 2018; Tändler, 2011). As already mentioned, one of the central goals of sensitivity training was that the participants would become better aware of their own and others’ emotions and behaviors and learn how to express themselves—and particularly their emotions—in an authentic and spontaneous way.…”

Section: Learning To Be Authenticmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This book is highly important to the study, not only because its explicit aim is to present "consumer information" about sensitivity training to a general audience but also because it demonstrates how sensitivity trainers from the PA-council, such as the social psychologist and consultant Jonas Kjellin, and journalists like Ramsby, collaborated in launching the new method (Kjellin & Ramsby, 1972, p. 63). 4 As I will demonstrate in the following, the case of sensitivity training in Sweden offers important new insights into the field of cultural research concerned with "therapeutic culture," "therapeutic discourse," or the "therapeutization" of Western societies in the second half of the 20th century (Amouroux et al, 2021;Eitler & Elberfeld, 2015;Marks, 2018;Maasen et al, 2011;Rose, 1996, pp. 156-168;Rosner, 2018;Tändler & Jensen, 2012;Wright, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As I will demonstrate in the following, the case of sensitivity training in Sweden offers important new insights into the field of cultural research concerned with “therapeutic culture,” “therapeutic discourse,” or the “therapeutization” of Western societies in the second half of the 20th century (Amouroux et al, 2021; Eitler & Elberfeld, 2015; Marks, 2018; Maasen et al, 2011; Rose, 1996, pp. 156–168; Rosner, 2018; Tändler & Jensen, 2012; Wright, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to this narrative, the psychologically liberating practices traveled “from hippie to yuppie”: the once politically radical effort to liberate people through a collective emancipatory project paved the way for later individualistic and economized manifestations of the original ideal (Binkley, 2007, pp. 13–15; Eitler & Elberfeld, 2015, p. 22; Elberfeld, 2015; pp. 80f.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The crying boss: Activating “human resources” through sensitivity training in 1970s Sweden

Tillema

2023

J History Behavioral Science

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This article examines the introduction of “sensitivity training” to 1970s Swedish work life. Drawing upon a range of empirical materials, I explore the politics that were involved in the process of translating and adapting this group dynamic method to the Swedish context and consider how its proponents argued for its value. By approaching sensitivity training as an attempt to govern, shape, and regulate both human beings and the work organizations of which they were a part, I argue that sensitivity training presents an unexpectedly early example of a governing rationality that has elsewhere been described and theorized as “neoliberal.” The fact that sensitivity training was established in Swedish work life already in the early 1970s thus challenges the historiography of neoliberal modes of government, which have elsewhere been associated with a neoliberal shift in state policies occurring in the 1980s and 1990s. The article demonstrates how emotionally liberating practices in the late 1960s and early 1970s were embraced by some of the most politically influential actors in contemporary Swedish society, such as the corporate sector and the trade unions. As blue‐collar trade unions and social democrats voiced increasingly far‐reaching demands concerning workplace democracy and improved workplace conditions, advocates of sensitivity training presented their method as crucial to the process of “democratizing” and “humanizing” Swedish work life. Intimately associated with the new therapies of humanistic psychology, sensitivity training was used within the corporate sector to foster a more emotional and authentic leadership style that would embrace the values of emotional awareness, self‐expression, and self‐actualization. The crying boss emerged in this context as a key figure in the project of creating a “democratic” and psychologically satisfying organization. Yet, sensitivity training was also described as a means for companies to make better use of what was now asserted as their most important economic asset: the human being. From the outset, the idealistic vision of an emotionally liberated, democratic workplace was thus entangled with a specific kind of economic rationality, in which the emotionally liberated, self‐actualizing individual emerged as a capital or asset that would be better utilized if the organization allowed—even encouraged—employees to engage in their own well‐being and self‐optimization.

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Section: Learning To Be Authenticmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The crying boss: Activating “human resources” through sensitivity training in 1970s Sweden

Tillema

2023

J History Behavioral Science

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“…Even if no “sociology of the self” has been established as a professional label, the topic indisputably looks back on longer traditions of activities and works. The interweaving of the term “self” with the dazzling concept of “subject” will have contributed to this; especially in recent times, there is a struggle for new definitions of relations (e.g., Eitler & Elberfeld, 2015; Reckwitz, 2015). In the shadow of long-dominant theoretical perspectives such as individualization and social construction, the self seemed to have the status of a linguistic appendage.…”

Section: The Processual Nature Of the Self From A Psychological And A...mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Processed Processor: The Processual Nature of the Self

Herma,

Greve

2023

Review of General Psychology

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The contribution deals with the question of the constitution and persistence of the “self,” linking psychological and sociological approaches. The central interface of this linkage is derived from the process character of the self. It is argued that transdisciplinary work aiming at this common conceptual core will be prove particularly fruitful. After discussing the status of the term “the self” in both science and everyday usage, conceptual arguments and definitions (in contrast to related terms such as ego, individual, person, or subject) are examined. A third step provides a synopsis of established approaches and arguments both from psychological and sociological perspectives, offering points of convergence for a metadisciplinary concept of the self. The proposed process character of the self is discussed with respect to language pragmatics, memory performance, and body boundedness. The final section sums up the lines of argumentation and emphasizes intended inspiration for interdisciplinary discussion.

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Nichts anderes als Selbstoptimierung?

Fiedel

2023

Praktiken Der Subjektivierung

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Nur wer sein eigenes Leben in die Hand nimmt, kann erfolgreich und glücklich sein - so das neoliberale Versprechen, das sich in therapeutischen Subjektentwürfen widerspiegelt. Zugleich setzt Psychotherapie an, wo dieses Versprechen brüchig wird. Wie werden die Brüche des neoliberalen Subjektentwurfs in der Psychotherapie bearbeitet? Und was bedeutet das für die gesellschaftliche Rolle von Psychotherapie? Auf der Basis ethnografischer Beobachtungen geht Lotta Fiedel der Ambivalenz von Psychotherapie auf den Grund. Dabei erschließt sie Psychotherapie aus praxeologisch-poststrukturalistischer Perspektive und eröffnet einen überraschenden Blick auf die Materialität therapeutischer Praxis.

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Von der Gesellschaftsgeschichte zur Zeitgeschichte des Selbst – und zurück

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

The crying boss: Activating “human resources” through sensitivity training in 1970s Sweden

The crying boss: Activating “human resources” through sensitivity training in 1970s Sweden

A Processed Processor: The Processual Nature of the Self

Nichts anderes als Selbstoptimierung?

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