'We can't live without beliefs': Self and society in therapeutic engagements

Abstract

<p>Therapeutic technologies of happiness, emotional wellbeing and self-improvement are a highly</p><p> influential cultural phenomenon and a rapidly growing business worldwide; yet little is known of</p><p> the motivations for engaging with these technologies. This article addresses this gap by investigating</p><p> how therapeutic engagements are experienced and what participants hope to gain from them.</p><p>Therapeutic technologies are conceived as psychologically informed regimes of knowledge and</p><p> practice which aim to transform one’s relationship to oneself and shape the ways in which one</p><p> makes sense of and acts upon oneself and the social world. Drawing on a set of interviews with</p><p> consumers of therapeutic technologies in Russia, the article identifies three key motivations for</p><p> engaging with such technologies: searching for new blueprints for ethical work on the self after</p><p> a profound transformation of the ideological field; coming to terms with new mechanisms of</p><p> inequality, particularly in the field of labour; and mobilizing therapeutic technologies as a response</p><p> to inadequacies in the field of health. By unpacking these motivations and subjective experiences of</p><p> therapeutic engagements, the article seeks to shed light on the growing popularity of therapeutic</p><p> technologies under contemporary capitalism.</p><p></p><p><br /></p>