expression in the advent of counseling for problems of everyday life. Psychological knowledge and therapeutic techniques went at least some way to providing strategies with which to manage the difficulties faced by ordinary people in an increasingly complex world.
Insofar as the interplay of gender and the therapeutic is concerned, the destabilization of the self, particularly the masculine self, has been of central importance. While this can be traced to the popularization of male nervous conditions in the late nineteenth century, the therapeutic continues in a variety of ways to challenge dominant notions of masculinity. Indeed during the late twentieth century, the therapeutic not only became more diffuse and multifaceted, but it increasingly assumed an emotional, humanistic, some might say feminized hue. It is through exploring these changing cultural dimensions and associated institutional practices that a central impulse of the therapeutic becomes evident, one concerned with the articulation of—and with attempts to remedy—experiences of suffering. This is apparent in the early period through the discourse of nerves and becomes more explicit in the latter part of the twentieth century, for example, in public revelations of personal distress and in the growth of counseling and therapy.
Given the enormity of the terrain, the account I establish is far from exhaustive. What I hope it offers, however, are some new insights into the therapeutic turn and an alternative way of thinking about its ramifications. Specifically, I begin from the premise that the undermining of cultural authority, which Rieff's incisive analysis revealed was central to the "triumph of the therapeutic," has had uneven and contradictory consequences. While Rieff's Freudian-inflected account found the breakdown of paternal authority particularly troubling, an alternate view of psychosocial development and gender relations invites a different reading. I do not approach this, however, in the way that has come to characterize feminist readings of both therapy and therapeutic culture—that is, to interpret the elaboration of the "psy-complex" as the social control of women, both through professional intervention into private life and normative constructions of femininity.
Rather, with an eye to elucidating the multiple ways in which gender and therapeutic culture intersect—and the largely overlooked issues around gender and suffering—I examine the emergence of a discursive space for the recognition of emotional aspects of life that have traditionally been regarded, and dismissed, as feminine. A somewhat different picture emerges when the weakening of cultural authority is understood as part of a reconfiguration of the cultural-symbolic logic of gender, a reconfiguration that involves shifts in the demarcation of public and private life, in normative prescriptions of masculinity and femininity, and in levels of social acceptability regarding suffering. The opening up of the private, the legitimizing of the emotional realm, and the speaking of the hitherto unspeakable, I argue, has engendered more complex consequences—particularly for women and marginalized groups—than dominant accounts have thus far suggested.8
The interpretive context for my analysis of the therapeutic society is elaborated in Chapter One, which provides a critical overview of the main strands in the history of debates about the therapeutic, and a discussion of the theoretical issues pertinent to my analysis. From conservative sociological critiques of moral decline to concerns about capitalist control, analyses of disciplinary discourses, and feminist objections to therapy, I question assumptions implicit in dominant approaches, notably those concerning the importance of traditional authority, the sanctity of private life, and the rise of the confessional. While theorization of the therapeutic over the last four decades has offered valuable insights into this cultural turn, their limitations became apparent in view of a critical reading of gender and authority. By examining presuppositions of the individual and the social that form the basis of these analyses, and by drawing on social theoretical traditions that offer a more ambivalent reading of twentieth century cultural change, I develop an alternative framework for theorizing. In the chapters that follow, this perspective is explored through empirically grounded research that pays heed to the struggles of ordinary people in dealing with changing social conditions.
Moving from the theoretical to the historical, Chapter Two examines the discursive construction of nervousness. Anxiety about the "stresses and strains of modern life," advances in medical and scientific knowledge, and a developing consumer culture intersected in late nineteenth century Australia. In the context of significant social upheaval, the problem of nerves formed a juncture of medical knowledge and cultural discourses, one in which dimensions of gender, class, and consumerism came together in an emerging therapeutic ethos. The chapter explores how the increasing prevalence and recognition of nervous disorder destabilized accepted ideas about the self, especially the male self, a process that intensified with the outbreak of World War I and in its aftermath. Related developments in the field of psychiatry are also traced, especially those associated with emerging ideologies of treatment and prevention—first physical and then psychological—that saw the bifurcated categories of madness and sanity disrupted.
From changing medical and cultural discourses of nerves to the ascendancy of a scientific discourse of the self, Chapter Three examines psychology as the formal foundation of the therapeutic society. During the early decades of the twentieth century the institutionalization of psychology laid the basis for a new understanding of the self—one in which the individual was comprehensible through scientific knowledge. Psychology's articulation of the self was compatible with the notion of the liberal subject as rational and controllable, and the public sphere was constructed as a domain that could be improved by psychometrics and workplace testing. The chapter charts the professionalization of psychology in Australia and traces how emerging psychological knowledges were applied in the spheres of education and work—long before clinical psychology or counseling had any significant impact. The discussion reveals how psychology legitimized a new approach to the individual, one that was secured first through the development of a scientific project, but which later found expression in a new emotional and relational orientation to private life.
While psychology in education and industry was primarily drawn upon as a "science of the self," Chapter Four explores how psychoanalytically informed ideas resonated at the broader cultural level. An examination of the model of reflexive selfhood disseminated through the popular media reveals how psychoanalytic and other strands of psychological knowledge both reinforced and destabilized important dimensions of the gender order. At the institutional level, the emergence of marriage guidance during the postwar years represents a significant historical moment in which the advent of professional intervention for problems of private life paved the way for the variety of therapies and counseling modalities that emerged in subsequent decades. The nexus of professional self-interest and public education is explored through the marketing campaigns of the Australian Psychological Society, and through reflections of prominent Australian psychologists and therapists who straddle the roles of private therapist and public expert. The opening up of a new discursive space—what is commonly referred to as "confessional culture"—is then considered as enabling a public concern with suffering and a politicization of private life.
Chapter Five takes therapy itself as the focus and examines stories from individuals who have received psychological assistance, and reflections from those who provide it. Phenomenological accounts of both therapists and clients offer insights into quintessentially modern dilemmas. Interviews suggest that therapy cannot be reduced simply to self-absorption and narcissism, nor should its development be read in terms of the proliferation of "victim identities." Rather, therapy may be more usefully understood as a strategy to deal with fundamental dilemmas of modern life, from problems of mental health to a range of other difficulties arising from, or exacerbated by, various aspects of social change. The destabilization of the gender order and shifts in personal and working life emerge as central concerns, as does an important question, notably one neglected in debates of therapeutic culture: how to live with dignity.
The concluding chapter returns to questions of evaluating and theorizing the rise of the therapeutic society. Following an examination of disparate social, cultural, and institutional knowledges and processes, as well as accounts of individuals' own experience of therapeutic practices, the book suggests an alternative reading of sociocultural change. Rejecting dominant interpretations of moral collapse and cultural decline,
