ABSTRACT

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on contemporary epidemic social pathologies. It treats pathologies as multiple and as being related to one another, and as not merely problems to be understood and addressed at the level of the individual sufferer but rather as to be understood in social and historical terms. The book explores the role of humanities and social sciences, particularly sociology, philosophy, psychology and anthropology, in helping to understand the connection between social transformations and health and well-being. Social pathology was once a mainstream concern of the social sciences, but over the years it has become associated with conventional, old fashioned or normatively conservative standpoints. The book considers the general paradigm of social pathologies of contemporary civilization and applies the perspective to develop diagnoses of the prevailing zeitgeist through analyses of particular contemporary malaises.