ABSTRACT
The chapter presents a sociological framework to conceptualise and examine the social, political, and economic dimensions and effects of self-help culture in contemporary society. It provides a general typology for classifying and organising the growing number of self-help genres, an examination of dominant messages and media, including a sociological explanation for their popularity. The chapter concludes by arguing that given its omnipresence, the social influence of global therapeutic culture cannot be overstated. The neoliberal era that fetishises the responsible, autonomous and “resilient” social subject also forces individuals to absorb sociostructural deterioration by way of self-help rather than community care, economic support, and social help. The chapter thus highlights sociopolitical forces that obscure the social processes, relations, discourses, and practices that give rise to individual suffering but are largely erased within self-help culture. Mainstream self-help thus pacifies subjects and depoliticises the political while simultaneously capitalising on the effects of social problems.
