The Myth of Empowerment

Women and the Therapeutic Culture in America

Nonfiction, Health & Well Being, Psychology, Mental Health
Cover of the book The Myth of Empowerment by Dana Becker, NYU Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Dana Becker ISBN: 9781479846825
Publisher: NYU Press Publication: February 1, 2005
Imprint: NYU Press Language: English
Author: Dana Becker
ISBN: 9781479846825
Publisher: NYU Press
Publication: February 1, 2005
Imprint: NYU Press
Language: English

The Myth of Empowerment surveys the ways in which women have been represented and influenced by the rapidly growing therapeutic culture-both popular and professional-from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. The middle-class woman concerned about her health and her ability to care for others in an uncertain world is not as different from her late nineteenth-century white middle-class predecessors as we might imagine. In the nineteenth century she was told that her moral virtue was her power; today, her power is said to reside in her ability to “relate” to others or to take better care of herself so that she can take care of others. Dana Becker argues that ideas like empowerment perpetuate the myth that many of the problems women have are medical rather than societal; personal rather than political.
From mesmerism to psychotherapy to the Oprah Winfrey Show, women have gleaned ideas about who they are as psychological beings. Becker questions what women have had to gain from these ideas as she recounts the story of where they have been led and where the therapeutic culture is taking them.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The Myth of Empowerment surveys the ways in which women have been represented and influenced by the rapidly growing therapeutic culture-both popular and professional-from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. The middle-class woman concerned about her health and her ability to care for others in an uncertain world is not as different from her late nineteenth-century white middle-class predecessors as we might imagine. In the nineteenth century she was told that her moral virtue was her power; today, her power is said to reside in her ability to “relate” to others or to take better care of herself so that she can take care of others. Dana Becker argues that ideas like empowerment perpetuate the myth that many of the problems women have are medical rather than societal; personal rather than political.
From mesmerism to psychotherapy to the Oprah Winfrey Show, women have gleaned ideas about who they are as psychological beings. Becker questions what women have had to gain from these ideas as she recounts the story of where they have been led and where the therapeutic culture is taking them.

More books from NYU Press

Cover of the book Nachman Krochmal by Dana Becker
Cover of the book Truth, Autonomy, and Speech by Dana Becker
Cover of the book Taming Passion for the Public Good by Dana Becker
Cover of the book Immigration and Crime by Dana Becker
Cover of the book New York Stories by Dana Becker
Cover of the book Jews on the Frontier by Dana Becker
Cover of the book Wife, Inc. by Dana Becker
Cover of the book Praxis for the Poor by Dana Becker
Cover of the book Self and Other by Dana Becker
Cover of the book Inner City Kids by Dana Becker
Cover of the book Looking Like What You Are by Dana Becker
Cover of the book Human Nature by Dana Becker
Cover of the book Partly Colored by Dana Becker
Cover of the book Rules of Disengagement by Dana Becker
Cover of the book Feminism and Antiracism by Dana Becker
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy