With a foreword by David Riesman, author of
The Lonely Crowd.
Introducing a new term to the sociological lexicon: ′postemotionalism′, Stjepan Mestrovic argues that the focus of postmodernism has been on knowledge and information, and he demonstrates how the emotions in mass industrial societies have been neglected to devastating effect.
Using contempoary examples, the author shows how emotion has become increasingly separated from action; how – in a world of disjointed and synthetic emotions – social solidarity has become more problematic; and how compassion fatigue has increasingly replaced political commitment and responsibility. Mestrovic discusses the relation between knowledge and the emotions in thinkers as diverse as Durkheim, Baudrillard, Ritzer, Riesman, and Orwell.
This stimulating and provocative work concludes with a discussion of the postemotional society, where peer groups replace the government as the means of social control.
Inhoudsopgave
Foreword – David Riesman
Introduction
The End of Passion?
Recontextualizing David Riesman′s
The Lonely Crowd
The Authenticity Industry
The Disappearance of the Sacred
Death and the End of Innocence
Conclusions
The Final Triumph of Mechanization
Over de auteur
Stjepan Mestrovic holds three degrees from Harvard University (in psychology, education, and theology) and a Ph D in sociology from Syracuse University. He is the author of twenty books and numerous scholarly articles on classical and contemporary social theory, war crimes, and culture.