In this book, Professor Ole Jacob Madsen analyses the implications of Scandinavia’s current concern for the mental health problems of adolescents, said to be struggling in the face of increasing demands for achievement and success. It critically examines our understanding of this so-called “achievement generation”, questioning whether today’s youth are really worse off than previous generations and how we have come to believe that this is so.
The author’s wide-ranging investigation draws on a large body of research, as well as considering socio-political, historical and regional factors that might be affecting the resilience and mental health among young people. It also provides original psycholinguistic studies of popular media concepts associated with these issues including: “the achievement generation”, “pathological perfection” and “the good girl syndrome”.
Deconstructing Scandinavia’s “Achievement Generation” presents an engaging contribution to key debates around therapeutic culture and society in the 21st century. It will appeal to students and scholars of critical and social psychology, sociology, anthropology, philosophy; as well as to those working in education, social work and mental health.
Table of Content
Chapter 1 – Introduction.- Chapter 2 – The Pathologies of Modernity.- Chapter 3 – The Pathologies of Late Modernity.- Chapter 4 – Young, privileged and sick.- Chapter 5 – Youth under pressure.- Chapter 6 – Social representations.- Chapter 7 – Self-fulfilling prophecies.- Chapter 8 – The Paradox of Health.- Chapter 9 – Conclusion.
About the author
Ole Jacob Madsen is Professor of Cultural and Community Psychology at the University of Oslo, Norway. His previous works include: The Therapeutic Turn: How Psychology Altered Western Culture (2014), Optimizing the Self: Social Representations of Self-Help (2015) and The Psychologization of Society: On the Unfolding of the Therapeutic in Norway (2018) and The Routledge International Handbook of Global Therapeutic Cultures (2020).
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