Life advice from below : the public role of self-help coaches in Germany and China / by Eric C. Hendriks.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hendriks, Eric C., author.

Series:

International comparative social studies ; v. 37.

International comparative social studies ; volume 37

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Personal coaching--Germany.

Personal coaching.

Personal coaching--China.

China.

Germany.

Physical Description:

xii, 237 pages ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2017]

Summary:

In 'Life Advice from Below', Eric C. Hendriks offers the first systematic, comparative study of the globalization of American-style self-help culture and the cultural conflicts this creates in different national contexts. The self-help guru is an archetypical American figure associated with individualism, materialism and the American Dream. Nonetheless, the self-help industry is spreading globally, thriving in China and other seemingly unlikely places. Controversy follows in its wake, as the self-help industry, operating outside of formal education and state institutions, outflanks philosophical, religious and political elites who have their own visions of the Good Life. Through a comparison of Germany and China, Hendriks analyzes how the competition between self-help gurus and institutional authorities unfolds under radically different politico-cultural regimes.

Contents:

Cultural fields in the public sphere

The persistence of national regimes

Global popular culture and self-help

Lines of conflict

Mapping and comparing social space

The German self-help field

Clashing into Germany's corporatist welfare regime

The Chinese self-help field

Coexisting with China's institutional authorities.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Hendriks, Eric C., author. Life advice from below

ISBN:

9789004319578

9004319573

OCLC:

982652316