Why do we hurt ourselves? : understanding self-harm in social life / Baptiste Brossard.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brossard, Baptiste, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Self-destructive behavior.

Self-control.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xix, 188 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Bloomington ; Indianapolis : Indiana University Press, 2018.

Summary:

Why does an estimated 5% of the general population intentionally and repeatedly hurt themselves? What are the reasons certain people resort to self-injury as a way to manage their daily lives? In Why Do We Hurt Ourselves, sociologist Baptiste Brossard draws on a five-year survey of self-injurers and suggests that the answers can be traced to social, more than personal, causes. Self-injury is not a matter of disturbed individuals resorting to hurting themselves in the face of individual weaknesses and difficulties. Rather, self-injury is the reaction of individuals to the tensions that compose, day after day, the tumultuousness of their social life and position. Self-harm is a practice that people use to self-control and maintain order-to calm down, or to avoid "going haywire" or "breaking everything." More broadly, through this research Brossard works to develop a perspective on the contemporary social world at large, exploring quests for self-control in modern Western societies.

Contents:

Intro

Front Cover

Half Title

Title

Copyright

Contents

Introduction

Part I: A Practice of Self-Control

Part I: Introduction

1 The First Time

2 Toward a Feeling of Dependence

3 Talking about Self-Injury?

4 Quitting

5 Self-Injury on a Regular Basis

6 On the Ways to Self-Injure

Part I Conclusion: Maintaining the Order

Part II: A Social Positioning Practice

Part II: Introduction

7 The Staging of Discretion

8 At the Origin of "Relational Problems"

9 The Existential Crisis

10 What Gender Represents

11 What Some Events Imply

Part II Conclusion: A Relational Map of Self-Injury

Conclusion: A Self-Controlled Youth

Notes

Index

Back Cover.

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9780253036421

0253036429

9780253036438

0253036437

OCLC:

1037884867