Crisis, depression and social change

The class poses an intriguing and essential inquiry: To what extent crises and depression are illustrative of the manner in which social change currently manifests? What is the relation between failures and crises at global level and episodes of depression at the individual one? What are the characteristics of contemporary crises? How various types of depression are contingent on what may be termed as critical juncture points in economic and political regimes – such as neoliberalism?

The class allows to understand that depression as a social phenomenon goes beyond episodes of mood disorder and clinical sadness. But it also entails reactions and mobilization around proliferation of depression (literature art etc.), the occurrence of crises of imaginary, capitalist crisis of futurity, political distress, ecological grief and anxiety, social meaning and public perception of depression, consumption of anti-depressants.

The class poses an intriguing and essential inquiry: To what extent crises and depression are illustrative of the manner in which social change currently manifests? What is the relation between failures and crises at global level and episodes of depression at the individual one? What are the characteristics of contemporary crises? And how various types of depression are contingent on what may be termed as critical juncture points in economic and political regimes – such as neoliberalism?

The class allows to understand that depression as a social phenomenon goes beyond episodes of mood disorder and clinical sadness. But it also entails reactions and mobilization around proliferation of depression (literature art etc.), the occurrence of crises of imaginary, capitalist crisis of futurity, political distress, ecological grief and anxiety, social meaning and public perception of depression, consumption of anti-depressants.

The class tackles topics such as:

- Social and political implications of real and imagined depression

- Depression in art, literature (Mikkel Krause Frantzen, Mark Fisher, Claire Fontaine)

- Social thinking on depression

- The connection between depression, the politics and the economy

- Behavioral patterns of consumption of anti-depressants

- Personalization vs politicization of depression

[selected parts from the following readings]

Sara Ahmed. 2010. The Promise of Happiness. Duke University Press.

Lauren Berlant. 2011. “Depressive Realism: An Interview with Lauren Berlant.” (Earl McCabe) and Cruel Optimism

Ann Cvetkovich. 2012. Depression: A Public Feeling. Duke University Press.

Mark Fisher. 2009. Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? ZerO Books.

Mikkel Krause Frantzen. 2019. Going Nowhere, Slow: The Aesthetics and Politics of Depression. ZerO Books.

Mikkel Krause Frantzen. 2019. „A Future with No Future: Depression, the Left, and the Politics of Mental Health.” Los Angeles Review of Books, 16 grudnia.

Max Haiven. 2014. Crises of Imagination, Crises of Power Capitalism, Creativity and the Commons. Zed Books.

Linsey McGoey. 2010. “Profitable Failure: Antidepressant Drugs and the Triumph of Flawed Experiments.” Hist Human Sci 23 (1): 58-78.

Natalie Osborne. 2019. “For Still Possible Cities: A Politics of Failure for the Politically Depressed.” 50 (2): 145-54.

Mario Luis Small. 2017. Someone To Talk To. Oxford University Press.

Adriano A. Tedded. 2022. Marginalisation and Utopia in Paul Auster, Jim Jarmusch and Tom Waits: The Other America. Routledge

Case studies

[literature to be selected in accordance with the interests of the students]

K_W03 Is aware of ongoing theoretical and methodological disputes conducted in modern sociology; is reflective and critical of various positions

K_W16 Has in-depth knowledge about major international and domestic sociological research pertaining to selected areas of social reality or sub-domains of sociology

K_W27 Has in-depth knowledge of the 19th, 20th and 21st ideas and social processes which have shaped the face of the modern world

K_U04 Can critically select information and materials for academic work, using various sources in Polish and a foreign language as well as modern technologies

K_U16 Knows how to interpret the role of culture in the life of the individual and society

K_U19 Can prepare a presentation of a selected problem or study in Polish and in a foreign language

K_K02 Can propose a solution to a problem that requires an interdisciplinary research approach

K_K05 Can gather, find, synthesize and critically assess information about social sciences

participation in the discussion (40%)

an interview with one person regarding depression as social phenomenon and public feeling (30%)

presentation and interpretation of interview conclusions on the basis of three readings discussed during the class (30%)