The medicalization and social history of emotions

elective courses

(in Polish) Znajomość współczesnych nurtów z zakresu nauk społecznych i humanistycznych, zainteresowania związane z historią społeczną i kulturową

Classroom

One of the essential dimensions of contemporary social change is the transition from the religious order to the medical order. Classes will be devoted to reading and interpreting texts dealing with the process of individualization and modeling of subjectivity in Western culture since the eighteenth century. The subject of interest will be institutions shaping the ways of dealing with suffering and building valid interpretations of the causes of suffering. The starting point will be Michel Foucault's classic work The History of Madness, which initiated research on knowledge, power and the psyche and proposed a perspective for the interpretation of modern subjectivity entangled in opposition – care and violence, control and self-control, liberation and repression, medical and romantic narratives, sacralization of the interior and commodification of subjectivity.

One of the essential dimensions of contemporary social change is the transition from the religious order to the medical order. Classes will be devoted to reading and interpreting texts dealing with the process of individualization and modeling of subjectivity in Western culture since the eighteenth century. The subject of interest will be institutions shaping the ways of dealing with suffering and building valid interpretations of the causes of suffering. The starting point will be Michel Foucault's classic work The History of Madness, which initiated research on knowledge, power and the psyche and proposed a perspective for the interpretation of modern subjectivity entangled in opposition – care and violence, control and self-control, liberation and repression, medical and romantic narratives, sacralization of the interior and commodification of subjectivity. The subject of interest will be the history of institutions and therapeutic discourses regulating the ways in which individuals experience themselves and the paradoxes associated with the history of the emancipation of the individual obliged to produce himself as a free man. The proposed literature will allow to analyze the dominant and recommended models of subjectivity and handling of suffering and failure in various institutions and contexts – family, private life, love, work, public life, class inequalities.

K_W01 Knows and understands basic concepts of various sub-domains of sociology (e.g. sociology of family, health, work, religion, economy, education, etc)

K_W02 Is aware of ongoing theoretical and methodological disputes conducted in modern sociology; is reflective and critical of various positions

K_W03 Has in-depth knowledge about social structures and selected social institutions as well as their interrelations

K_W04 Is reflective and critical of the problem of social differentiation and inequalities

K_W05 Has in-depth knowledge about the types of social ties and mechanisms supporting collective governance

K_W06 Has in-depth knowledge about cultural diversity and its transformations, cultural identity, and intercultural interaction and communication

K_U09 Can relate an academic text to the problems of social life and its empirical studies

K_U10 Can prepare a presentation of a selected problem or study in Polish and in a foreign language

K_K09 Is open to various theoretical and methodological perspectives of social research