Skip to Main Content

Political Agency and the Medicalisation of Negative Emotions

Online ISBN:
9781399504416
Print ISBN:
9781399504393
Publisher:
Edinburgh University Press
Book

Political Agency and the Medicalisation of Negative Emotions

Dan Degerman
Dan Degerman
University of Bristol
Find on
Published online:
21 September 2023
Published in print:
5 August 2022
Online ISBN:
9781399504416
Print ISBN:
9781399504393
Publisher:
Edinburgh University Press

Abstract

This book explores negative emotions like anger, fear and grief as important drivers of political action. It examines how treating these feelings as medical problems affects society. Drawing on the political thought of Hannah Arendt, the book develops an original understanding of political emotions as fragile and vulnerable to attacks disputing their relevance to public life. It presents and analyses four case studies of emotional politics in the UK, ranging from assertions that UKIP supporters were emotionally primitive to diagnoses of anxiety disorder in the Brexit referendum’s aftermath. It demonstrates how ideas of emotion and mental disorder might be used to both empower and disempower people politically.

Contents
Close
This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

Close

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

View Article Abstract & Purchase Options

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Close