Therapeutic Discourse and the Psychologization of Everyday Life in Autobiographical Accounts. Research Observations and Methodological Challenges for Biographical Sociology

Abstract

A rich collection of autobiographical narrative interviews, conducted and analyzed following a procedure developed by Fritz Schütze, reveals a systematically deepening symbolic boundary between people in their thirties, forties and twenties today, and those born in earlier decades. In the process of dynamic entry into neoliberal capitalism, this boundary’s blurred contours are outlined, among other things, by the unprecedented growth of the influence of therapeutic culture and therapeutic discourse on individuals’ personal experiences and ways of recapitulating their own lives. This is evident in the overall biographical structuring, numerous theoretical and argumentative commentaries, and in the stock of knowledge at hand, comprising a rich vocabulary and interpretive schemes drawn from psychological discourse. These resources facilitate the interpretation of life events, identity choices, emotional states, and the categorization of interaction partners. They also enable the construction of an illusion of authenticity and a sense of control over the trajectory of suffering. This is often associated with a hierarchy of values that increasingly puts the “self” at the center. When accompanied by an expectation of approval, this can lead to a reluctance to understand the perspectives of others. This article also argues that, despite the challenges and alterations arising from the prevalence of therapeutic culture, the autobiographical narrative interview method provides the necessary tools and procedures to access people’s genuine experiences and their interplay with social reality.