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Emotions, body and self: critiquing moral decline sociology
Citation
Hookway, N, Emotions, body and self: critiquing moral decline sociology, Sociology, 47, (4) pp. 841-857. ISSN 0038-0385 (2013) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2012 The Author(s)
DOI: doi:10.1177/0038038512453787
Abstract
Morality is argued to be in a state of decline in the contemporary West. This article identifies two
dominant strands of moral decline sociology: the ‘cultural pessimists’ and the ‘communitarians’.
The article argues that these two dominant assessments of moral loss are underwritten by a set
of assumptions concerning ‘society’ as the necessary source of morality and a disparaging view of
emotion, body and self-authenticity culture. Drawing on Bauman, Ahmed, Irigaray and Taylor, the
cultural pessimist and communitarian diagnoses of the moral present are critiqued as offering an
overly pessimistic account of contemporary morality that ignores society as a ‘morality-silencing’
force and denies the ethical significance of self, emotions, body and therapeutic ideals of self-improvement
and authenticity.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
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Keywords: | authenticity, Bauman, body, decline sociology, emotions, ethics, morality, self-fulfilment |
Research Division: | Human Society |
Research Group: | Sociology |
Research Field: | Social theory |
Objective Division: | Culture and Society |
Objective Group: | Ethics |
Objective Field: | Social ethics |
UTAS Author: | Hookway, N (Dr Nicholas Hookway) |
ID Code: | 80027 |
Year Published: | 2013 (online first 2012) |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 11 |
Deposited By: | Sociology and Social Work |
Deposited On: | 2012-10-17 |
Last Modified: | 2017-11-29 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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