The Public and Private Management of Grief: Recovering Normal

Description

Through a critical analysis of theory, policy and practice, The Public and Private Management of Grief looks at how 'recovery' is the prevailing discourse that measures and frames how people grieve, and considers what happens when people 'fail' to recover. Pearce draws on in-depth interviews with bereaved people and a range of bereavement professionals, to contemplate how ‘failures’ to recover are socially perceived and acted upon. Grounded in Foucauldian theory, this book problematises the notion of recovery, and instead argues for the acknowledgment of the experience of ‘non-recovery,’ highlighting how recovery is a socially and historically constructed notion linked to the individualised vision of health and happiness promoted by neo-liberal governmentality. This book will be of interest to students and scholars across sociology, anthropology, social work and psychology with a focus on death, dying and bereavement, grief studies, health and social care, as well as counsellors, clinical psychologists and social workers. Front Matter ....Pages i-xi Introduction: Recovering Normal (Caroline Pearce)....Pages 1-22 Grief as a Psychological Object of Study (Caroline Pearce)....Pages 23-59 Making Sense of Grief (Caroline Pearce)....Pages 61-101 Affective Practices: Managing Grief (Caroline Pearce)....Pages 103-143 Emotions, Bodies, Practices (Caroline Pearce)....Pages 145-178 Inhabiting and Resisting Identities (Caroline Pearce)....Pages 179-208 The Other Side of Recovery (Caroline Pearce)....Pages 209-223 Back Matter ....Pages 225-233