Title: Why do we hurt ourselves? : understanding self-harm in social life /
Authors: Brossard, Baptiste, 1985-
Year: 2018
Subjects: Self-destructive behavior; Self-control; Self-Injurious Behavior; Self-Control; Self-control; Self-destructive behavior
Abstract: Why does an estimated 5% of the general population intentionally and repeatedly hurt themselves? What are the reasons certain people resort to self-injury as a way to manage their daily lives? In Why Do We Hurt Ourselves, sociologist Baptiste Brossard draws on a five-year survey of self-injurers and suggests that the answers can be traced to social, more than personal, causes. Self-injury is not a matter of disturbed individuals resorting to hurting themselves in the face of individual weaknesses and difficulties. Rather, self-injury is the reaction of individuals to the tensions that compose, day after day, the tumultuousness of their social life and position. Self-harm is a practice that people use to self-control and maintain order--to calm down, or to avoid "going haywire" or "breaking everything." More broadly, through this research Brossard works to develop a perspective on the contemporary social world at large, exploring quests for self-control in modern Western societies. --Back cover.
Contents: A practice of self-control -- The first time -- Toward a feeling of dependence -- Talking about self-injury? -- Quitting -- Self-injury on a regular basis -- On the manners to self-injure -- A social positioning practice -- The staging of discretion -- At the origin of "relational problems" -- The existential crisis -- What gender represents -- What some events imply -- Conclusion: a relational map of self-injury -- Conclusion: a self-controlled youth -- Notes -- Index.