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  • © 2017

Burnout, Fatigue, Exhaustion

An Interdisciplinary Perspective on a Modern Affliction

Palgrave Macmillan
  • Analyses the social forces that shape the ways that we talk about and understand health and well-being

  • Demonstrates that distress is often culturally and socially shaped

  • Traces conceptions of fatigue and depression across time

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Softcover Book USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
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  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
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Hardcover Book USD 179.99
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  • Durable hardcover edition
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Table of contents (14 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-ix
  2. Introduction

    • Sighard Neckel, Anna Katharina Schaffner, Greta Wagner
    Pages 1-23
  3. Exhaustion Syndromes

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 75-75
    2. Exhaustion Syndromes: Concepts and Definitions

      • Johanna M. Doerr, Urs M. Nater
      Pages 77-104
    3. Burnout: A Short Socio-Cultural History

      • Wilmar B. Schaufeli
      Pages 105-127
    4. Burnout: From Work-Related Stress to a Cover-Up Diagnosis

      • Linda V. Heinemann, Torsten Heinemann
      Pages 129-150
  4. Exhaustion and Self-Realisation

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 151-151
    2. Self-Realisation Through Work and Its Failure

      • Elin Thunman, Marcus Persson
      Pages 173-194
  5. Exhaustion Discourses

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 215-215
    2. Literary Exhaustion

      • Michael Greaney
      Pages 237-256
  6. Exhaustion and the Social

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 257-257
    2. Exhaustion as a Sign of the Present

      • Sighard Neckel, Greta Wagner
      Pages 283-303
    3. Conclusion

      • Sighard Neckel, Anna Katharina Schaffner, Greta Wagner
      Pages 305-310

About this book

This interdisciplinary book explores both the connections and the tensions between sociological, psychological, and biological theories of exhaustion. It examines how the prevalence of exhaustion – both as an individual experience and as a broader socio-cultural phenomenon – is manifest in the epidemic rise of burnout, depression, and chronic fatigue. It provides innovative analyses of the complex interplay between the processes involved in the production of mental health diagnoses, socio-cultural transformations, and subjective illness experiences. Using many of the existing ideologically charged exhaustion theories as case studies, the authors investigate how individual discomfort and wider social dynamics are interrelated. Covering a broad range of topics, this book will appeal to those working in the fields of psychology, sociology, medicine, psychiatry, literature, and history.

Reviews

“This book discusses different theories of exhaustion, from different disciplines such as biology, sociology, and psychology, and demonstrates its impact on medical and mental health. … This is an interesting book that examines exhaustion from a number of perspectives, presenting cross‐cultural studies and possible solutions. It will appeal to a wide audience in psychology, psychiatry, and sociology.” (Gary B. Kaniuk, Doody's Book Reviews, September, 2017)

Editors and Affiliations

  • Institute of Sociology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Sighard Neckel

  • School of European Culture and Languages, University of Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom

    Anna Katharina Schaffner

  • Institute of Sociology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany

    Greta Wagner

About the editors

Sighard Neckel is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Hamburg, Germany. He has published almost 180 articles and several academic volumes which cover a wide range of sociological topics in the fields of cultural sociology, social inequality, economic sociology, sociology of emotions, and social theory. 

Anna Katharina Schaffner is Reader in Comparative Literature and Medical Humanities at the University of Kent, UK. She has published on the histories of exhaustion, sexology and psychoanalysis, Dada, the film director David Lynch, and various modern writers.

Greta Wagner is Research Associate at the Institute of Sociology at Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main, Germany. She has published on strategies of self-optimisation, especially the self-medication with cognitive enhancing drugs, and on burnout.


Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

Softcover Book USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access