Society and Social Pathology

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vi

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • R. C. Smith

   Pages 1-41

3. An Alternative Conception of Social Pathology

   • R. C. Smith

   Pages 43-124

4. History, Systems of Domination and Moral Norms

   • R. C. Smith

   Pages 125-167

5. The Individual in Capitalistic Society

   • R. C. Smith

   Pages 169-248

6. Emancipatory Politics and Social Transformation

   • R. C. Smith

   Pages 249-322

7. Back Matter

   Pages 323-378

   PDF

This book offers one of the most comprehensive studies of social pathology to date, following a cross-disciplinary and methodologically innovative approach. It is written for anyone concerned with understanding current social conditions, individual health, and how we might begin to collectively conceive of a more reconciled postcapitalist world.


Drawing reference from the most up-to-date studies, Smith crosses disciplinary boundaries from cognitive science and anthropology to critical theory, systems theory and psychology. Opening with an empirical account of numerous interlinked carises from mental health to the physiological effects of environmental pollution, Smith argues that mainstream sociological theories of pathology are deeply inadequate. Smith introduces an alternative critical conception of pathology that drills to the core of how and why society is deeply ailing. The book concludes with a detailed account of why a progressive and criticalvision of social change requires a “holistic view” of individual and societal transformation. Such a view is grounded in the awareness that a sustainable transition to postcapitalism is ultimately a many-sided (social, individual, and structural) healing process.

• critical theory
• Frankfurt School
• damaged life
• Bourdieu
• Foucault
• Adorno
• precarity
• capitalism
• violence
• authoritarianism
• humanism

“Smith’s book would be a valuable resource for social psychologists, sociologists, historians, economists, and those interested in the systemic attributes of America’s social structure as it impacts large social problems such as healthcare, improving economic resources for the disadvantaged, and how one might begin to conceive of a more reconciled postcapitalist future that minimizes human suffering.” (Richard Althouse, PsycCRITIQUES, Vol. 62 (26), June, 2017) 

• Heathwood Institute and Press, Norwich, United Kingdom

  R.C. Smith

R.C. Smith is an academic interested in extensive, crossdisciplinary critical research and study. Focusing in particular on a research program that spans the intersections of social science, natural science, humanities, and history, Smith is the author of over 100 articles and several books. You can find him on Twitter: @_rc_smith_.

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