Therapeutic Claims-Making and the Construction of Contemporary Social Problems


Dennis Soron, Brock University

Drawing upon well-established strands of social problems theory, in addition to more recent work by Frank Furedi, Ashley Frawley and others, this paper offers a fresh take on longstanding and contentious debates over the political valence of therapeutic culture. Within constructionist social problems theory, claims-making is understood to be the fundamental process through which specific social conditions acquire recognition as “problems,” providing a particular vocabulary and set of conceptual resources that furnish them with meaning, connect them dynamically to existing values, interests and concerns, and offer guidance for ameliorative action. As Furedi and Frawley, among others, have argued, a growing proportion of contemporary claims-making activity surrounding the problems that deserve public concern and sympathy has been infused with a medico-therapeutic vocabulary. In this respect, developing a critical understanding of what Furedi calls “therapeutic claims-making” is essential to analyzing the ongoing construction and reconstruction of a wide range of social problems purportedly warranting an urgent public response. It also offers a useful means of theoretically reconsidering the political dynamics, possibilities and limits of therapeutic culture itself.  

This paper will be presented at the following session: