Eva Illouz

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Eva Illouz (2008).

Eva Illouz (born April 30, 1961 in Fès , Morocco ) is professor of sociology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris .

Life

In 1971, when Eva Illouz was ten, the family moved from Morocco to France. She went to school in Sarcelles and later studied in Paris and at the University of Pennsylvania in the USA.

She researches social influences on the formation of emotions and thus the connection between capitalism in consumer society and media culture with regard to the production / transformation of emotional patterns. Since 2006 she has been a full professor of sociology and anthropology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem . In 2008 she was a member of the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin . In 2012 she became the first female president of the Bezalel Art School . Since 2015 she has also been a professor at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris.

She was visiting professor at Princeton University . In 2019 she taught as part of the Niklas Luhmann visiting professorship in Bielefeld .

Eva Illouz is the author of 12 books that have been translated into 18 languages ​​and writes regularly for newspapers such as Die Zeit , Le Monde and Ha'aretz .

Prizes and awards

In 2009 she was elected by the newspaper Die Zeit among a group of twelve intellectuals who are likely to change the way we think in the future.

In 2013 she was awarded an Anneliese Maier Research Prize from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation . For 2018 she was awarded the EMET Prize for Social Sciences. In 2020 she will hold the Albertus Magnus Professorship .

Fields of work

Her research tries to understand cultural aspects of the intersections between emotion and communication :

  • The role of the mass media (films, books, magazines, advertising, television and even support groups) in shaping the vocabulary, metaphors and causal models through which we perceive, think and shape our emotional lives.
  • In the twentieth century, the constant preoccupation with emotions and their presentation in the mass media in order to retain an audience / target group has changed the way audiences deal with complex emotions. Thus, has the mass media contributed to a difference in our emotional lives, and if so what is the nature of that difference?
  • How does the private culture of romantic relationships (rendezvous, choice of partner) change through capitalism and the influence of mass media?

Since these research questions define a broad framework, Eva Illouz uses methods from various sciences: historical sociology, anthropology , analysis and semiotics of texts as well as qualitative interviews to examine the overlapping areas of cultural techniques, emotions and economic organizations.

Working on the boundary between media studies , sociology and anthropology of emotion, sociology of capitalism and sociology of culture , she analyzes the ways in which popular media, information systems , economics and emotions influence each other.

How capitalism changes our emotional life

Consumption of romance

In her first book Konsum der Romantik , Illouz depicts a twofold process: Romanticism is tied to goods and thus consumable, and the goods themselves become more "romantic". After examining a number of advertisements in women's magazines and commercials from around 1930, advertising and film culture presented goods as a medium for conveying emotional expression, and especially romantic experiences.

Goods of all kinds, such as soaps, refrigerators, snack bags, watches, diamonds, cereals, cosmetics and many others are presented as emotionally tangible. The second process was the commodification of romanticism since the 19th century: the advent of rendezvous, dating and the common consumption of products from the leisure industry. Romantic encounters moved from the homely home (privacy) to the realm of (capitalist) consumption, with the result that the search for romantic love advanced as the motor for the sale of goods in an expanding industry that produced these goods.

After Illouz had dealt with the social change between “ love ” and “romanticism” in this particularly acclaimed study The Consumption of Romanticism in 2000 , she was invited to three Adorno lectures on “Emotions and Capitalism ” at the University of Frankfurt am Main . One volume summarizes her texts on an increasing connection between consumer culture and therapeutic and feminist discourses . She speaks of an "emotional capitalism" in which the subjects are standardized in their feelings and desires far more than they think: "A champagne breakfast is more romantic than a currywurst for two."

Illouz opposes an anti-materialist stance that differentiates between “freedom” and “consumer objects” and that sees these objects as threatening, but freedom as a field in which to formulate one's own wishes. On the one hand, we are standardized in our wishes, on the other hand, consumption is also meaningful: restaurants were invented as a possibility for romantic rendezvous to escape the confines of privacy. For example, Illouz sees the romantic as very important in our culture and tries to understand the social genesis of the romantic category - the romantic feelings and the romantic moments - just as the actors ascribe meaning to their relationship. In the interviews, Illouz takes her interviewees seriously, at the same time she tries to take a detached attitude, similar to that of a psychoanalyst, in order to show the institutional basis of our private feelings.

In doing so, she opposes the criticism of alienation , according to which capitalism with its contradictions is a cold social place from where the individual can find refuge in a warming love: "[T] he emotions become more instrumental"; where, for example, “ communication ” serves to (strategically) recognize the other, but where “the economic itself becomes more emotional”, for example in “teamwork out of passion”. Her main thesis is: "The homo oeconomicus has upgraded emotionally, while the emotional subject proceeds economically."

The special quality of emotions is misunderstood and apparently subjected to rational judgments. The winners are therefore the clinical psychologists who rate the economic viability of people with “ emotional intelligence ” and “ emotional competence ”: People with these ascriptions actually sold more, and self-control and reflexivity are particularly important for managers .

According to Illouz, we have internalized the separation of an emotion-free public from an emotional private life: Affects become a medium of exchange in the economy (“shopping experience”, “staging of services”), and - especially in the middle class - emotional life becomes an economic one Subject to logic. Love is no longer “the” retreat from the cold public - in fact, Illouz explains, we are constantly under observation, and love stories have to do with how we create islands of privacy in a public area.

Illouz sees a trend from the “ performativity of feelings” to “emotional authenticity”. In the 19th century, lovers were only allowed to allow themselves to feel after certain rituals, so love letters were subject to certain codes . A woman was not allowed to indulge until the solicitor's intentions were established. The modern person is constantly required to mirror his soul life, the relationship decision is made after clarifying his own feelings towards one another.

Cold intimacy

Illouz argues that psychology is a central point of modern identity and emotional life: from the 1920s to the 1960s, clinical psychologists have become the dominant group. They advise the army, companies, schools, the state, social affairs, the media and have an influence on raising children, sexuality, marriage and pastoral care. In all of these disciplines, psychology has established itself as the ultimate authority in matters of human needs, offering techniques to transform the self and to cope with the stresses.

Psychologists from all schools have created the current narrative of 20th century subject self-improvement. These interpretations have transformed what used to be a moral problem into an internal problem and can thus be understood as a broader phenomenon of a medicalization of social life. Both themes, love and health, draw a utopia of happiness in modern life, both work through consumption and both are sought by the modern subject.

Illouz sees the beginnings of the success of the therapeutic discourse in the Clark lectures given by Sigmund Freud in the USA. The spread of psychoanalysis was meaningful for the individual; in times of social upheaval, he could see himself as coherent and tell. The everyday, which was insignificant before Freud, was "charged with a meaningfulness by means of which the self could form". Stories that focus on personal suffering (s) are consistently popular and widely recognized. These are the roots of a modern counseling and self-improvement culture.

Group photo in 1909 in front of Clark University with Sigmund Freud.

professionalism

Based on Marshall Sahlins, she concludes that the advisory work of psychologists in business life has surprisingly led to an intensification of feelings. The emotional behavior of the workers and the lower and middle management was determined and a "therapeutic discourse" was established in non-therapeutic contexts, for the first time also with terms such as self-interest, efficiency and the principle of purpose (with interpretative references to Elton Mayo and Max Weber ). Through these terms, new models of both social behavior and communication had been created: Mayo had established a management strategy according to which anger in the workplace was to be avoided: strikes and expressions of dissatisfaction were appeased by portraying anger as a repetition of childhood conflicts . In general, work relationships based on coercion and authority are discarded, and a "new emotional style" (friendly but impersonal) in management creates an apparent harmony between the organization and the individual. In the therapeutic rite there is no contradiction nor any mental suffering that cannot be resolved through communication; Even the word “unprofessional” shows the success of the psychologists, since it describes outbursts of emotion such as crying or anger and not technical incompetence.

Freedom of choice

Illouz has been developing this theme since she became a member of the Center for the Study for Rationality at the Hebrew University in 2006. She argues that economists, psychologists, and even sociologists, in their paradigms, tend to assume that free choice is an immutable fixture in thinking, that actors know what their preferences are and that they would decide based on them. Illouz, on the other hand, thinks that in modern times there is a whole architecture or ecology of choice and that this has fundamentally changed - at least in the choice of partner.

The idea of ​​freedom of choice has to do with how people understand themselves, what they see as their preferences, with the connection between emotions and rationality and their ability to differentiate between so-called emotional and rational decisions.

Dating on the Internet, Identity in the Age of New Media

The more choice people have, the more they are overwhelmed by this oversupply and their actual wishes remain unclear. In the past, in times of scarcity and limited supply of possible partners, you had to access it more quickly. In the meantime, it has become possible to make countless contacts via the Internet . The choice becomes more important than what you choose. A decision in the midst of this oversupply is now made according to the rules of efficiency and not so much according to the rules of politeness or on the basis of intuition (face-to-face communication). A separation pathos is also unusual. If you take part in this process with an appropriate self-description, you submit to a radical consumerism and an objectification of the self. It is an irony of the new media that we are sensitized to our supposed uniqueness (s) (by means of the continual question addressed to us from all sides, who we actually are), but the new technology also has a harder time when not even make it impossible to identify ourselves among innumerable nameless people.

The internet leads us to perceive the other as knowledge and cognition and no longer as body and entity. In face-to-face communication, we have so far had to stand up for our uniqueness with our bodies. The internet negates physical attraction and intuition.

Based on the English sociologist Anthony Giddens , Illouz sees modernity as a call to constantly reinvent oneself. She sees old role models as dissolved and identities as negotiable. However, this is precisely what prevents flow , self-abandonment and one's own happiness.

The unequal distribution of emotional development and emotional happiness

One dimension in Illouz's work is the intersection of social class and emotions, in two respects: How does class affiliation shape feelings? Are there emotional expressions one can associate with social domination? Second, if feelings are a strategic response to certain situations, if they can help us cope with and change situations, do the middle and upper classes have an advantage over the lower classes? If so, how did you acquire these benefits and what are they?

Metatheory: human development and social criticism

Another concern is human development and the critique of the social , i.e. a metatheoretical topic. Whatever the theory, cultural criticism is based on two pivotal points: Culture should transcend everyday practice. This has to work in such a way that we are taught habits and beliefs that lead to a better society (be it defined by equality and freedom, or rather by tradition and religion).

Illouz rejects approaches that analyze rule and oppression in general and want to show ways that lead to a model of human development and a good polis . It emphasizes an immanent criticism that stems from the actors' self-image. Cultural practices should be evaluated and criticized internally - according to the values they contain.

Publications

  • Consuming the Romantic Utopia: Love and the Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism. University of California Press, 1997, 2007, ISBN 0-520-20571-5 ( Dissertation in Communications Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania , Philadelphia, PA 1991, microfilm, 473 pages, OCLC 82045319 ).
    • The consumption of romance. Love and the cultural contradictions of capitalism . Campus, Frankfurt am Main / New York 2003, ISBN 3-593-37201-0 .
  • Oprah Winfrey and the glamor of misery. An essay on popular culture . Columbia University Press, New York 2003, ISBN 0-231-11813-9 (honored with the American Sociological Association's Best Book Award 2005).
  • Cold Intimacies: The Making of Emotional Capitalism . Polity Press, Oxford / Malden (MA.) 2007, ISBN 978-0-7456-3904-8 .
    • Feelings in times of capitalism. Adorno Lectures 2004 . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 3-518-58459-6 .
  • Saving the Modern Soul: Therapy, Emotions, and the Culture of Self-Help . California University Press, Berkeley 2008, ISBN 0-262-11317-1 .
    • The salvation of the modern soul. Therapies, feelings and the culture of self-help . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-518-58520-7 .
  • Emotional Capital, Therapeutic Language and the Habitus of the "New Man". In: Nicole C. Karafyllis & Gotlind Ulshöfer (eds.): Sexualized Brains. Scientific Modeling of Emotional Intelligence from a Cultural Perspective. MIT Press, Cambridge (MA.) 2008, ISBN 0-262-11317-1
  • Why love hurts A sociological explanation . Suhrkamp Verlag, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-518-58567-2 .
  • The new order of love. Women, men and "Shades of Gray" . Original edition, translated from the English manuscript by Michael Adrian, Suhrkamp Verlag, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-518-06487-0 .
    • English edition: Hard-Core Romance - "Fifty Shades of Gray", Best-Sellers, and Society , literal translation of the original German title: "The New Love Order. Women, Men, and Shades of Gray ". University of Chicago Press, Chicago 2014, ISBN 978-0-226-15369-8 .
    • published worldwide: English (Chicago UP), Spanish (Katz), French (Seuil), Italian (Mimesis), Dutch (Nieuw Amsterdam), Korean (Dolbegae), Polish (PWN)
  • Israel . Essay. Original edition, translated from the English manuscript by Michael Adrian , Suhrkamp Verlag, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-518-12683-7 .
  • as editor: Wh (h) re feelings. Authenticity in consumer capitalism , with a foreword by Axel Honneth and translated by Michael Adrian. Suhrkamp Verlag, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-518-29808-4 .
  • Why love ends A Sociology of Negative Relationships . Suhrkamp Verlag, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-518-58723-2
  • together with Edgar Cabanas : Happycratie: Comment l'Industrie du Bonheur contrôle notre vie Premier Parallèle Editeur, Paris 2018, ISBN 979-10-94841-76-1 .
    • German edition: The dictate of happiness and how it rules our lives . Suhrkamp Verlag, Berlin 2019, ISBN 978-3-518-46998-9 .

See also

literature

Web links

swell

  1. ↑ Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales: Eva Illouz. February 21, 2017, accessed on February 11, 2020 (French).
  2. ↑ Koby Ben Simhon: Interview with Eva Illouz: The tyranny of happiness , in: Haaretz , June 20, 2009 (Hebrew).
  3. ↑ By Elisabeth von Thadden, Am Seelenmarkt: What does modern economy do with our feelings? ( Memento from July 18, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Anneliese Maier Research Prize awarded for the second time by the Science Information Service (idw-online.de); Retrieved February 1, 2013
  5. ↑ 2000 “Honorable Mention” as part of the Best Book Award of the Sociology of Emotions section of the American Sociological Association
  6. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from September 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ textezurkunst.de
  8. ^ Uwe Kossack: Eva Illouz. Feelings in Times of Capitalism , in: SWR2 Book Review - Manuscript Service , September 20, 2006, ( RTF; 0.1 MB )
  9. ↑ Eva Illouz: Feelings in Times of Capitalism. Adorno Lectures 2004 . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 3-518-58459-6 .
  10. ↑ sandammeer.at
  11. ↑ Eva Illouz: Feelings in Times of Capitalism. Adorno Lectures 2004. p. 13.
  12. ↑ Mely Kiyak in FR: We have the choice ( Memento from July 31, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  13. ↑ a b 2007. Cold Intimacies: The Making of Emotional Capitalism, Polity Press, London.
  14. ↑ 2008, Saving the Modern Soul: Therapy, Emotions, and the Culture of Self-Help, the University of California Press.
  15. ↑ tagesspiegel.de
  16. ↑ A knowledge gained from brand sociology that uses advertising .
  17. ↑ Eva Illouz: The salvation of the modern soul. Therapies, feelings and the culture of self-help . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-518-58520-7 .
  18. ↑ Interview, Scobel on 3sat , October 25, 2009.
  19. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from December 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Radio interview; Self-testimony (accessed on Wednesday, February 9, 2011)
  20. ↑ Going to the psychologist is not a solution either - Welt (accessed on February 12, 2011)
  21. ↑ See: Saving the Modern Soul (Note: The English edition differs in scope from the German one.)
  22. ^ Oprah Winfrey and the Glamor of Misery.
personal data
SURNAME Illouz, Eva
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Israeli lecturer in sociology and anthropology
DATE OF BIRTH April 30, 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH Fes , Morocco