Emotion regulation as affective neoliberal governmentality

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Sociology
• Political Science

Background:

• Emotion regulation is a core concept in therapeutic models, particularly couple and family therapy.
• Neoliberal ideologies emphasize individual self-governance and responsibility for well-being.
• Societal precarity, driven by neoliberal policies, creates emotional burdens for individuals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze how therapeutic emotion regulation practices may align with and support neoliberal forms of self-governance.
• To explore the potential for couple and family therapy to reinforce or challenge neoliberal affective tactics.
• To theorize emotion regulation as a tactic of affective governmentality.

Main Methods:

• Drawing on poststructuralist governmentality studies.
• Utilizing processual affect theory.
• Analyzing professional discourses and affect-oriented techniques in therapy.

Main Results:

• Couple and family therapy may serve as a site for implementing neoliberal governmentality.
• Therapists may inadvertently promote a neoliberal worldview, encouraging self-improvement and entrepreneurial self-governance.
• Therapeutic interventions can normalize emotional burdens stemming from precarity as individual self-management tasks.

Conclusions:

• Emotion regulation in therapy risks promoting individualization and responsibilization within a neoliberal framework.
• Couple and family therapy holds potential for resistance against neoliberal affective tactics.
• Therapy can foster alternative subjectivities and affectivities, challenging dominant neoliberal norms.