The Dark Reality of Self-Help Therapy
Neoliberalism, infantilization, and the Law of Attraction
There used to be a bookstore in the same plaza as my local movie theater. So I’d arrive early to buy a movie ticket and spend an hour browsing the books before seeing the movie. It was the perfect combination.
The bookstore closed shop at that location and reopened in a nearby mall. Visiting the new location, I noticed a drastic change in the layout. Half of the bookstore was devoted to a bright and airy Self-Help section, while the other sections, including philosophy, religion, history, and politics were crammed into the other half of the store and had poor lighting. The philosophy bookshelves were literally in darkness because the overhead lights were sparse and they provided weak illumination.
Of course the new layout was an economic decision. Self-help books are top sellers and the many women who seem to buy books at the store rather than online are attracted by the home decoration items and knickknacks for sale which are sprinkled around the books about business-friendly spirituality and how to unlock your superhuman mental powers.
But why in the first place is the self-help industry more popular than, say, philosophy? Both disciplines address the same big issues of the nature of reality and knowledge…
