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This volume draws on existentialist ideas from philosophy, psychology and sociology to explore some intriguing questions. How do good people commit evil deeds? Which parts of our selves do we try to hide from others and from ourselves? How do we find a balance between routine predictability and chaotic despair? What excuses do we make to avoid taking responsibility for our (in)actions? Focusing on Yalom's four 'givens' of the human condition - death, freedom, isolation and meaninglessness - the authors examine these existential themes in relation to wide-ranging topics. The chapters include case studies from the world of skydiving, women and transgender pro-wrestlers, suicide bombers, sexual subjectivity, utopias and dystopias, psychoanalysis, technology and progress, power and love. As such, the book will be a useful resource for scholars and students from a range of humanities and social science disciplines
List of contents
1.Introduction.- 2.Death at the Drop Zone: Existential Givens and a Lost Assumptive World.- 3.The Affirmation of Life - A study comparing the Nietzschean will to power and Platonic Eros.- 4.Yours is not to question why, yours is just to do or die.- 5.The 'good death vs. chaos: exploring meaninglessness in the context of traumatic death.- 6.Pain, pops, powerslams: exploring how gendered identities are navigated through the embodied experiences of women and trans pro wrestlers.- 7.Sexual subjectivity: contesting objectification and humanising the rapist.- 8.The Fate of Prometheus: Hubris, Humility, and the Existential Condition of Humanity in the Age of the Entropocene.- 9.The Hidden Terror in the Terrorist: Existential and Psychodynamic Reflections on the Case of a Silent Suicide Bomber.
About the author
Susie Scott is Professor of Sociology at the University of Sussex, UK. Her research interests include micro-sociological theory, Goffman, symbolic interactionism, self-identity, emotions and mental health.
James Hardie-Bick is Associate Professor in Sociology and Criminology at the University of Sussex, UK. His research interests include social theory, self-identity, violence and transgression.
