The therapeutic culture. The emancipated self. The emotivist ethic. A new priestly class. The pathologization of human behavior. Victimization. The therapeutic ethos
Legitimation of the state. Theoretical considerations. Older sources of legitimation. State expansion. Public disenchantment. The therapeutic alternative
Civil case law. Personal injury law. The doctrinal history of emotional damage cases. Recovery of emotional damages in the new legal climate. Psychologists as expert witnesses. Litigation reform : therapeutic and utilitarian defenses
Criminal justice. Drugs and crime. The historical antecedents to therapeutic justice. Courtroom therapy. Prison therapy
Public education. The colonial period. Universal free education. Compulsory education. The progressive era. The cosmopolitan era. Therapeutic education. In a state of esteem
Welfare policy. Congress and the well-being of children. Child labor laws and the Children's Bureau (1906-1912). The Sheppard-Towner Act (1921). Social Security and Emergency Wartime Aid to Children (1939-1945). Head Start and Operation Good Start (1965-1970). Head Start and Child Abuse Bills (1985-1990). Welfare reform : rejection or extension of therapeutic welfare? Excursus : the Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill hearings
Political rhetoric. The therapeutic president. Political oratory. The Lincoln-Douglas debates. The Kennedy-Nixon debates. The Reagan-Mondale debates. The Clinton-Bush-Perot debates. The talk show debate. The therapeutic candidate. The triumph of therapeutic discourse
The therapeutic state. Therapeutic utilitarianism. A postmodern state? An assessment of the continuing dialogue. Therapeutic coercion. Legitimation reconsidered. The problem of consent. The paradox of unintended consequences. Summary.
