Hard Times: The Growth of an ‘Avoidant’ Culture

Abstract

SYNOPSISThis paper explores how we might situate our understanding of early psychological development within the economic and political culture in which we live. How has an increasingly harsh and polarized political economy affected our emotional and relational ‘structures of feeling’? Drawing on attachment theory, the paper argues that both extremes of poverty and wealth tend to lead to insensitive and authoritarian parenting practices which promote an avoidant style of emotional regulation. The more dominant this becomes, the more it supports policies based on individualism and self-sufficiency, and leads to instrumental values within our social institutions.