Why Do We Hurt Ourselves?: Understanding Self-Harm in Social Life

By Baptiste Brossard

Why does an estimated 5% of the general population intentionally and repeatedly hurt themselves? What are the reasons certain people resort to self-injury as a way to manage their daily lives? In Why Do We Hurt Ourselves, sociologist Baptiste Brossard draws on a five-year survey of self-injurers and suggests that the answers can be traced to social, more than personal, causes. Self-injury is not a matter of disturbed individuals resorting to hurting themselves in the face of individual weaknesses and difficulties. Rather, self-injury is the reaction of individuals to the tensions that compose, day after day, the tumultuousness of their social life and position. Self-harm is a practice that people use to self-control and maintain order--to calm down, or to avoid "going haywire" or "breaking everything." More broadly, through this research Brossard works to develop a perspective on the contemporary social world at large, exploring quests for self-control in modern Western societies.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0253036399
• ISBN13: 9780253036391
• Release Date: June 2018
• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Length: 210 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.5"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher