Working the Difference: Science, Spirit, and the Spread of Motivational Interviewing

By E. Summerson Carr

A history of motivational interviewing and what its rise reveals about how cultural forms emerge and spread.

Motivational interviewing (MI) is a professional practice, a behavioral therapy, and a self-professed conversation style that encourages clients to talk themselves into change. Originally developed to treat alcoholics, MI quickly spread into a variety of professional fields including corrections, medicine, and sanitation. In Working the Difference, E. Summerson Carr focuses on the training and dissemination of MI to explore how cultural forms-and particularly forms of expertise-emerge and spread. The result is a compelling analysis of the American preoccupations at MI's core, from democratic autonomy and freedom of speech to Protestant ethics and American pragmatism.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226827623
• ISBN13: 9780226827629
• Release Date: September 2023
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"