One nation under stress : the trouble with stress as an idea

248 Pages·2013·1.218 MB·English

by  Dana Becker

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One Nation Under Stress
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One Nation
Under Stress
The Trouble with Stress as an Idea
Dana Becker
1
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1

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© Oxford University Press 2013
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Becker, Dana.One nation under stress : social uses of the stress concept / Dana Becker. p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–19–974291–2 (hardback : alk. paper) ISBN 978–0–19–997177–0 (updf)
ISBN 978–0–19–997178–7 (epub)
1. Stress (Psychology) 2. Stress management—21st century. 3. Post-traumatic stress disorder.
I. Title.BF575.S75B343 2013
155.9’0420973–dc232012029879
ISBN 978-0-19-974291-2
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
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For my mother ,
Bett y Becker
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Chapter 1 Stress: Th e New Black Death? 1
Chapter 2 Gett ing and Spending: Th e Wear and Tear of Modern
Life 19
Chapter 3 Stress and the Biopolitics of American Society 49
Chapter 4 Mars and Venus Stress Out, Naturally 76
Chapter 5 Th e Other Mommy War: Stress and the Working
Mother 114
Chapter 6 Postt raumatic Stress Disorder and the War for Mental
Health 1 48
Chapter 7 Aft erword: Vulnerability Reexamined 182
Notes 187
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
M
any people have supported this project. Special thanks go to
Jeanne Marecek, Eva Magnusson, and Sharon Lamb. Th ere are
others to thank whose encouragement for my work over the years has
been truly heartening: Frank Richardson, Nicola Gavey, Rachel Hare-
Mustin, Paula Caplan, Leonore Tiefer. Even though she was not there
at the fi nish, Maura Roessner, my fi rst editor at Oxford, was enthusiastic
about this project from its incipient stages and helped shepherd it-
and me—through the process from proposal to the fi rst draft chapters.
Many thanks to Dana Bliss and Nicholas Liu, who took over and made
the book’s trajectory from draft manuscript to publication a seamless
one. Th anks also to Jillian Graves for her research assistance on Chapter
6. I could not have completed the book without generous leaves funded
by Bryn Mawr College and supported by Dean Darlyne Bailey and
Provost Kim Cassidy. And, as always, my love and thanks to Stan.
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