Cold Intimacies: The Making of Emotional Capitalism

Acknowledgments vi

1 The Rise of Homo Sentimentalis 1

Freud and the Clark lectures 5

A new emotional style 16

The communicative ethic as the spirit of the corporation 18

The roses and thorns of the modern family 24

Conclusion 36

2 Suffering, Emotional Fields, and Emotional Capital 40

Introduction 40

The self-realization narrative 43

Emotional fields, emotional habitus 62

The pragmatics of psychology 67

Conclusion 71

3 Romantic Webs 74

Romancing the Internet 75

Virtual meetings 76

Ontological self-presentation 79

Fantasy and disappointment 95

Conclusion: A new Machiavellian move 108

Notes 115

Index 130