Alfred Street (University of Auckland Store)
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Reinvention
Paperback Edition: 2012
Ours is the era of 'reinvention'. Today's "cultures of reinvention" seem, for many, definitive of the perfect lifestyle. From psychotherapy to life coaching, from reality television to cosmetic surgery: the art of reinvention is inextricably interwoven with the lure of the next frontier, the
breakthrough to the next boundary -- especially boundaries of the self. For others, however, the twenty-first century craze for reinvention represents the degradation of culture, the narcissistic illusions of a me-generation, and is thus only fit for satirical batterings by the likes of Tina Fey or Christopher Hitchens. In this vibrant ShortCut Introduction, influential sociologist Anthony Elliott appraises 'reinvention' as a key buzzword of our times. In a brief, wide-ranging and ambitious overview of the rise and rise of reinvention, Elliott reviews everything from reinvention gurus to business reinvention, from personal makeovers to corporate rebrandings. In doing so, he undertakes a serious if often amusing consideration of contemporary reinvention practices, including super-fast weight loss diets, celebrity makeovers, body augmentations, speed dating, online relationship therapies, organizational restructurings, business downsizings, and many more. This absorbing book is an ideal introduction to the topic of reinvention for students of social science and general readers alike. Reinvention offers a provocative and radical reflection on an issue (sometimes treated as trivial in the public sphere) that is increasingly politically urgent in terms of its personal, social and environmental consequences
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Publisher : Routledge
Publication date : 2012-11
Subjects: Non-fiction, Social Sciences, Sociology, Social Theory