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This document introduces a special section on therapeutic cultures in contemporary societies. It discusses the growing prevalence of psychologically and psychotherapeutically informed ideas and practices in everyday life, as well as the commercial success of the 'happiness industry' and the implications of therapeutic discourses in power and governance. The document also examines the assumption that therapeutic cultures are closely linked to neoliberal capitalism and individualization, questioning whether this is still the case in the 2020s. The special section includes four papers that explore therapeutic discourses and practices in various social contexts, emphasizing the need for further research in this area. The papers specifically examine the impact of neoliberal policies and economic crises on mental health and well-being in higher education in Finland and the United Kingdom, highlighting the pathologization of poor academic performance and the neglect of broader social and economic issues. The authors argue that the emphasis on individual responsibility and autonomy contradicts the actual experiences of students. Additionally, the papers investigate the role of self-help books in shaping modern subjectivity in the UK and the contradictions between the neoliberal therapeutic ethos and the construction of a measurable selfhood through digital therapeutic cultures. Overall, the papers demonstrate the pervasive influence of therapeutic discourses in contemporary society and the importance of sociological analysis in understanding this psychologization of society. [Extracted from the article]

There has been a vast proliferation of categories, descriptors and labels used to describe gender and sexual identity over the past few years, with terms now numbering in the hundreds. Many terms, such as heteroflexible, asexual, demigirl and sapiosexual actively contest masculine/feminine and hetero/homo binary arrangements of identity, and LGBTQ minority rights discourses and arguably represent an epochal shift in gender/sexual knowledge frameworks. The cultural conditions that make such change possible have yet to be explored. This paper draws on theoretical approaches to populism to analyse the role of popular culture, digital communication and contestation of institutional and expert knowledges in driving the emergence of new gender and sexual terminology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) is endemic in South Sudan. Approaches to end VAWG are barely making a dent in prevalence figures. Global evidence tells us that ending VAWG in conflict-ridden contexts is challenging on many levels. Our research points to the need for social and gender norm change approaches to be better contextualised within the political economy and through applying a nuanced critique of the role of culture in normalising many forms of VAWG. In addition, greater involvement of young people is critical as a behavioural tipping point is beginning to emerge in this group. At national level, a lack of political commitment emerges as a key challenge in ending VAWG. Drawing on the findings from 20 qualitative interviews with national civil society organisation (CSO) and non-governmental organisation's (NGO) stakeholders, the article argues that current approaches to ending VAWG in South Sudan (and arguably elsewhere) must be reframed along a continuum of change. Activities must be supported at all levels from national through to the grassroots and be founded in a complex picture of the values and beliefs that sustain VAWG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Daniel Bell (1919–2011) and Manuel Castells (1942–) are the grand theorists of the information age. The article provides a detailed, up-to-date, comparative analysis of their writings. It begins with their methodologies, identifying numerous commonalities in their post-Marxian frameworks. The substance of their theories is then examined, where it is shown that both plausibly explain contemporary social reality in terms of the interplay of three forces: the information technology revolution, the restructuring of capitalism and the innovational role of culture. There are found to be major similarities in their accounts (the Kantian interpretation, social stratification) but also significant divergences (role of science, the fourth world, the normative content of culture). Suitably combined, Bell's and Castells's thought goes a long way towards delivering a persuasive sociological theory of the global information society. However, the article concludes by suggesting that extensive further work is needed to clarify the precise relationships between the three factors and their relative weightings in the equations required to explain recent social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]