Full Description
This book asks us to consider how and why the notion of random acts of kindness and the idea of kindness more generally have come to take a hold in many contemporary English-speaking societies. By introducing and mapping the contours of an emergent kindness industry, marshalling empirical research on contemporary framings of everyday kindness and theoretical resources from cultural sociology to the sociology of emotions and relationships, Brownlie makes the case for a critical sociological engagement with the idea of kindness. In doing so, she argues for kindness to be seen as a form of everyday enchantment - one that, like all enchantments, is ultimately ambivalent.
Contents
Introduction: Kindness as a good story
1 The kindness industry
2 Understanding how kindness caught on: From emodities to (ambivalent) attachment
3 Telling it slant and taking the measure: Researching the idea of kindness
4 Big from small: The idea of kindness as both interpersonal and world-making
5 As if by magic: Serendipity, structure and the idea of kindness
6 Making believe: Kindness and authenticity
7 Kindness as everyday enchantment
Conclusion: All done by kindness
References
