On the Moral Content of Emotional Ties: The Case of “Violent” Youth'

Birkbeck Institute for Social Research

'Sites of Conflict' Seminar Series

Margarita Palacios (Birkbeck) 'On the Moral Content of Emotional Ties: The Case of “Violent” Youth'

The current debate on how individualization affects young people has reached a dead end. On the one hand, Communitarians argue that the weakening of social ties is detrimental to community life and that trust is being replaced by indifference and aggression. On the other hand, Foucauldians think that the concern with emotional ties merely represents the governmentality of neoliberal societies: the return of the community is seen as a new form of control and social exclusion. Research on contemporary youth justice and schooling tends to support the second approach, whereas studies on youth violence point to the significance of emotional ties. In this paper, I discuss the possibility of transcending both approaches with a psychoanalytically informed and non-normative conception of intersubjective recognition.

Wednesday 22nd April 3.30 Room 539 Birkbeck Main Building

Free - all welcome



Julia Eisner
Administrator
Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities
Birkbeck Institute for Social Research
Birkbeck, University of London
Malet Street
London WC1E 7HX

T: (0) 20 3073 8363
F: (0) 20 3073 8359
E: j.eisner@bbk.ac.uk