Why We Worry

Roland Paulsen is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Lund University. His research focuses on medical sociology, cultural studies, and the sociology of work. The meaning of work, and also the meaninglessness of work, are the subjects of two of his books: Empty Labor: Idleness and Workplace Resistance (2014) and Return to Meaning: A Social Science with Something to Say (with Mats Alvesson and Yiannis Gabriel, 2017).

“Paulsen’s book is a fascinating and penetrating analysis of our late-modern anxieties when we are confronted with the basic uncontrollability of the world – and a passionate plea for regaining a robust trust in life that does not depend on control and domination.”Hartmut Rosa, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany

• 1. A Window onto Our ThoughtsPART 1. WORRY IN OUR TIME2. How We Feel3. The Nature of Worry4. In Thought’s ClutchesPART 2. TRICKLES OF HISTORY5. Time Horizons6. Disenchantments7. An Appendage of the Machine8. The World as Risk9. The Self as Risk10. Self-SuspicionsPART 3. ACTION IN OUR TIME11. Quieting Worry12. Living with Worry13. Beyond Treatment