Svend Brinkmann – författare

»Tankeväckande. En av de bästa böckerna just nu.« Ingalill Mosander, Aftonbladet

»En vacker bok om öde och ansvar. Det är en våghalsig och lyckad blandning mellan intervju- och tankebok.« Arbetarbladet

Tankeväckande och underhållande läsning! Vad har ödet för betydelse i våra liv? Och hur kan vi förlika oss med vårt förflutna? Den danska psykologiprofessorn Svend Brinkmann är tillbaka med ännu en fullträff till bok. 

Är vi rakt igenom autonoma individer, fria att göra det vi vill? Eller spelar ödet någon roll i våra liv? Och hur kan vi förlika oss med vårt förflutna? Det här är frågor som Svend Brinkmann ställer sig i boken Vi blir det liv vi lever.

Startskottet för boken är det handskrivna brev som Svend Brinkmann mottar från en av sina läsare en sommardag 2018. Brevskrivaren Lili, 93 år, och Svend blir brevvänner och börjar så småningom att ses i Lilis lägenhet. Där berättar Lili sin livshistoria: om förälskelser i tyska soldater under kriget, om ångest, sorg, glädje och en strävan efter värdighet under sina 33 år i psykoanalys.

Lilis berättelse väcker funderingar hos Svend: Har vi glömt ödets betydelse för våra liv? Är det betydligt mycket mindre som är upp till oss själva och våra fria val än vad vi har lärt oss att tro? Vi blir det liv vi lever är både en berättelse om Lilis händelserika liv och Svend Brinkmanns tankar om en psykologi som tar ödet på allvar. Eller som Brinkmann uttrycker det: Livet utgörs inte bara av en rad val som är frikopplade från varandra, utan också av ett livslångt förhållande till en livstråd eller ett öde, som individen inte nödvändigtvis själv är upphov till.

SVEND BRINKMANN, född 1975, är professor i allmän psykologi och kvalitativa metoder vid Aalborg universitet i Danmark. Han har tidigare givit ut ett flertal uppmärksammade böcker, däribland Stå fast och Ta ställning för ett meningsfullt liv.

Fler pressröster om boken: 

»Det är en mycket gripande och klok bok som Svend Brinkmann har skrivit om att bli människa ... Ett stycke dansk historia sett genom Lilis ögon, förmedlat av ett av landets skarpaste intellekt.« Berlingske

»Det är en fint berättad, lättillgänglig och tankeväckande bok som också många unga skulle kunna läsa med behållning.« Kristeligt Dagblad

»Det är en intressant tanke att vi skulle bli lyckligare av att acceptera att vi har ett öde, inte minst i en tid då föreställningen att livet går att planlägga efter eget behag gång på gång frontalkrockar med verkligheten.« Sydsvenskan

»Brinkmann driver tesen att det som konstituerar en människa psykologiskt är hennes relationella liv, 'vi blir det liv vi lever' genom samvaro med andra ... Att höra Lili berätta om sitt liv är mycket berikande.« Bibliotekstjänst

This is a concise introduction to the richness and scope of interviewing in social science research, teaching the craft of interview research with practical, hands-on guidance.  Incorporating discussion of the wide variety of methods in interview-based research and the different approaches to reading the data, this book will help you to navigate the broad field of qualitative research with confidence and get out there and start collecting your data.

As living human beings in cultural worlds, we are constantly surrounded by 'data' that call for analysis, and as we cope with the different situations and episodes of our lives, we are engaged in understanding and interpreting the world as a form of qualitative inquiry. The book helps its reader develop a disciplined and analytic awareness informed by theory, and shows how less can be more in qualitative research. Each chapter introduces theoretical tools to think with, and demonstrates how they can be put to use in working concretely with everyday life materials.

Some studies estimate that each year, around a quarter of the population of Western countries will suffer from at least one mental disorder. Should this be interpreted as evidence for the progress of psychiatry, a discipline that is now able to identify and treat mental illnesses that have always existed, or might it be the case that modern life somehow creates new conditions, or social pathologies? This book argues that in fact something more fundamental has been taking place in recent years: the development of diagnostic cultures. Taking account of the phenomenon of patients themselves ''pushing for'' pathologization - and acknowledging therefore that this is not simply a case of psychiatry pursuing an agenda of ''medicalisation from above'' - this volume examines the emerging trend towards interpreting our sufferings in terms of psychiatric conceptions and diagnostic categories. Drawing on new empirical case studies of psychological diagnoses, including depression and ADHD, and employing both cultural-psychological and sociological analyses, it charts the development of contemporary diagnostic cultures and asks whether, in transforming existential, moral and political concerns into individual psychiatric disorders, we risk losing sight of the larger historical and social forces that affect our lives. A ground-breaking examination of the shift towards the pathologization of suffering and the dangers that this presents to human self-understanding, Diagnostic Cultures will be of interest to scholars of social theory and philosophy, the sociology of culture, psychology and the sociology health and medicine.

Some studies estimate that each year, around a quarter of the population of Western countries will suffer from at least one mental disorder. Should this be interpreted as evidence for the progress of psychiatry, a discipline that is now able to identify and treat mental illnesses that have always existed, or might it be the case that modern life somehow creates new conditions, or social pathologies? This book argues that in fact something more fundamental has been taking place in recent years: the development of diagnostic cultures. Taking account of the phenomenon of patients themselves ''pushing for'' pathologization - and acknowledging therefore that this is not simply a case of psychiatry pursuing an agenda of ''medicalisation from above'' - this volume examines the emerging trend towards interpreting our sufferings in terms of psychiatric conceptions and diagnostic categories. Drawing on new empirical case studies of psychological diagnoses, including depression and ADHD, and employing both cultural-psychological and sociological analyses, it charts the development of contemporary diagnostic cultures and asks whether, in transforming existential, moral and political concerns into individual psychiatric disorders, we risk losing sight of the larger historical and social forces that affect our lives. A ground-breaking examination of the shift towards the pathologization of suffering and the dangers that this presents to human self-understanding, Diagnostic Cultures will be of interest to scholars of social theory and philosophy, the sociology of culture, psychology and the sociology health and medicine.

This volume draws together the work of a diverse range of thinkers and researchers to address the question of happiness critically, using a wide variety of theoretical and empirical methodologies. Broadening the discussion beyond what might be considered highly individual and insular conceptualizations of happiness, often based on purely positivist approaches to the subject, authors raise questions about the nature of individual and collective anxieties that might underpin the current emphasis on happiness and the ideological or governmental ends that may be served by the framing of happiness in psychology and economics. With attention to how individuals understand and pursue happiness in their daily lives, Critical Happiness Studies highlights different theoretical paradigms that demonstrate the role of power in producing specific conceptualizations of happiness and, consequently, how they frame individual self-understanding or subjectivities and (re)shape political problems. The collection makes available critical, theoretical, and methodological resources for addressing a powerful set of cultural, political, and scientific discourses that have loomed large since the closing decade of the 20th century. A call for the establishment of a body of work in critical happiness studies, this book will appeal to scholars across the social sciences and humanities interested in the age-old problem of happiness.

This volume draws together the work of a diverse range of thinkers and researchers to address the question of happiness critically, using a wide variety of theoretical and empirical methodologies. Broadening the discussion beyond what might be considered highly individual and insular conceptualizations of happiness, often based on purely positivist approaches to the subject, authors raise questions about the nature of individual and collective anxieties that might underpin the current emphasis on happiness and the ideological or governmental ends that may be served by the framing of happiness in psychology and economics. With attention to how individuals understand and pursue happiness in their daily lives, Critical Happiness Studies highlights different theoretical paradigms that demonstrate the role of power in producing specific conceptualizations of happiness and, consequently, how they frame individual self-understanding or subjectivities and (re)shape political problems. The collection makes available critical, theoretical, and methodological resources for addressing a powerful set of cultural, political, and scientific discourses that have loomed large since the closing decade of the 20th century. A call for the establishment of a body of work in critical happiness studies, this book will appeal to scholars across the social sciences and humanities interested in the age-old problem of happiness.

What does morality have to do with psychology in a value-neutral, postmodern world? According to a provocative new book, everything.

Taking exception with current ideas in the mainstream (including cultural, evolutionary, and neuropsychology) as straying from the discipline’s ethical foundations, Psychology as a Moral Science argues that psychological phenomena are inherently moral, and that psychology, as prescriptive and interventive practice, reflects specific moral principles.

The book cites normative moral standards, as far back as Aristotle, that give human thoughts, feelings, and actions meaning, and posits psychology as one of the critical methods of organizing normative values in society; at the same time it carefully notes the discipline’s history of being sidetracked by overemphasis on theoretical constructs and physical causes—what the author terms “the psychologizing of morality.” This synthesis of ideas brings an essential unity to what can sometimes appear as a fragmented area of inquiry at odds with itself. The book’s “interpretive-pragmatic approach”:

• Revisits core psychological concepts as supporting normative value systems.

• Traces how psychology has shaped society’s view of morality.

• Confronts the “naturalistic fallacy” in contemporary psychology.

• Explains why moral science need not be separated from social science.

• Addresses challenges and critiques to the author’s work from both formalist and relativist theories of morality.

With its bold call to reason, Psychology as a Moral Science contains enough controversial ideas to spark great interest among researchers and scholars in psychology and the philosophy of science.

As living human beings in cultural worlds, we are constantly surrounded by 'data' that call for analysis, and as we cope with the different situations and episodes of our lives, we are engaged in understanding and interpreting the world as a form of qualitative inquiry. The book helps its reader develop a disciplined and analytic awareness informed by theory, and shows how less can be more in qualitative research. Each chapter introduces theoretical tools to think with, and demonstrates how they can be put to use in working concretely with everyday life materials.