Empathy Imperiled: Capitalism, Culture, and the Brain [Paperback]

The mostcritical factor explaining the disjuncture between empathys revolutionarypotential and todays empathically-impaired society is the interaction betweenthe brain and our dominant political culture. The evolutionary process hasgiven rise to a hard-wired neural system in the primal brain and particularlyin the human brain. ?This book argues that the crucial missing piece inthis conversation is the failure to identify and explain the dynamicrelationship between an empathy gap and the hegemonic influence of neoliberalcapitalism, through the analysis of the college classroom, the neoliberalstate, media, film and photo images, marketing of products, militarization,mass culture and government policy. This book will contribute to an empiricallygrounded dissent from capitalisms narrative about human nature. ? Empathyis putting oneself in anothers emotional and cognitive shoes and then actingin a deliberate, appropriate manner. ? Perhaps counter-intuitively, itrequires self-empathy because were all products of an empathy-anesthetizingculture. The approach in this book affirms a scientific basis for acting with empathy,and it addresses how this can help inform us to our current political cultureand process, and make its of interest to students and scholars in politicalscience, psychology, and other social sciences.?Empathy is putting oneself in anothers emotional and cognitive shoes and then acting appropriately.?? The evolutionary process has given rise to a hard-wired neural system, described as the most radical of human emotions, that equips us to connect with one another.? But this critical connection has been short-circuited by the dynamic convergence of culture, politics and the brain under the hegemonic influence of neoliberal capitalism. The book explores this process through sections on education, the neoliberal state, neuromarketing, corporations, militarization, mass culture, film, photo images and media.? How does the system blunt, bracket off and orlc)