The most critical factor explaining the disjuncture between empathy’s revolutionary potential and today’s empathically-impaired society is the interaction between the brain and our dominant political culture. The evolutionary process has given rise to a hard-wired neural system in the primal brain and particularly in the human brain. This book argues that the crucial missing piece in this conversation is the failure to identify and explain the dynamic relationship between an empathy gap and the hegemonic influence of neoliberal capitalism, through the analysis of the college classroom, the neoliberal state, media, film and photo images, marketing of products, militarization, mass culture and government policy. This book will contribute to an empirically grounded dissent from capitalism’s narrative about human nature. Empathy is putting oneself in another’s emotional and cognitive shoes and then acting in a deliberate, appropriate manner. Perhaps counter-intuitively, it requires self-empathy because we’re all products of an empathy-anesthetizing culture. 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 culture and process, and make its of interest to students and scholars in political science, psychology, and other social sciences. ​ ​

We are living in an era of a massive empathy deficit, yet our capacity to imagine what someone else is feeling is a unique human superpower. Through inspiring stories, interviews with experts, and self-development exercises, Purposeful Empathy offers wisdom and practical advice to foster personal, organizational, and social transformation.

Discover the Six Habits of Highly Empathic People A popular speaker and co-founder of The School of Life, Roman Krznaric has traveled the world researching and lecturing on the subject of empathy. In this lively and engaging book, he argues that our brains are wired for social connection. Empathy, not apathy or self-centeredness, is at the heart of who we are. By looking outward and attempting to identify with the experiences of others, Krznaric argues, we can become not only a more equal society, but also a happier and more creative one. Through encounters with groundbreaking actors, activists, designers, nurses, bankers and neuroscientists, Krznaric defines a new breed of adventurer. He presents the six life-enhancing habits of highly empathic people, whose skills enable them to connect with others in extraordinary ways – making themselves, and the world, more truly fulfilled.

Empathy: A History tells the fascinating and largely unknown story of the first appearance of empathy in 1908 and tracks its shifting meanings over the following century. Despite the word's ubiquity today, few realize that it began as a translation of Einfühlung ("in-feeling"), a term in German psychological aesthetics that described how spectators projected their own feelings and movements into objects of art and nature. Remarkably, this early conception of empathy transformed into its opposite over the ensuing decades. Social scientists and clinical psychologists refashioned empathy to require the deliberate putting aside of one's feelings to more accurately understand another's. By the end of World War II, interpersonal empathy entered the mainstream, appearing in advice columns, popular radio and TV, and later in public forums on civil rights. Even as neuroscientists continue to map the brain correlates of empathy, its many dimensions still elude strict scientific description. This meticulously researched book uncovers empathy's historical layers, offering a rich portrait of the tension between the reach of one's own imagination and the realities of others' experiences.

In The Other Side of Empathy, Jade E. Davis contests the value of empathy as an affective or critical tool. Whether focusing on technology, colonialism, or racism, she shows how empathy can obscure relationships of dominance, control, submission, and victimization, arguing that these histories taint the whole concept of empathy. Drawing on digital archives of photographs, memoirs, newspapers, interviews, and advertisements regarding nineteenth-century ethnographic museums and human zoos, Davis shows how empathetic responses erase culpabilities from those institutions that commodify difference. She also contends that empathy’s mediation through digital technology cannot lead to more ethical actions, as technology only connects representations of people rather than the people themselves. In empathy’s place, Davis proposes mutual recognition as a way to see and experience others beyond colonial modes of empathy. Davis illustrates that moving beyond empathy allows for a more nuanced understanding of the colonial past and its ongoing impact while providing for a more meaningful affective engagement with the world.

They Rule reflects on key political questions raised by the Occupy movement, showing how similar questions have been raised by previous generations of radical activists: who really owns and rules the US? Does it matter that the nation is divided by stark class disparities and a concentration of wealth in the hands of a few? Along the way, this book sharpens readers' sense of who the US oligarchy are, including how their fortunes have changed over the course of US history, how they live and think and how to detect and de-cloak them. They Rule is a masterful historical and political analysis, revealing what lies beneath the surface of US society and what ordinary people can do to bring about social change.

Current Issues in Work and Organizational Psychology is a series of edited books that reflect the state-of-the-art areas of current and emerging interest in the psychological study of employees, workplaces, and organizations. Each volume focuses on a particular topic and consists of chapters contributed by international experts, with an introductory overview written by the editors, who are leading figures in their areas. For the first time, this book offers a comprehensive new collection which gathers together some of the most influential chapters from the series into one volume, providing an essential overview of the hottest topics in work and organizational psychology. Including 24 chapters by many of the leading researchers in the field, the book is split into two parts; the individual in the workplace, and how individuals are organized at work. Topics such as burnout, recruitment, well-being and organizational change are covered, as well as research on emerging topics such as flow, humor, i-deals, and socialization. With an introduction and conclusion by Professor Sir Cary Cooper, this is the ideal companion for any student or practitioner looking for an insightful overview of the most researched topics in work and organizational psychology.

Idiosyncratic deals, or i-deals, are the individualised working arrangements negotiated by employees with the organizations for which they work. Such deals represent an emerging area of study into the effects they have on both parties, as well as co-workers and the wider working world. Do i-deals signify a further breakdown of collectivism within the workplace, or should they be seen as empowering to those employees able to find themselves the best deal? Is the growth of i-deals an inevitable response to the need for more flexible working relationships, or do they erode concepts of equality and fairness? In this important new collection, i-deals are discussed from a comprehensive range of viewpoints. The book examines how i-deals alter the psychological relationship between employee and employer, as well as the notion of career development in an aging and technologically literate workforce. The issue of group relationships is also discussed, in relation to leadership theories, organizational justice and perceived fairness. Finally, the impact on organizational and individual effectiveness is assessed. Are i-deals a good thing for employers looking to maximise productivity within an organization? Do employees work more effectively and efficiently as a consequence of i-deals? Very much a hot topic, this volume represents a key contribution in the area of i-deals from the most active researchers in the field. It will be important reading for all students of work and organizational psychology, human resource management and business management.

This thoughtful book brings together some of the best psychological and spiritual thinkers to ponder evidence-based reflections about the development and nurturance of compassion. In an effort to alter behavior, scientists have conducted research to better understand the factors that contribute to both caring and cruel behavior among individuals and groups. This uplifting volume reviews evidence collected from experts across disciplines and explains how certain psychological, spiritual, and religious factors spur compassion and deter cruelty. The work extols the importance of religion and psychology as tools for better understanding and influencing behavior. With deep reflection combined with research-based insights, the book considers the various avenues for creating kinder human beings. Expert contributors examine empirical evidence to learn if engagement in particular activities results in benevolent behavior, while chapters present the many ways in which kindness touches all aspects of life—from racial harmony, to child rearing, to work environments. Topics include exploring the healing effects of prayers and meditation, integrating compassion into higher education, and parenting with greater mindfulness and care.