Self-Help and Society

Abstract

Susan Jeffers’ Feel the Fear … and Do it Anyway (1987/2007) is a typical self-help book. It seeks to enable its readers to overcome situations, experiences and practices of which they are afraid:

What is it for you? Fear of … public speaking, asserting yourself, making decisions, intimacy, changing jobs, being alone, aging, driving, losing a loved one, ending a relationship? […] Never mind … join the crowd! Fear seems to be an epidemic in our society. […] Whatever the fear, this book will give you the insight and tools to vastly improve your ability to handle any given situation. (Jeffers, 1987/2007: Introduction; emphasis in original)

Here, right at the outset of her argument, Jeffers makes several moves that are typical of many self-help authors. First, she sets up a problem — fear — as endemic and requiring an urgent response. Then she goes on to direct her readers to ‘insights and tools’ that will ‘vastly improve’ their ability to manage any situation they might face. By highlighting a source of crisis and simultaneously offering guidance that will empower her readers to fundamentally improve their lives, Jeffers in fact spells out the promise of the self-help genre as a whole.