Working the Difference: Science, Spirit, and the Spread of Motivational Interviewing

A history of motivational interviewing and what its rise reveals about how cultural forms emerge and spread.

Motivational interviewing (MI) is a professional practice, a behavioral therapy, and a self-professed conversation style that encourages clients to talk themselves into change. Originally developed to treat alcoholics, MI quickly spread into a variety of professional fields including corrections, medicine, and sanitation. In Working the Difference, E. Summerson Carr focuses on the training and dissemination of MI to explore how cultural forms-and particularly forms of expertise-emerge and spread. The result is a compelling analysis of the American preoccupations at MI's core, from democratic autonomy and freedom of speech to Protestant ethics and American pragmatism.