Publication (142 pages).

culture figures, but the listalso
includes members of the
general population. Self-help
literature on hoarding is a fairly
recent phenomenon. The
genre started out as organization
or clutter assistance, or an
aid to reduce excess shopping
practices. Most literature deals
initially with the reader identifying
and accepting himself
or herself as a ‘hoarder’, and
then progresses through several
chapters that encourage the
hoarder to become organized
and part with goods in a stepby-step
process. The hoarding
literature that is provided in
the form of self-help immediately
signals to a person that
hoarding is a behaviour that
requires assistance. The idea of
assistance is placed in the title
of the genre: ‘self-help’. Thus
it is implied that one seeks this
type of information to assist
in changing their behaviour.
For some it may be a welcome
guide to changing habits, but
to others the presence of this
type of literaturemay cause
a reader to become ashamed
of their practices. It may also
encourage those
who accumulate
to distance
themselves from
other society
members due to
the possibility of being ousted
as a hoarder. While selfhelp
literature may provide
some people with relief, the
presence of it in our society
draws attention to the many
ways that members in society
may consider behaviour to be
wrong. It works as a tool of
moral regulation because it
Self-help literature on
hoarding is a fairly recent
phenomenon. The genre
started out as organization
or clutter assistance,
or an aid to reduce excess
shopping practices.
In the case of hoarding, moral regulation is
a reality, but the ideologies are constructions
that exist due to particular claimants.
signals a bad or disagreeable
behaviour and then provides
an acceptable alternative. This
form is interesting because it
does not require person-to
-person contact; self-help exists
in a consumable object
form that the hoarder can
interact with by themselves.
This causes the moral claim
to become self-regulated; instead
of relying on claimants
to disseminate information to
the hoarder to regulate them,
the claimants have created a
system wherein the hoarder
self-regulates to change their
behaviour without interference
from an outside force.
This draws attention to the
detrimental nature of social
problems that are morally regulated;
there is not enough
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