Book Review - The Happiness Industry

In his impeccably researched book, Davies traces the history of the happiness industry back to the work of the utilitarian Jeremy Bentham, a British philosopher and social reformer who believed human actions should promote happiness for the greatest number. Davies also examines the work of Gustav Fechner, a theologian and physicist who founded psychophysics; the economist William Stanley Jevons; the physiologist and philosopher Wilhelm Wundt; and the animal psychologist John B Watson whose research eventually led him to join the U.S. advertising agency J. Walter Thompson. He illustrates how these disciplines overlapped and how happiness studies became entangled “with economic and medical expertise”.
His main criticism of “the science of well-being” is that it encourages us to blame ourselves while ignoring political and economic contexts, Futhermore, those in power exploit the science for “private profit” or “social control”. As Davies underlines, “unhappiness and depression are concentrated in highly unequal societies with strongly materialist, competitive values”. The opinion poll Gallup estimates that “the unhappiness of employees costs the US economy $500 billion a year in lost productivity, lost tax receipts and health care costs.” No wonder wealthy states are so interested in measuring happiness. But the solutions offered, Davies argues, further isolate the poor.
It’s an erudite and far-reaching study but, because Davies covers so much ground, The Happiness Industry can be difficult to unpack. Davies suggests that the positive psychology movement (aimed at improving everyday happiness) has advanced to the detriment of more subjective methods geared towards identifying what constitutes emotional wellbeing. His conclusion is that only through “understanding the strains and pains that work, hierarchy, financial pressures and inequality place upon human well-being” can we challenge them. Rather than allowing our emotions to be bought and sold, we need to stop focusing on our inner lives and train our minds “outwards upon the world”.
His main criticism of “the science of well-being” is that it encourages us to blame ourselves while ignoring political and economic contexts, Futhermore, those in power exploit the science for “private profit” or “social control”. As Davies underlines, “unhappiness and depression are concentrated in highly unequal societies with strongly materialist, competitive values”. The opinion poll Gallup estimates that “the unhappiness of employees costs the US economy $500 billion a year in lost productivity, lost tax receipts and health care costs.” No wonder wealthy states are so interested in measuring happiness. But the solutions offered, Davies argues, further isolate the poor.
It’s an erudite and far-reaching study but, because Davies covers so much ground, The Happiness Industry can be difficult to unpack. Davies suggests that the positive psychology movement (aimed at improving everyday happiness) has advanced to the detriment of more subjective methods geared towards identifying what constitutes emotional wellbeing. His conclusion is that only through “understanding the strains and pains that work, hierarchy, financial pressures and inequality place upon human well-being” can we challenge them. Rather than allowing our emotions to be bought and sold, we need to stop focusing on our inner lives and train our minds “outwards upon the world”.
A shortened version was published by the Independent on Sunday
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps