The Happiness Agenda: A Modern Obsession

193 Pages·2011·1.03 MB·English

by  Simon Burnett

The Happiness Agenda
A modern obsession
Simon Burnett
The Happiness Agenda
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The Happiness Agenda
A Modern Obsession 4
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© Simon Burnett 2012
Foreword © Cary L. Cooper 2012
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the 14
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence 12-
permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 11-
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Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. 2
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Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication e
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may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. on
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The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this av
work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. algr
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First published 2012 by a -
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN ali
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Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, Au
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Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, Ne
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managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing ct.c
processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the e
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country of origin. on
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. av
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data pal
Burnett, Simon, 1981– w.
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The happiness agenda : a modern obsession / Simon Burnett. w
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p. cm. o
Includes index. al fr
ISBN 978–0–230–28956–7 (hardback) eri
1. Happiness. 2. Happiness—United States. I. Title. mat
BF575.H27B87 2011 ht
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Printed and bound in Great Britain by
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10.1057/9780230348417 - The Happiness Agenda, Simon Burnett
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The question is asked, whether happiness is to be
acquired by learning or by habituation or some
other sort of training, or comes in virtue of some
divine providence or again by chance. Now if there 4
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is any gift of the gods to men, it is reasonable that 12-
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happiness should be god-given, and most surely 01
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god-given of all human things inasmuch as it is ct -
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the best. nn
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(Aristotle, 350 BCE) ve
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To Nik
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Contents
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Foreword ix 11-
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Acknowledgements xi ct -
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Introduction 1 e
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Modern myths 2 gr
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Pursuing happiness 8 a - P
1 The happy adventures of capital 15 strali
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The culture of capital: an overview 16 A
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A reflexive complexity 21 stl
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The power of subjects and objects 34 wc
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(Too) fast subjects 40 of
The cultural circuits of happiness 43 sity
er
2 A happy policy 46 niv
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An ancient problem, and its modern fix 47 o
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The utility of happiness 58 e
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The utility of Utility 63 ce
Historians repeat each other, history repeats itself 68 m - li
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The political need for happiness 75 ct.c
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3 Happiness loves company 80 nn
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Theoretical origins 81 ve
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A modern-day assumption 88 gr
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Happy workers? 96 w.
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Champions of the new human relations 101 w
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4 Positively happy 106 al fr
The Manhattan Project 107 eri
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Principles of positivity 110 m
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Historical and conceptual origins 120 yrig
A mainstream counter-culture 127 op
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5 Happy days 132
Knowing happiness 133
The happy death of god 135
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viii Contents
6 Happiness needs practice 142
7 Happy ever after? 160
References 166 14
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Index 179 1
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Foreword
To be or not to be happy!
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Cary L. Cooper 2-
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The search for the magic bullet of happiness seems to dominate the Co
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headlines these days. It started with the King of Bhutan declaring av
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that what was important for his kingdom was national well-being. al
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This was followed by many other leaders, such as Nicholas Sarkozy a -
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of France and David Cameron of the UK, the latter suggesting that str
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although GDP is important GNW (Gross National Well-being) was e, A
equally important. Indeed, the UK government is canvassing the stl
a
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population at this moment in time to construct some well-being w
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items to include in their annual Office of National Statistics survey of
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to gauge the nation’s happiness. In addition, strangely enough, aca- sit
er
demic economists have taken the lead in arguing that happiness has v
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a substantial “benefit to cost” ratio for society, and that is it not just o
a soft and fuzzy construct but can have material positive outcomes ed t
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for individuals, the workplace, communities and the like. Books now e
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abound on the economic and other benefits of a “happy society,” m - li
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with global league tables ranking countries on happiness indices. c
ct.
There are several difficulties in this movement. First, that there may ne
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be a difference between an ephemeral emotional state like happiness, co
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and a more enduring and broader construct like ‘well-being’. The two gra
have been merged in the literature and in the public’s perception, pal
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so some work needs to be done to disentangle these. A person can w
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be happy today but sad tomorrow, but still maintain a high level of m
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contentment overall (i.e. well-being). Second, one may be happy with al fr
one aspect of their life (e.g. work) but very unhappy with others (e.g. ateri
m
their relationships). To properly explore a person’s happiness or con- ht
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tentment, it is vital that any measure of this should assess it across all yri
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the domains of a person’s life: their relationships with family, friends Co
and work colleagues; their work environment; their community and
so on. The totality of our happiness or contentment can only be
determined by exploring all domains of human existence.
ix
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