The Happiness Agenda This page intentionally left blank The Happiness Agenda A Modern Obsession Simon Burnett © Simon Burnett 2012 Foreword © Cary L. Cooper 2012 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2012 978-1349-33102-4 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 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2012 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-33102-4 ISBN 978-0-230-34841-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230348417 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Burnett, Simon, 1981– The happiness agenda : a modern obsession / Simon Burnett. p. cm. Includes index. 1. Happiness. 2. Happiness—United States. I. Title. BF575.H27B87 2011 302'.1—dc23 2011024175 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 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 is any gift of the gods to men, it is reasonable that happiness should be god-given, and most surely god-given of all human things inasmuch as it is the best. (Aristotle, 350 BCE) To Nik Contents Foreword ix Acknowledgements xi Introduction 1 Modern myths 2 Pursuing happiness 8 1 The happy adventures of capital 15 The culture of capital: an overview 16 A reflexive complexity 21 The power of subjects and objects 34 (Too) fast subjects 40 The cultural circuits of happiness 43 2 A happy policy 46 An ancient problem, and its modern fix 47 The utility of happiness 58 The utility of Utility 63 Historians repeat each other, history repeats itself 68 The political need for happiness 75 3 Happiness loves company 80 Theoretical origins 81 A modern-day assumption 88 Happy workers? 96 Champions of the new human relations 101 4 Positively happy 106 The Manhattan Project 107 Principles of positivity 110 Historical and conceptual origins 120 A mainstream counter-culture 127 5 Happy days 132 Knowing happiness 133 The happy death of god 135 vii viii Contents 6 Happiness needs practice 142 7 Happy ever after? 160 References 166 Index 179 Foreword To be or not to be happy! Cary L. Cooper The search for the magic bullet of happiness seems to dominate the headlines these days. It started with the King of Bhutan declaring that what was important for his kingdom was national well-being. This was followed by many other leaders, such as Nicholas Sarkozy of France and David Cameron of the UK, the latter suggesting that although GDP is important GNW (Gross National Well-being) was equally important. Indeed, the UK government is canvassing the population at this moment in time to construct some well-being items to include in their annual Office of National Statistics survey to gauge the nation’s happiness. In addition, strangely enough, aca- demic economists have taken the lead in arguing that happiness has a substantial “benefit to cost” ratio for society, and that is it not just a soft and fuzzy construct but can have material positive outcomes for individuals, the workplace, communities and the like. Books now abound on the economic and other benefits of a “happy society,” with global league tables ranking countries on happiness indices. There are several difficulties in this movement. First, that there may be a difference between an ephemeral emotional state like happiness, and a more enduring and broader construct like ‘well-being’. The two have been merged in the literature and in the public’s perception, so some work needs to be done to disentangle these. A person can be happy today but sad tomorrow, but still maintain a high level of contentment overall (i.e. well-being). Second, one may be happy with one aspect of their life (e.g. work) but very unhappy with others (e.g. their relationships). To properly explore a person’s happiness or con- tentment, it is vital that any measure of this should assess it across all the domains of a person’s life: their relationships with family, friends 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