The Happiness Fantasy

In this devastatingly witty new book, Carl Cederström traces our present-day conception of happiness from its roots in early-twentieth-century European psychiatry, to the Beat generation, to Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump. He argues that happiness is now defined by a desire to be "authentic", to experience physical pleasure, and to cultivate a quirky individuality. But over the last fifty years, these once-revolutionary ideas have been co-opted by corporations and advertisers, pushing us to live lives that are increasingly unfulfilling, insecure and narcissistic.

In an age of increasing austerity and social division, Cederström argues that a radical new dream of happiness is gathering pace. There is a vision of the good life which promotes deeper engagement with the world and our place within it, over the individualism and hedonism of previous generations. Guided by this more egalitarian worldview, we can reinvent ourselves and our societies.

Keywords: happiness, self-help, health, wellness, wellbeing, life-tracking, cultural studies, politics, philosophy, ethics, political theory, body image, exercise, psychoanalysis, comedy, satire, Happiness Industry, The Pursuit of Happiness, Dipesh Chakrabarty, The Antidote, Darrin McMahon, Olive Burkeman, Will Davies, Wellness Syndrome, Barbara Ehrenreich, Martin Seligman, Aristotle, Kate Bush, Derren Brown, Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine, Cultural Studies General, History of Philosophy, Cultural Studies General, History of Philosophy