Happiness and the Art of Life: Diagnosing the psychopolitics of wellbeing

Authors

  • M. Greco Goldsmiths College, University of London
  • P. Stenner Department of Psychology Faculty of Social Sciences Open University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/hcs.2013.147

Keywords:

positive psychology, affect, joy, governmentality, wellbeing

Abstract

Building upon the idea of a psychology without foundations and on vitalist approaches to health, the paper presents the concepts of ‘joy’ and of ‘gay science’ as theoretical points of contrast to Seligman’s ‘happiness’ and ‘positive psychology’. Defined by Spinoza and Nietzsche as the feeling of becoming more active in the world, joy emphasises the embodied connection between self and world. By contrast, we propose, a defining characteristic of the contemporary happiness dispositif is precisely the feature of splitting the subject from their world; of treating feelings and desires as purely internal, individual and subjective affairs; and of effectively cutting people off from any of their powers that do not correspond to a limited mode of entrepeneurial subjectivity and practice.

Author Biographies

M. Greco, Goldsmiths College, University of London

Monica Greco is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London. She is the author of Illness as a Work of Thought: A Foucauldian Perspective on Psychosomatics (Routledge, 1998) and of articles on vitalism, medical humanities and the sociology of medically unexplained symptoms. For Routledge she has co-edited The Body: A Reader (with Mariam Fraser) and Emotions: A Social Science Reader (with Paul Stenner).

P. Stenner, Department of Psychology Faculty of Social Sciences Open University

Paul Stenner is Professor of Social Psychology at the Open University, UK. He is currently interested in process approaches to psychosocial problems, particularly those influenced by A. N. Whitehead. He has published work in numerous fields, including emotions/affectivity, human rights, quality of life, and active ageing. Recent books include Psychology Without Foundations (with Steve Brown, Sage 2009) and Theoretical Psychoiogy: Global Transformations and Challenges (co-edited with John Cromby, Johanna Motzkau, Jeffrey Yen and Ye Hao Sheng, Captus 2011).

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Published

2013-11-15

Issue

Vol. 5 No. 1 (2013): Translating Happiness: Medicine, Culture and Social Progress

Section

Articles

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