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Against happiness / Owen Flanagan, Joseph E. LeDoux, Bobby Bingle, Daniel M. Haybron, Batja Mesquita, Michele Moody-Adams, Songyao Ren, Anna Sun, Yolonda Y. Wilson ; with responses from critics, Jennifer A. Frey, Hazel Rose Markus, Jeffrey D. Sachs, and Jeanne L. Tsai

Author
Flanagan, Owen, Jr., 1949-
Published
New York : Columbia University Press, [2023]
Physical Description
xii, 345 pages ; 23 cm
Additional Creators
LeDoux, Joseph E., Bingle, Bobby, Haybron, Daniel M., Mesquita, Batja, Moody-Adams, Michele, Ren, Songyao, Sun, Anna, Wilson, Yolanda Y., Frey, Jennifer A., Markus, Hazel Rose, Sachs, Jeffrey, and Tsai, Jeanne L.

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Summary
"It was hardly a surprise to philosophers or members of every religion in the world when economists announced in the 1970s that happiness was not correlated with rises in personal income or national GDP; their traditions had made this point for millennia. But it did prompt a response: the happiness agenda, a movement that endorses metrics indicating happiness and well-being as a guide to public policy, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network annual World Happiness Report. A surprising and unnerving 2021 Gallup report revealed that Americans are "thriving" at the highest levels ever measured-despite COVID, declining life expectancy, alarming rises in economic insecurity, political polarization, creeping authoritarianism, stress, and loneliness. This collection challenges the report's assumptions, investigating the nature of happiness and well-being in cross-cultural, multiracial contexts. It examines terminology, theoretical approaches, and measurement criteria; interpretations of self-reports; the sciences of emotion; the importance of culture; and racial and hermeneutic injustice, concluding that there are vast inter- and intracultural differences in ideas and theories about happiness but that all are socially based, culturally specific and normative-ethics-based-in contrast to standard indices and measurements, which are empirical snapshots of economic conditions. If subjective measures of well-being are to guide policy, they must presume a deep connection to social justice, and they work best if the causes of unhappiness and ill-being are identified and solutions to eliminate them are prioritized"--
Subject(s)
ISBN
9780231209489 hardcover
0231209487 hardcover
9780231209496 paperback
0231209495 paperback
Bibliography Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
View MARC record | catkey: 40791025