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The Happiness Industry: How the Government and Big Business Sold Us Well-Being

by William Davies - £9.99  Verso Books (2016)
paperback    ISBN 13: 9781784780951 | ISBN 10: 1784780952

Why are we so interested in measuring happiness?
 
What was a Buddhist monk doing at the 2014 World Economic Forum in Davos lecturing the world’s leaders on mindfulness? Why do many successful corporations have a ‘chief happiness officer’? What can the chemical composition of your brain tell a potential employer about you? In the past decade, governments and corporations have become increasingly interested in measuring the way people feel: ‘the Happiness index’, ‘Gross National Happiness’, ‘well-being’ and positive psychology have come to dominate the way we live our lives. As a result, our emotions have become a new resource to be bought and sold.
 
In a fascinating investigation combining history, science and ideas, William Davies shows how well-being influences all aspects of our lives: business, finance, marketing and smart technology. This book will make you rethink everything from the way you work, the power of the ‘Nudge’, the ever-expanding definitions of depression, and the commercialization of your most private feelings. The Happiness Industry is a shocking and brilliantly argued warning about the new religion of the age: our emotions.

(Price & availability last checked: November 2016)

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In booklists: Capitalism, Corporate Power & Globalisation, Politics of Health, Mental Health,
In categories: Anti-Capitalism & Global Inequality, History & Biography, Health & Wellbeing, Society, Welfare, Justice & the State,

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