Absolutely spot on Paul.
At the risk of trumpet blowing the last chapter of this says much the same
sort of thing, with apologies to Wittgenstein . . .
http://www.uk.sagepub.com/books/Book210471
Cheers
M
Mark Rapley, PhD,
Professor of Clinical Psychology,
Programme Director - Doctoral Degree in Clinical Psychology,
School of Psychology,
The University of East London,
Stratford Campus,
Water Lane,
London, E15 4LZ,
U.K.
Tel: +44 (0)208 223 6392 (Direct)
Tel: +44 (0)208 223 4567 (Messages)
Tel: +44 (0)7951 908409 (Mobile)
-----Original Message-----
From: The UK Community Psychology Discussion List on behalf of Paul Duckett
Sent: Sun 12/12/2010 19:22
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] Happiness survey
Here's something I scribbled down somewhere a while back about defining
well-being. Don't know if it is useful.
It's only since socio-economic conditions have permitted the possibility
of producing plenty, indeed the possibility of producing excess, has
happiness and well-being started to appear as a social goal and then as
a moral project in the West. This happened alongside a shift from the
normative regulation of behaviour (where behaviour was regulated by
social norms) to regulation through excess (where behaviour is now
regulated by marketing and advertising that prescribe the arousal of new
needs and desires). This is one explanation as to why 'happiness and
well-being' have become so important -consumer culture is dependent upon
the notion of 'well-being' and happiness and their pursuit is the
primary means for a consumer capitalist economic system to manufacture
the social conditions for excessive desire. The desire for more and more
(rather than the satisfaction with having 'enough') is the regulation of
excess that drives consumer-orientated cultures that in turn feed
neo-liberal market economies.
The prominence of the concepts of well-being and happiness in CP may be
why positive psychology both appears to seduce some community
psychologists to it and it to community psychology. What is remarkable
is that a discipline founded on the pursuit of happiness (positive
psychology) and one that appears happy to jump upon its tailcoat (CP) is
that both are balancing themselves on a set of pleonasms (happiness and
well-being are nothing more or less than descriptions of being in a
state we desire to be in). The fact that CP invests considerable time
into giving further elaboration to such a moribund concept as
'well-being' is both confusing and frustrating. At best, the study of
well-being and happiness might be to act as a mirror on the society in
which the concept is being invoked and give us a glimpse into what
different people in different socio-cultural and historical contexts
consider to be their preferred living conditions: the concept is wholly
time- and place-bound. At worst, happiness and well-being are used as
vehicles of colonisation whereby that which is valued by one society can
be imposed upon another: i.e., when claims about the conditions for
well-being are universalised rather than localised.
On 12/12/2010 16:58, CRAIG NEWNES wrote:
> Richard, Can you define wellbeing? I won't critique your response as
> you are more than capable of doing that. I would be fascinated to see
> others on the list have a go at a definition.
> C
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* richard pemberton <[log in to unmask]>
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Sent:* Sunday, 12 December, 2010 11:46:23
> *Subject:* Re: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] Happiness survey
>
> David and Craig again nudging the list away from anything other than
> the critical straight and narrow? I think the Wellbeing agenda opens
> the door to societal narratives. It could of course just be more
> individualistic/religious remembering to count your blessings every
> night - one of these in the public sector might be still having a job
> just now - or blimey I am retired on a good NHS pension so I can
> renounce my previous Big Psy lackey past! The Wellbeing and new Public
> Health Agendas do however offer new ways in for both Community and
> Critical Psychology thinking and practice? The psychopathology bubble
> might be full to bursting? Big Society is of course a con but its also
> an opportunity?
> Richard
> Ps The West Midlands Group must be having an effect - a number of
> Birmingham Iapt sites have lost their PCT funding and up for closure.
> On Sat, Dec 11, 2010 at 6:32 PM, CRAIG NEWNES
> <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
>
>
> Apart from a nice Telegraph cartoon about this, folk who haven't
> seen it might like to look at Private Eye's version of the
> Happiness Survey which captures the politics of choice perfectly.
> Mark Rapley also told me that IAPT monies are now ring-fenced so -
> hey - no excuse to be miserable now that a CBT therapist
> supervised by a Clinical Psychologist will sort you out. Worse, in
> a bid for credibility, the CBT therapist and Clin Psych supervisor
> will discuss the economic cynicism behind it all - while still
> getting paid.
> C
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* "Fryer, David" <[log in to unmask]
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> *Sent:* Friday, 10 December, 2010 8:54:20
> *Subject:* Re: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] Behavioural insight team: Nudge
>
> Dear John, Penny, Annie, Wendy and all,
> Wendy drew attention to this BIT stuff some time ago on the list
> and I looked at it then with dismay. I see it as yet another local
> manifestation of an internationally evident processes. I agree
> that one ideological function of this stuff is to draw attention
> away from the socially constituted nature of oppression and
> reposition it as the result of individual dysfunctional 'choice',
> that it is part of an onslaught on resources devoted to societal
> change etc. However I am still impressed by the legacy of Foucault
> (and post-Foucauldian) work, which I do not see usefully captured
> as about 'free' 'choice' between regulated 'options'. I am still
> keen on working out the contemporary implications of what Foucault
> was doing some decades ago or, more accurately, problematising
> contemporary manifestations of (re)subjectification productive of
> governmentality. Noxious nonsense like BIT creates opportunities
> for many parasites of neo-liberalism to make money but my view is
> that it is of far more problematic than that. I would not be at
> all reassured if a thorough literature review of "studies directly
> testing hypotheses generated by the theory" rejected them nor by
> "a mass of empirical evidence to back up the claim that there's a
> new technology of behavioural manipulation", not only because I am
> unimpressed methodologically by that style of claim legitimation
> (research) but, because I think it misses the point that this is
> just one more manifestation of the re-constitution of what it is
> to be human. Engaging with, uncovering and contesting the
> assemblages achieving this re-constitution seems to me an
> important task for community critical psychology.
> David
>
> ________________________________________
> From: The UK Community Psychology Discussion List
> [[log in to unmask]
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>] On Behalf Of John Cromby
> [[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>]
> Sent: 09 December 2010 20:26
> To: [log in to unmask]
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Behavioural insight team: Nudge
>
> Hi
>
> This is interesting stuff. On the one hand its same old, same old: the
> government want to regulate and control what we 'freely' choose whilst
> generating the appearance of beneficence and democracy. One of the
> best
> ways of controlling a population is to give them 'free' choice but
> then
> predetermine the options they are able to viably choose between.
> Amongst
> others, Foucault was onto this some years ago.
>
> And on the other hand, from what I can find online it seems like
> little
> more than economists finally waking up to the idea that their pet
> theory
> of rational choice doesn't actually capture how most people decide in
> most situations. Its wrapped up in a language of 'choice architecture'
> which makes it sound sinister but I'm not convinced they've provided
> much that's actually new. I couldn't find any studies directly testing
> hypotheses generated by the theory - though I didn't have loads of
> time
> to spend searching - but I'm not convinced there's too much here
> that's
> new or different to the techniques that advertisers have been
> using for
> decades except that they've chucked in the behaviourist finding
> that its
> better to reward good choices than punish bad ones.
>
> The kinds of choices they want to nudge us toward 'for our own
> good and
> the good of all' will presumably include things like exercising more,
> smoking less, drinking only in moderation, and having sex only on
> Sundays and even then under a duvet with the light off and strictly in
> the missionary position. Yet they're employing McDonald and Pepsi to
> help them write health policy and representatives of the alcohol
> industry to advise on responsible drinking. I don't think they've yet
> signed up a porn star to advise on sexual moderation but that can't be
> far away.
>
> At the same time they're cutting funds to local government and
> freezing
> or limiting council tax, forcing steep rises in the cost of e.g.
> swimming pool and football pitch hire and gym use. They're putting VAT
> up to 20%, cutting public sector jobs and wages, reducing benefits...
>
> In this context I'd see their adoption of nudge theory as more akin to
> the notion of the big society: a figleaf to cover over the fact that
> we're being shafted. Unlike the big society it does involve them
> actually doing something, although it has the benefit that what's
> involved seems like it will cost little or nothing, adopting a
> rhetoric
> and creating some guidelines rather than actually investing in
> people's
> wellbeing.
>
> But just like the big society its a figleaf that pushes responsibility
> back onto us, our choices and our lifestyles. When it 'works' they'll
> claim the credit, when it fails - which it mostly will because there's
> little or no substance - they'll blame us. So its Foucault (and
> others)
> yet again: they're giving us the power to choose whilst requiring
> us to
> choose responsibly on their limited and restrictive terms.
>
> I could be wrong and there's a mass of empirical evidence to back
> up the
> claim that there's a new technology of behavioural manipulation here
> that actually works. If anyone knows of anything it would be good to
> hear it. But in the absence of that I'd be more concerned about their
> use of nudge theory to legitimate a cuts agenda than their use of
> it to
> manipulate our choices. Consequently, if we're to critique it then
> that's where I think our critique should be targeted.
>
> J.
>
>
>
> On 09/12/2010 08:25, Annie Mitchell wrote:
> > Dear all, Have people in the UK been following the development
> of the
> > "nudge unit " ( behavioural insight team) ? the intentions are
> intended
> > towards social benefit ( but by getting us to change our individual
> > choices by changing incentives ) and while there is some sense
> behind it
> > in terms of acknowledging environmental determinants of human
> behaviour
> > , I find the whole development hugely sinister - very alarming
> indeed to
> > read ( see link below for Guardian report) " The deputy prime
> minister,
> > Nick Clegg, said he believed the unit could change the way citizens
> > think." I didn't read anything in the book about nudges ( or even
> > shoves) towards bankers and unfettered business interests. What do
> > others make of this development? Can we marshall a community
> psychology
> > critique?
> >
> > Annie
> >
> >
>
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/sep/09/cameron-nudge-unit-economic-beh
aviour
> >
> >
> > ___________________________________ The Community Psychology
> List has a
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> There is
> > a twitter feed: http://twitter.com/CommPsychUK To post on the
> website
> > blog, forum or twitter feed, contact Grant or David at the email
> > addresses below. David Fryer ([log in to unmask]
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> > <mailto:[log in to unmask]
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>>) or Grant Jeffrey
> > ([log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> <mailto:[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>>) To
> > unsubscribe or to change your details on this COMMUNITYPSYCHUK list,
> > visit the website:
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>
> --
> *********************************************************
> John Cromby
> Psychology Division, SSEHS
> Loughborough University
> Loughborough, Leics
> LE11 3TU England
> Tel: 01509 223000
> Email: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> Personal webpage: http://www-staff.lboro.ac.uk/~hujc4/
> <http://www-staff.lboro.ac.uk/%7Ehujc4/>
> Co-Editor, "Subjectivity": www.palgrave-journals.com/sub/
> <http://www.palgrave-journals.com/sub/>
> *********************************************************
>
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> ___________________________________ The Community Psychology List has
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--
Paul Duckett
Department of Psychology
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester, UK
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