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OUT NOW FROM VERSO:
THE HAPPINESS INDUSTRY: HOW THE GOVERNMENT AND BIG BUSINESS SOLD US WELL-BEING
BY WILLIAM DAVIES
Why are we so interested in measuring happiness?
http://www.versobooks.com/books/1901-the-happiness-industry
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READ AN EXTRACT IN THE GUARDIAN:
How friendship became the tool of the powerful: Will Davies on social media, sharing and selling
Corporations and governments have co-opted the idea of the ‘social’ for their own ends. Is there anything we can do about it? Writer and sociologist William Davies, author of The Happiness Industry: How the Government and Big Business Sold Us Wellbeing outlines his response for the Guardian
http://www.versobooks.com/blogs/1979-how-friendship-became-the-tool-of-the-powerful-will-davies-on-social-media-sharing-and-selling
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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.
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EVENTS:
May 18, 2015
GUARDIAN LIVE at Conway Hall, London WC1R 4RL
Buying Happiness with Will Davies, Oliver Burkeman, Philippa Perry and more
Leading commentators in economics, psychology, and behavioural science discuss Will Davies' new book The Happiness Industry
http://www.versobooks.com/events/1106-buying-happiness-with-will-davies-oliver-burkeman-philippa-perry-and-more
May 20, 2015
IPPR, London
The Happiness Industry - a discussion with Will Davies about his latest book.
Join Will Davies, chaired by Zoe Williams, with a response from Juliet Michaelson.
http://www.versobooks.com/events/1088-the-happiness-industry-a-discussion-with-will-davies-about-his-latest-book
May 22, 2015
Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships, 70 Warren Street, London, W1T 5PB
The Politics of Happiness: Dr Will Davies and Professor Andrew Samuels in Conversation
Will Davies and Andrew Samuels both write about the connections between emotions/therapy/psychology and politics, so expect a lively debate that will explore whether therapy is a tool for social change or a way to maintain the status quo.
http://www.tccr.ac.uk/cpd/eventdetail/261/-/the-politics-of-happiness-join-dr-will-davies-and-professor-andrew-samuels-in-conversation
June 24, 2015
Goldsmiths, University of London – Room PSH LG01
Happiness beyond the ‘happiness industry’ – discussion and book launch
A roundtable discussion featuring Will Davies, Lynne Segal and Mark Fisher, with Alberto Toscano chairing. This event will be the formal launch for The Happiness Industry and will be followed by a wine reception.
http://www.versobooks.com/events/1132-happiness-beyond-the-happiness-industry-discussion-and-book-launch
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WILLIAM DAVIES is the author of The Limits of Neoliberalism. His writing has appeared in New Left Review, Prospect, the Financial Times, and Open Democracy. His website www.potlatch.org.uk was featured in the New York Times. He teaches at Goldsmiths, London.
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“When did happiness itself become a liability? When the market figured out that making us content is the first stage in manufacturing our consent. In this accessible, fact-filled history of measured happiness, William Davies shows us how metrics
of well-being were systematically disconnected from meaning and community, and in the process transformed from the very core of human power into an access panel to our desires and behavior. I can’t listen to that damned ‘Happy’ song anymore without thinking
about whom my supposed happiness really serves, and what they’re willing to do to make sure I stay that way.”
– Douglas Rushkoff, author of Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now
“In a heady mixture of psychology, economics, sociology, and philosophy, this book reveals the misguided nature of the currently popular intellectual project to make people happier and improve society through 'scientific' understanding - and manipulation
- of human beings. With many governments and corporations hell-bent on control promoting it aggressively, this project is increasingly depriving our societies of true social bonds, democratic participation, critical thinking, and even happiness itself. An
eye-opening, head-spinning, and mind-expanding book.”
– Ha-Joon Chang, University of Cambridge, author of 23 Things They Don't Tell You about Capitalism
“Skillfully written intellectual entertainment—prime fodder for postmodern psychologists and New-Age thinkers alike.”
– Kirkus Reviews
“Davies, explaining the evolution of the science of happiness from the French Revolution to the present, argues it essentially serves the interests of the powerful elite. This challenging book will appeal to academics and students of various disciplines.”
– Booklist
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HARDBACK: MAY 2015 / 409 pages / ISBN: 9781781688458/ £16.99 / $26.95 / $32 (Canada)
THE HAPPINESS INDUSTRY is available at a 30% discount on our website, with free shipping and bundled ebook. Purchasing details here: http://www.versobooks.com/books/1901-the-happiness-industry
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