Happiness and Other Bad Ideas Media Studies

Over the past decade or so, there has been renewed interest in the question of happiness. Happiness studies, a multi-disciplinary field which combines insights from psychology, economics, politics and the natural sciences, has attempted to create a ‘science of happiness’. Although a relatively new field, happiness studies has attracted generous research funding. In the United States, for example, over the past decade, the US National Institute of Mental Health has handed out around $226 million in funding to researchers looking at happiness and other positive emotions. The reach and influence of happiness researchers is not confined to academic psychology. Employers are using the findings of research into happiness to manage staff and lift morale in the workplace. The findings of happiness research have, for example, begun to make inroads into debates about public policy. In the United Kingdom, for example, an advisor to the Blair Government argued that children should have lessons in happiness up to the age of 18 as a way to tackling increasing rates of depression. Geelong Grammar has already taken steps in this direction, employing the noted positive psychologist and author of Authentic Happiness Martin Seligman, for two terms. This paper asks why now? Why has happiness becomes a research concern? And, more importantly, has happiness studies delivered?

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