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Positive Psychology and the legitimation of individualism

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Abstract

Positive Psychology (PP) has been firmly institutionalized as a worldwide phenomenon, especially in the last decade. Its promise of well-being has captured many people’s longings for solutions in times of significant social uncertainty, instability, and insecurity. The field, nevertheless, has been severely criticized on multiple fronts. This article argues that positive psychology is characterized by a narrow sense of the social as well as by a strong individualistic bias that reflects the core beliefs of neoliberal ideology. In this regard, the present paper aims to illustrate the extent to which individualism is essential to understanding the theoretical and empirical foundations of PP’s conceptualization of happiness. Additionally, the paper questions whether positive psychology and its individualist conception of human well-being are not themselves contributing to sustain and create some of the dissatisfaction to which they promise a solution.
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https://doi.org/10.1177/0959354317747988
Theory & Psychology
2018, Vol. 28(1) 3 –19
© The Author(s) 2018
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DOI: 10.1177/0959354317747988
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Positive Psychology and the
legitimation of individualism
Edgar Cabanas
Universidad Camilo José Cela, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Center for the History of
Emotions
Abstract
Positive Psychology (PP) has been firmly institutionalized as a worldwide phenomenon, especially
in the last decade. Its promise of well-being has captured many people’s longings for solutions in
times of significant social uncertainty, instability, and insecurity. The field, nevertheless, has been
severely criticized on multiple fronts. This article argues that positive psychology is characterized
by a narrow sense of the social as well as by a strong individualistic bias that reflects the core
beliefs of neoliberal ideology. In this regard, the present paper aims to illustrate the extent to
which individualism is essential to understanding the theoretical and empirical foundations of PP’s
conceptualization of happiness. Additionally, the paper questions whether positive psychology
and its individualist conception of human well-being are not themselves contributing to sustain
and create some of the dissatisfaction to which they promise a solution.
Keywords
critical psychology, happiness, individualism, positive psychology, subjectivity
In the book The Minimal Self, Christopher Lasch (1984) argued that in times of trouble
everyday life tends to become an exercise of “psychic survival”—one in which people,
confronted with an unstable, risky, and unpredictable environment, take recourse to a
sort of emotional retreat from any commitment other than their psychic self-improve-
ment and personal well-being. Similarly, Isaiah Berlin noted that “the retreat to the inner
citadel”—an individualistic doctrine that prompts us to escape into the fortress of our
true self—“seems to arise when the external world has proved to be exceptionally arid,
cruel, or unjust” (1968, p. 139). Jack Barbalet made similar observations, pointing out
that in times “when opportunities meaningfully to influence economic, political, and
other processes are low, then persons are likely to experience themselves as centers of
Corresponding author:
Edgar Cabanas, Universidad Camilo Jose Cela, C/ Castillo de Alarcón, 49, Villafranca del Castillo,
Madrid, 28692, Spain.
Email: ecabanas@ucjc.edu
747988TAP0010.1177/0959354317747988Theory & PsychologyCabanas
research-article2018
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Author biography
Edgar Cabanas is an Associate Professor at the Universidad Camilo José Cela and Adjunct
Researcher at the Center for the History of Emotions (Max Planck Institute for Human
Development), in Berlin, where he has previously held a Postdoctoral Research position. His main
field of research focuses on the political, economic, and social uses of the contemporary notion of
happiness. He has published several papers and book chapters on this topic, such as The Making of
a “Happy Worker”: Positive Psychology in Neoliberal Organizations.
... 203-204). Este imperativo es reformulado y traducido de maneras diversas en la psicología, por ejemplo, a través del imperativo de crecimiento personal (Adams et al., 2019), reforzado por la Psicología Positiva y asociado con la búsqueda individualista de la felicidad como verdad auténtica que constituiría el telos natural de todo humano (Cabanas, 2018;Davies, 2011;De La Fabián y Stecher, 2017). Así, el sujeto psicológico le da otra forma al sujeto emprendedor, al mismo tiempo que lo refuerza y complementa. ...
... Las observaciones precedentes respecto a las funciones de la psicología actual (Arf ken, 2014; Braunstein, 2020;Cabanas, 2018;Davies, 2011;Ferraro, 2016), forman parte del campo heterogéneo y disperso denominado psicología crítica (Pavón-Cuéllar, 2019f, 2019e). La psicología crítica no es una rama de la psicología, ni tampoco es una teoría. ...
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Happiness has become a new moral regime in neoliberal societies that defines what is right and wrong and stresses the insource of responsibility. More importantly, happiness stands out as a new model of selfhood that aligns with the neoliberal ideology of individualism and consumerism at the same time that legitimizes and rekindles this same ideology in seemingly nonideological terms through the discourse of science. The paper claims that this model of selfhood turns citizens into psytizens, that is, into psychological clients whose full functionality as individuals is largely tied to the pursuing, consuming, and development of their own happiness. The paper analyzes this notion of psytizen and its three main features, comments upon the happiness industry that simultaneously presupposes and targets this model of selfhood, and examines the role that happiness studies, in general, and positive psychology, in particular, play in shaping this emerging notion of citizenship. http://cap.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/06/14/1354067X16655459.abstract
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Inverting the Pyramid of Needs: Positive Psychology´s New Order for Labor Success
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Antecedents: Positive psychologists claim to have demonstrated a causal relationship between happiness and life success, with the former accounting for why people usually end up better off in life than others, especially at workplace. Method: In this paper we will analyse the role that happiness-based repertoires and techniques provided by positive psychologists are playing in the current labor sphere. Results: Positive psychologists’ repertoires and techniques do not only meet the emerging demands derived from the changes in the notions of “work” and “worker” in the last decades, but also introduce a whole new logic in the construction of professional workers’ subjectivity, according to which happiness becomes a necessary psychological state that workers must first achieve and develop in order to attain job success at work. Discussion: This emerging logic does not only circumscribe to the labor sphere, but also reflects a broader cultural and economic phenomenon. http://www.psicothema.com/english/psicothema.asp?id=4299
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Goals as Cornerstones of Subjective Well-being: Linking Individuals and Cultures
Chapter
  • Sep 2000
The question of what constitutes the good life has been pondered for millennia. Yet only in the last decades has the study of well-being become a scientific endeavor. This book is based on the idea that we can empirically study quality of life and make cross-society comparisons of subjective well-being (SWB). A potential problem in studying SWB across societies is that of cultural relativism: if societies have different values, the members of those societies will use different criteria in evaluating the success of their society. By examining, however, such aspects of SWB as whether people believe they are living correctly, whether they enjoy their lives, and whether others important to them believe they are living well, SWB can represent the degree to which people in a society are achieving the values they hold dear. The contributors analyze SWB in relation to money, age, gender, democracy, and other factors. Among the interesting findings is that although wealthy nations are on average happier than poor ones, people do not get happier as a wealthy nation grows wealthier. Bradford Books imprint
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Culture and Well-Being: The Collected Works of Ed Diener
Book
  • Jan 2009
The Collected Works of Ed Diener, in 3 volumes, present the major works of the leading research scientist studying happiness and well-being. Professor Diener has studied subjective well-being, people’s life satisfaction and positive emotions, for over a quarter of a century, and has published 200 works on the topic, many more than any other scholar. He has studied hundreds of thousands of people in over 140 nations of the world, and the Collected Works present the major findings from those studies. Diener has made many of the major discoveries about well-being, which are outlined in the chapters. The first volume presents the major theory and review papers of Ed Diener. These publications give a broad overview of findings in the field, and the theories of well-being. As such, the first volume is an absolute must for beginning scholars in this area, and offers a clear tutorial to the history of the field and major findings. The second volume focuses on culture. This volume is most unique, and could sell on its own, as it should appeal to cultural psychologists and anthropologists. The findings in the culture area are mostly all derived from the Diener laboratory and his students. Thus, the papers in this volume represent most of the major publications on culture and well-being. Furthermore, this is the area that is least well-known by most scholars. The third volume on measurement is the most applied and practical one because it discusses all the measures used, and presents new measures. Even for those who do not want to study well-being per se, but want to use some well-being measures in their research, this volume will be of enormous help. Volume 1: Gives a broad overview of findings and theories on subjective well-being. Volume 2: Presents most of the major papers on well-being and culture, and the international differences in well-being Volume 3: Presents discussions of measures of well-being and new measures of well-being, and is thus of great value to those who want to select measurement scales for their research Endorsements Over the past several decades Professor Diener has contributed more than any other psychologist to the rigorous research of subjective well-being. The collection of this work in this series is going to be of invaluable help to anyone interested in the study of happiness, life-satisfaction, and the emerging discipline of positive psychology. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Professor of Psychology And Management, Claremont Graduate University Ed Diener, the Jedi Master of the world's happiness researchers, has inspired and informed all of us who have studied and written about happiness. His life's work epitomizes a humanly significant psychological science. How wonderful to have his pioneering writings collected and preserved for future students of human well-being, and for practitioners and social policy makers who are working to promote human flourishing. David G. Myers, Hope College, and author, The Pursuit of Happiness. Ed Diener's work on life satisfaction -- theory and research -- has been ground-breaking. Having his collected works available will be a great boon to psychologists and policy-makers alike. Christopher Peterson, Professor of Psychology, Univ. of Michigan By looking at happiness and well-being in many different cultures and societies, from East to West, from New York City to Calcutta slums, and beyond, Ed Diener has forever transformed the field of culture in psychology. Filled with bold theoretical insights and rigorous and, yet, imaginative empirical studies, this volume will be absolutely indispensable for all social and behavioral scientists interested in transformative power of culture on human psychology. Shinobu Kitayama, Professor and Director of the Culture and Cognition Program, Univ. of Michigan Ed Diener is one of the most productive psychologists in the world working in the field of perceived quality of life or, as he prefers, subjective wellbeing. He has served the profession as a researcher, writer, teacher, officer in professional organizations, editor of leading journals, a member of the editorial board of still more journals as well as a member of the board of the Social Indicators Research Book Series. As an admirer of his work and a good friend, I have learned a lot from him, from his students, his relatives and collaborators. The idea of producing a collection of his works came to me as a result of spending a great deal of time trying to keep up with his work. What a wonderful public and professional service it would be, I thought, as well as a time-saver for me, if we could get a substantial number of his works assembled in one collection. In these three volumes we have not only a fine selection of past works but a good number of new ones as well. So, it is with considerable delight that I write these lines to thank Ed and to lend my support to this important publication. Alex C. Michalos, Ph.D., F.R.S.C., Chancellor, Director, Institute for Social Research and Evaluation, Professor Emeritus, Political Science, Univ. of Northern British Columbia
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