Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Well-being, happiness and the structural crisis of neoliberalism: an interdisciplinary analysis through the lenses of emotions

  • Published:
Mind & Society Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The sociology of emotions is a fast-growing disciplinary field. Research on emotions has enabled major advances in medical science, political science, anthropology, psychosociology etc. Turner and Smets have shown that social relations feature a kernel of phenomena with an emotional substrate ranging from face-to-face encounters to the emergence of social movements. The social arena is shaped by emotions, which are powerful agents of change (for instance, the events that triggered the Arab spring). In this paper, we focus on the links between emotions, happiness and well-being apprehended as a polymorphic state culturally determined by an emotional substrate. Finally, through the lenses of emotions, we sketch out the features of the structural crisis of neoliberalism and the lessons for a renewed understanding of the underlying socio-economic phenomena.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Flagship authors of this research area at the juncture between economics, sociology, psychology and political science include Richard Easterlin, Robert Frank, Andrew Oswald, Edward Diner, Tom Tyler, Runt Veenhoven, Robert Lane, Larry Seitlitz, Luigino Bruni and, Richard Sugden, Luca Stanca, Julie Nelson, Andrew Clark.

  2. With the notable exceptions of individuals suffering from the Asperger syndrome for whom emotions (and by extension sensorial perceptions) are ill-codified compared to neurotypical men and women (i.e. the overwhelming majority of the population).

  3. http://decisionlab.harvard.edu/.

  4. Let us also mention the Journal of Happiness Studies, a leading interdisciplinary journal in happiness research, devoted to the scientific understanding of subjective well-being outside the realms of mainstream economics.

  5. Dolan and Metcalfe (2012) distinguish between (i) evaluation (ii) experience (iii) ‘eudemonic’ measures.

    (i) Respondents are asked to provide global assessments of their life (overall life satisfaction) or domains of life (health, job, partner etc.).

    (ii) Scientists posit a pure mental state account of well-being, equated to the average balance of pleasure (or enjoyment) over pain (i.e emotional substrate), measured over the relevant period.

    (iii) Following Ryff (1989), SWB is contrasted with hedonic well-being. The latter notion is rooted in conceptions of well-being in Ancient Greece, and modern psychoanalytical or psychological theories developed by Jung and Maslow. ‘Eudemonic’ theories focus on psychological needs, such as meaning, autonomy, control and connectedness, independently of the immediate pleasure they bring.

  6. Alain states: “Most people do not know about the automatic functioning of emotions […] One of our most striking mistakes is to wait until anger has released a long hidden thought; this not even true one time out of a thousand; a man must have self-control, if he wants to express his thoughts correctly”.

  7. http://voicesinbioethics.org/2014/07/10/the-social-responsibility-of-a-social-network/.

  8. The Eurobarometer, the Gallup World Poll, and the US Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS).

  9. “our culture is held in thrall to dead and rotten ideas concerning the economic crisis” (ibid., p.18).

  10. A Trojan horse is a person whose mission is to penetrate inside a milieu in order to destroy it from within.

  11. Beside the ferocious critics of social networks such as Jonathan Frenzen (The Guardian 2013), there exists a more positive analytical approach with the philosophy of new technologies (Vial 2013) that views social media as new forms of socialization and personal development through a variety of new perceptions of otherness experienced online, though initiated online virtually, potentially extended in the real world.

  12. About the conception of social networks as egocentric and self-centered promotion tools, see Twenge, Campbell (2009).

  13. http://radicalantipode.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/mirowski-reviews_1-strauss.pdf.

  14. See also the recent Human Brain Project.

  15. Foucault, Les Mots et Les Choses.

  16. Richard Frackowiak, the leader of Human Brain Project offers a different perspective, by arguing that all conscious activity originating in the neuronal architecture of the brain that is, the soul, is in fact exclusively made of matter, thereby echoing the ideas of Francis Crick (1994, p. 3): “‘You’, your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behaviour of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules.”

  17. http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/12/26/1321664111.full.pdf.

References

  • Alain (1928) Propos sur le bonheur. Gallimard, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Bauman Z (1991) Modernity and ambivalence. Wiley, Cambridge, Polity

  • Berezin M (2002) Emotions and the economy. In: Smelser NeilJ, Swedberg Richard (eds) Handbook of economic sociology, 2nd edn. Russell Sage Foundation and Princeton University Press, New York and Princeton, pp 109–127

    Google Scholar 

  • Berezin M (2009) Exploring emotions and the economy: new contributions from sociological theory. Theory Soc 38(4):335–346

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chabot P (2013) Global burnout. Presses universitaires de France (PUF), Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Clough P, Halley J (2007) The affective turn: theorizing the social. Duke University Press, Durham and London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen D (2012) Homo Economicus, prophète (égaré) des temps nouveaux. Albin Michel, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Crick F (1994) The astonishing hypothesis—the scientific search for the soul. Simon and Schuster, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Dalgleish T (2004) The emotional brain. Nat Rev Neurosci 5(7):583–589

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Damasio AR (1996) The Somatic marker hypothesis and the possible functions of the prefrontal cortex. Phil Trans R Soc Lond B 351(1346):1413–1420

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Damasio AR (2002) Le sentiment même de soi ‐ corps, émotions, conscience, 2e édn. Odile Jacob, Paris

  • Damasio AR (2010 [1995]) L’Erreur de descartes. La raison des émotions. Odile Jacob, Paris

  • Damasio H, Tranel D, Grabowski T, Adolphs R, Damasio A (2004) Neural systems behind word and concept retrieval. Cognition 92:179–229

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Neve J-E, Ward GW, De Keulenaer F, Van Landeghem B, Kavetsos G, Norton MI (2015) Individual experience of positive and negative growth is asymmetric: evidence from subjective well—being data. Center for economic performance, LSE, discussion paper 1304, revised March 2015 (replaced October 2014 version)

  • Dolan P, Metcalfe R (2012) Measuring subjective wellbeing: recommendations on measures for use by national governments. J Soc Policy 41(2):409–427

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dolan P, Peasgood T, White MP (2006) Review of research on the influences on personal wellbeing and application to policy. Defra, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Dow S (2008) Mainstream methodology, financial markets and global political economy. Contrib Polit Econ 27(1):13–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ducar DM (2014) The social responsability of a social network. Voices in bioethics, online journal in affiliation with Columbia University, July 10. http://voicesinbioethics.org/2014/07/10/the-social-responsibility-of-a-social-network/

  • Ekman P (1992) An argument for basic emotions. Cogn Emot 6(3–4):169–200

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ekman P, Davidson RJ, Ricard M, Wallace BA (2005) Buddhist and psychological perspectives on emotions and well-being. Curr Dir Psychol Sci 14:59–63

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fineman S (ed) (2008) The emotional organization: passions and power. Blackwell, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Foster JB, Magdoff F (2009) The great financial crisis: causes and consequences. Monthly Review Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Frank RH (1988) Passions within reason: the strategic role of the emotions. Norton, New York, NY

    Google Scholar 

  • Frey BS, Stutzer A (2002) Happiness and economics: how the economy and institutions affect well-being. Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Gadrey J, Jany-Catrice F (2012) Les nouveaux indicateurs de richesse (3ème rééd), éd. La Découverte, coll. Repères

  • Government Office for Science (2008) Mental capital and well-being: making the most of ourselves in the 21st century. Stationery Office, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Gudykunst WB, Matsumoto Y, Ting-Toomey S, Nishida T, Kim K, Heyman S (1996) The influence of cultural individualism-collectivism, self-construals, and individual values on communication styles across cultures. Hum Commun Res 22:510–543

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harvey D (2005) A brief history of neoliberalism. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Heaney JG (2011) Emotions and power: reconciling conceptual twins. J Polit Power 4(2):259–277

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hofstede G (2010) Cultures et organisations: nos programmations mentales. Pearson Education France, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • James W (1894) The physical basis of emotion. Psychol Rev 1:516–529

  • James W (1902) The varieties of religious experience: a study in human nature. Longmans, Green & Co, New York and London

  • James W (1950) Principles of psychology, vol 1. Dover, New York (Original work published 1890)

  • James W (1968 [1884]) What is an emotion? Mind. In: Arnold MB (ed) The nature of emotion: selected readings, vol 9. Penguin, London

  • Jensen D (2006) Endgame: vol II, resistance. Seven Stories Press, New York

  • JP Morgan (2013) Chase whale trades: a case history of derivatives risks and abuses: hearing before the permanent subcommittee on investigations of the committee on homeland security and governmental affairs, United States Senate, one hundred thirteenth congress, first session, March 15, 2013, vol 1

  • Kahneman D (1999) Objective Happiness. In: Kahneman D, Diener E, Schwarz N (eds) Well-being: the foundations of hedonic psychology. Russel Sage, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman D, Riis J (2005) Living and thinking about it: two perspectives on life. In: Huppert F, Baylis N, Kaverne B (eds) The science of wellbeing: integrating neurobiology, psychology, and social science. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman D, Diener E, Schwarz N (eds) (1999) Well-being: the foundations of hedonic psychology. Russell Sage Foundation, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Keltner D, Haidt J (2001) Social functions of emotions. In: Mayne T, Bonanno G (eds) Emotions: current issues and future directions (pp 192–213). Guilford Press, New York

  • Keltner D, Lerner JS (2010) Emotion. In: Gilbert DT, Fiske ST, Lindzey G (eds) The handbook of social psychology (5th edn). Wiley, New York, pp 317–352

  • Kramer AD, Guillory JE, Hancock JT (2014) Experimental evidence of massive-scale emotional contagion through social networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 201320040. http://www.pnas.org/content/111/24/8788.full.pdf

  • Kross E, Verduyn P, Demiralp E, Park J, Lee DS, Lin N, Shablack H, Jonides J, Ybarra O (2013) Facebook use predicts declines in subjective well-being in young adults. PLoS ONE 8(8):e69841. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0069841

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kyrstis A (2012) Immoral panic and emotional operations in times of financial fragility. In: Pixley J (ed) New perspectives on emotions in finance. Routledge, London, pp 49–65

    Google Scholar 

  • Lange CG (1967 [1885]) The emotions. In: Lange CG, James W (eds) The emotions. Hafner, New York

  • Layard R (2005) Happiness: lessons from a new science. Penguin, London

  • Lewis M, Haviland-Jones J (eds) (2008) Handbook of emotions, 3rd edn. Guilford Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Lutz CA, White G (1986) The anthropology of emotion. Annual review of anthropology. Annual Reviews, Palo Alto, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • MacLean PD (1949) Psychosomatic disease and the “visceral brain.” Recent developments bearing on the Papez theory of emotion. Psychosom Med 11:338–353

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacLean PD (1975) On the evolution of three mentalities. Man Environ Sys 5:213–224

    Google Scholar 

  • Maslach C, Jackson SE (1981) The measurement of experienced burnout. J Organ Behav 2:99–113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matsumoto D (1989) Cultural influences on the perception of emotion. J Cross Cult Psychol 20:92–105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Minsky HP (1986) Stabilizing an unstable economy. Yale University Press, New Haven

    Google Scholar 

  • Mirowski P (2002) Machine dreams: economics becomes a cyborg science. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Mirowski P (2013) Never let a serious crisis go to waste: how neoliberalism survived the financial meltdown. Verso, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Montague R (2007) Your brain is (almost) perfect: how we make decisions. Plume, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Nummenmaa L, Glerean E, Hari R, Hietanen JK (2013) Bodily maps of emotions. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. doi:10.1073/pnas.1321664111

    Google Scholar 

  • OCDE (2006) Les indicateurs alternatifs du bien-être, Romina Boarini, Asa Johansson et Marco Mira d’Ercole, OCDE, septembre, disponible à. http://www.oecd.org/fr/std/cn/37883038.pdf

  • OECD (2013) Guidelines on measuring subjective well-being. OECD, Paris. http://www.oecd.org/statistics/GuidelinesonMeasuringSubjectiveWell-being.pdf

  • Peck J (2010) Constructions of neoliberal reason. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Pezé M (2008) Ils ne mouraient pas tous mais tous étaient frappés. Pearson, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Pilkington M (2011) The sovereign debt crisis: a transdisciplinary approach. Int J Plur Econ Educ 2(4):369–397

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pilkington P (2013) From episteme to institution: an interview with Philip Mirowski. J Filosofía de la Economía 1/2:335–359

  • Pilkington M, Sinapi C (2014) Crisis perception in financial media discourse: a concrete application through the minskian/mainstream opposition. On the horizon, special issue language and economics, vol 22, issue 4

  • Pixley J (2004) Emotions in finance: distrust and uncertainty in global markets. Cambridge University, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Polanyi K (1957) The great transformation. Beacon Press, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Proctor R (1995) The cancer wars: how politics shapes what we know and don’t know about cancer. Basic Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Proctor R (2008) ‘Agnotology’, chapter 1. In: Proctor RN, Schiebinger L (eds). Agnotology: the making and unmaking of ignorance. Stanford University Press, Palo Alto, CA

  • Putnam RD (2000) Bowling alone: the collapse and revival of American community. Simon & Schuster, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ryff CD (1989) Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. J Personal Soc Psychol 57:1069–1108

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smithson MJ (2008) Social theories of ignorance, chapter 9. In: Proctor RN, Schiebinger L (eds). Agnotology: the making and unmaking of ignorance. Stanford University Press, Palo Alto, CA

  • Solomon RC (ed) (2003) What is an emotion? Classic and contemporary readings, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Strauss K (2013) Book review of Philip Mirowski’s never let a serious crisis go to waste: how neoliberalism survived the financial meltdown. University of Cambridge, Department of Geography, September

  • The Guardian (2003) Fast forward into trouble, 14 June. http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2003/jun/14/weekend7.weekend2

  • The Guardian (2013) Jonathan franzen: what’s wrong with the modern world. 13 Sept

  • Tremolet de Villers V (2014) Jean Pierre Le Goff : Le chef de l'Etat se transforme en manager compassionnel. Le Figaro. http://www.lefigaro.fr/vox/politique/2014/07/29/31001-20140729ARTFIG00003-jean-pierre-le-goffle-chef-de-l-etat-se-transforme-en-manager-compassionnel.php#xtor=AL-201

  • Turner JH, Stets JE (2005) The sociology of emotions. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Twenge JM, Campbell WK (2009) The narcissism epidemic: living in the age of entitlement. Free Press, New York

  • van Praag BMS, Ferrer-i-Carbonell A (2004) Happiness quantified: a satisfaction calculus approach. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Verhaeghe P (2014) What about me? The struggle for identity in a market-based society, translated from Dutch by Jane Hedley-Prôle. Victoria Scribe Publications, Brunswick

    Google Scholar 

  • Vial S (2013) L’être et l’écran: comment le numérique change la perception. Presses Universitaires de France, hors collection, Préface de Pierre Lévy. www.etre-et-ecran.net

  • Waldron S (2010) Measuring subjective wellbeing in the UK, ONS report 2010

  • World Happiness Report (2013) Helliwell J (ed) Richard layard and jeffrey sachs. http://unsdsn.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/WorldHappinessReport2013_online.pdf

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. LEDI (Laboratoire d’économie de Dijon), Faculty of Law, Economics and Political Science, University of Burgundy, 2 Bd Gabriel BP 26 611, 21066, Dijon Cedex, France

    Marc Pilkington

Authors
  1. Marc Pilkington
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marc Pilkington.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pilkington, M. Well-being, happiness and the structural crisis of neoliberalism: an interdisciplinary analysis through the lenses of emotions. Mind Soc 15, 265–280 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11299-015-0181-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11299-015-0181-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation