Oksana Yakushko - Scientific Pollyannaism From Inquisition to Positive Psychology

Oksana Yakushko

Scientific Pollyannaism From Inquisition to Positive Psychology

Oksana Yakushko

Clinical Psychology, Pacifica Graduate Institute, Carpinteria, CA, USA

ISBN 978-3-030-15981-8 e-ISBN 978-3-030-15982-5

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15982-5

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019935560

The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.

The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.

The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

With extraordinary passion and spirit, Yakushko traces the long and tragic history of the role science plays in the demand to be happy. She shows how this demand emanates from a white scientific elite that wreaks havoc upon all those on whom it turns its destructive gaze. Coining the powerful term, scientific pollyanism, she here deconstructs any claim to being evidence-based that these racist and (hetero)sexist uses of science make. In so doing, she redeems scientisms many victims.

Lynne Layton, Ph.D., Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychology, Harvard Medical School, USA, and author of Whos That Girl? Whos That Boy?

Oksana Yakushko has written a well-researched, historically sweeping, and in fact courageous book that is greatly needed during this dark time in the world-wide rise of the far-right. Her book reveals the deep connection between the forces of racism, misogyny, and classism, on the one hand, and the corrupt uses of science in psychology, on the other. Yakushko critiques the ongoing history of silencing those who suffer by ignoring the sociopolitical contexts that cause the suffering. Creatively, Yaskusko argues that false narratives of happiness, pejorative diagnoses, and the weaponizing of a scientistic cognitivism in service of neoliberal governmentality go hand in hand. Please read this book.

Philip Cushman, Ph.D., author of Constructing The Self, Constructing America: A Cultural History of Psychotherapy

In her fascinating new book, Oksana Yakushko provides a carefully researched study of the politics of positivity. The emphasis in contemporary culture on positive emotional states serves a status quo that separates happiness from wellbeing and marginalizes examination of suffering from the injustices of social contexts. Indeed, argues Yakushko, an insidious argument is promoted by the happiness industry to suggest that those who are rather out of it suffer some biological or racial fault. Scholarly, incisive, tenacious, provocative, this book will stimulate discussions in many fields and is a compelling example of the power of the pen.

Christopher Bollas, Ph.D., psychoanalyst and the author of, most recently, Meaning and Melancholy

This book is dedicated to Marcus, Kai, and Sonia.

Contents

Promises of a good and happy life, in this world or the next, have always been central to human experience. Answers to the question, how do I achieve a happy life, how do I live the good life , have been proffered by religious leaders, philosophers, politicians, writers, and, since the establishment of Western scholarship (Ahmed , ).

This book addresses a specific emphasis on positivity (e.g., happiness , optimism , flourishing , well-being ) based on Western scholarly theories, empirical data, and scientific rhetoric, which reflect a concerted focus on defining, predicting and controlling human emotional experiences. This work expands on contemporary contributions to the study of enforced happiness and compulsory optimism in the cultural, political, economic, and social spheres (Ahmed , ), but also seek to document how cultural rhetoric about human well-being has become driven by according-to-research ideologies. Science and scientism have become among the most influential forces in determining human values and experiences in Western cultures. The guidelines for what constitute a happy or good life stems from scholarly productions rather than sacred texts. These empirically driven admonitions often (through various methods) deny, negate, or villify the full spectrum of human emotional experience while simultaneously requiring a disavowal of human social context. In short, human beings are shamed and chided toward always feeling cheerful, regardless of their individual, social or relational circumstance. They are shaped into Pollyannas.

This scholarly emphasis on achieving happiness through enforced positive emotional states and sets of behavior , I argue, is made in service of maintaining the socio-political status quo. According to this perspective, happiness and well-being are treated as distinct and measurable individual states. Moreover, human affective reactions are presented as disconnected from human rights while injustice and suffering are minimized or denied. In turn, access to happiness is promoted as supposedly achievable by those who possess particular characteristics based on either superior personal predispositions (e.g., divinely or biologically ordained goodness ) or concerted behavioral changes (e.g., self-control , determined efforts to use empirical self-help techniques). These human capacities to achieve optimism , I note, are often claimed by scientists to be lacking for entire groups (e.g., women, racial minorities) because of their supposed biological deficiencies or failures to develop control over personal affective states. Lastly, what constitutes happiness is claimed to be knowable exclusively through scientific discovery rather than critical recognition of differing standpoints.