Jordan McKenzie - Deconstructing Happiness: Critical Sociology and the Good Life

This book offers an original account of the good life in late modernity through a uniquely sociological lens. It considers the various ways that social and cultural factors can encourage or impede genuine efforts to live a good life by deconstructing the concepts of happiness and contentment within cultural narratives of the good life. Although empirical studies have dominated the discourse on happiness in recent decades, the emphasis on finding causal and correlational relationships has led to a field of research that arguably lacks a reliable theoretical foundation. Deconstructing Happiness offers a step toward developing that foundation by offering characteristically sociological perspectives on the contemporary fascination with happiness and well-being. In doing so, it seeks to understand the good life as a socially mediated experience rather than a purely personal or individually defined way of living. The outcome is a book on happiness, contentment and the good life that considers the influence of democracy, capitalism and progress while also focusing on the more theoretical challenges of self-knowledge, reason and interaction.

Jordan McKenzie is a lecturer in sociology at the University of New England in New South Wales, Australia. His research merges critical social theory and the sociology of emotion and affect in order to examine the macro dimensions of emotional experience through a critical engagement with theories of modernity. This approach has led to a specific focus on theories of reason and rationality, democratic participation and concepts of selfhood in a rapidly changing world.

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109Deconstructing Happiness

Critical Sociology and the Good Life

Jordan McKenzie

Jordan McKenzie

First published 2016
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2016 Taylor & Francis

The right of Jordan McKenzie to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: McKenzie, Jordan, author.

Title: Deconstructing happiness : critical sociology and the good life / by Jordan McKenzie.

Description: 1st Edition. | New York : Routledge, 2016. | Series: Routledge studies in social and political thought ; 109 | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015041631 (print) | LCCN 2015048266 (ebook) | ISBN 9781138832602 (alk. paper) | ISBN 9781315735931 ()

Subjects: LCSH: Well-being. | Happiness. | Democracy.

Classification: LCC HN25 .M354 2016 (print) | LCC HN25 (ebook) | DDC 302dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015041631

ISBN: 978-1-138-83260-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-73593-1 (ebk)

Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC

For Meg and Millie

This book would not be here today without the patience and support of countless friends, family members and colleagues. In particular, I need to thank Anthony Elliott, Mary Holmes and Suzi Adams for their supervision of the initial version of this book in the form of my PhD thesis. I must also thank the various colleagues who have generously given feedback on this project over the years, including, but not limited to, Alan Scott, Michael Allen Fox and Erin Carlisle. I must also thank George Couvalis, whose undergraduate philosophy course on the good life initially sparked my interest in the topic. I can only hope that I might have this influence on others in the future. I would like to thank my parents and my sisters for always encouraging me to pursue my academic interests. Finally, I am indebted to my partner, Meg. I am certain that this project could not have happened without her.