TWO REMARKS ON THE ⟪HAPPINESS TURN⟫: FROM THE CRITIQUE OF NEOLIBERALISM TO THE ⟪AFFECTIVE TURN⟫

The aim is to address, from a doubly critical perspective, the << happiness turn >>, i.e., the elevation of happiness to the status of an undeniable political and ethical horizon that arose with the emergence of positive psychology in the beginning of the twenty-first century and that today prevails in an increasing number of social practices. On the one hand, that will entail showing that the subjectivity archetype implied in this version of the so-called << positive thought >> coincides with individualization processes that are linked to recent transformations of the neoliberal paradigm of production. And, on the other hand, from the perspective of one of the research lines that constitute the << affective turn >>, it will involve proving how discourses on happiness in general, and the << new science of happiness >> in particular, endorse certain ways of life above others, reinforcing preexisting power structures.