Episode 109: Self-Help Culture and the Rise of Corporate Happiness Monitoring

<div class="_2TO-components-SimpleRichTextEditor--paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="52b74" data-offset-key="c5p4e-0-0"> <div class= "public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="c5p4e-0-0"><span data-offset-key="c5p4e-0-0">How can one achieve happiness? It’s the eternal question. From Aristotle to Al-Ghazali, Thomas Aquinas to Arthur Schopenhauer. The answer, we’re told, is to look within. These days, we’re told repeatedly by our modern philosophers, Oprah Winfrey, Srikumar Rao, Tony Robbins, Eckhart Tolle and Deepak Chopra and other corporate happiness monitors that prosperity and fulfillment come through deep introspection and mindfulness—just pay for more inspiring books, videos, retreats, seminars, and classes!</span></div> <div class= "public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="c5p4e-0-0"> </div> </div> <div class="_2TO-components-SimpleRichTextEditor--paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="52b74" data-offset-key="4nc2b-0-0"> <div class= "public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="4nc2b-0-0"><span data-offset-key="4nc2b-0-0">These prescriptions, while ostensibly useful in the short term for answering personal questions or alleviating stress, all fall within the genre of self-help. The trouble is, on the whole, they’re not very helpful at all. The self-help industry is predicated on the ever-American and thoroughly capitalist concepts of rugged individualism and personal responsibility, arguing that if you have a problem, it’s invariably up to you, and only you, to fix it. Meanwhile, it imparts the appearance of virtue and legitimacy with hollow, cherry-picked references to Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and psychology.</span></div> <div class= "public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="4nc2b-0-0"> </div> </div> <div class="_2TO-components-SimpleRichTextEditor--paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="52b74" data-offset-key="7e0q1-0-0">