ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with ways that societies in the nineteenth century, primarily in Western Europe and North America, sought to apply the new emphasis on happiness that had emerged in eighteenth-century politics and philosophy. Assumptions about happiness ran strong in most political theory, and also in the intriguing insistence, by public audiences, on happy endings in fiction. It also informed new thinking about the functions of the family as a refuge from the turmoil of the industrial life; this included the formation of new commitment to birthday celebrations for children. New attention to happiness also affected the growing interest in novel forms of recreation, such as the aptly-named amusement parks.
