ABSTRACT
The happiness revolution marches forward, with some additional features but without many new directions. Hesitations that cropped up in the decades of war and depression were largely cast aside, at least until recently, and the search for a fascist alternative was abandoned. Happiness might come through investing in a new bathtub, or obtaining proper dentures, or getting that new car, or buying a variety of stylish clothes or cosmetics. The John Lewis department store chain in the United Kingdom regularly sponsored happiness advertising in anticipation of Christmas, drawing wide attention. The Western link between happiness and consumerism was hardly new, but it unquestionably gained new importance as economic growth created “affluent societies” throughout virtually the entire Western world between the 1950s and 1980s. The growth of attachment to pets was another intriguing manifestation of rising consumerism, deeply attached to notions of happiness particularly in societies with declining birth rates.
