New Ideas in Psychology 72 (2024) 101058 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect New Ideas in Psychology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/newideapsych The imperative of happiness in positive psychology: Towards a psychopolitics of wellbeing Alex Romaní Rivera a, 1, Ana Gálvez-Mozo b, 2, Francisco Tirado-Serrano a, 3, * a Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), Spain b Open University of Catalonia (UOC), Spain A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T Keywords: Positive Psychology has reconstructed how we understand happiness. The practices and discourses it presents to Psychopolitics perform that reconceptualization appear as if free from political interest or intentionality. However, this article Wellbeing will show that its proposals define a subtle new form of government which we will call Psychopolitics. Instead of Happiness placing the population or the body of the citizen at the centre of political struggles, it focuses on the psyche. Positive psychology Emotional capitalism Through an extreme defence of positive emotions and happiness as the key to a good life, Positive Psychology promotes a type of friendly power relations, which instead of punishing motivates and empowers the individual’s creativity. To illustrate all of this, we conducted a case study with a Positive Psychology training course taught in a Spanish state university. Content analysis was used to explain the recurring themes and practices of this new discipline of positivity, showing how health is redefined around the happiness axis, and how happiness becomes an individual responsibility. We conclude that all these dimensions are simply a categorical definition of a new type of power relations which may characterise the 21st century. 1. Introduction: Happiness and positive psychology social, religious, and political coordinates (see Tables 3–7). More recently, and in our immediate context, in the Modern Age, As several authors (Arguís et al., 2010; Diener & Seligman, 2002; with the American Declaration of Independence (1776) and the French Fordyce, 1977) have remarked, happiness is one of the major goals Declaration of the Rights of Man (1789), happiness was proclaimed to be regarded as exceptionally valuable in the sociocultural imaginary of our a right. Along these lines, a plethora of movements have emerged in the contemporary societies. It is a commonplace in academic literature to Contemporary Age which approach this right and feeling from a more state that this is a construct which varies both diachronically - that is, practical perspective, based on scientific principles (Lyubomirsky, 2008; over history, and synchronically - through culture and political axes. If Seligman, 2002; Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2014). The most recent we go back to Classical Greece, we quickly find that it was considered a conception, considered to belong to the 21st century, suggests that greater good (Aristotle, 2009). On the other hand, in the Middle Ages, happiness may not be governed only by rulings which control people’s happiness appears as something we obtain in the next life (Aquinas, lives through their bodies or their religious values, but also through the 2010; Augustine of Hippo, 2019). If we look at its definition in other immediate and productive management of the psyche (Han, 2014; cultures, past and present, but characterised by their distance from our Stiegler, 2013). This notion should not be understood as a genetic, own cultural coordinates, we find that happiness is included with values idiosyncratic and deep-rooted dimension of the individual which could centred in the body or in collective well-being. All these examples show be externalised through words or observation as it was in the 19th that its definition varies and multiplies depending on temporal, local, century, with the clearest examples being psychoanalysis or classic * Corresponding Author. Edifici B Despatx B5-046b Carrer de la Fortuna, Campus de la UAB, 08193, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Barcelona, Spain. E-mail addresses: alex.romani.rivera@gmail.com (A. Romaní Rivera), agalvez@uoc.edu (A. Gálvez-Mozo), franciscoJavier.tirado@uab.cat (F. Tirado-Serrano). 1 Ph.D student of Social Psychology. His research interests include the science of happiness, well-being around the world, and the critical perspective of those two. 2 Senior lecturer of Organizational and Work Psychology. Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. Her research interests include work precarity, telework, and non-standard forms of employment. 3 Professor of the Department of Social Psychology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). Doctor in Psychology. Director of the Doctorate “Person and Society in the Contemporary World” at the UAB. Coordinator of the Research Groups Psychopolitic Studies and the Barcelona Science and Technology Studies Group (STS-b). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2023.101058 Received 20 July 2022; Received in revised form 25 August 2023; Accepted 3 October 2023 Available online 10 October 2023 0732-118X/© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by- nc-nd/4.0/). A. Romaní Rivera et al. New Ideas in Psychology 72 (2024) 101058 cognitive psychology, but more from an existential perspective of will be interdisciplinary and work with a wide range of methodologies, meaning in life, initially explored in the 20th century by the psychiatrist leading to a necessary epistemological expansion. It seems obvious that Viktor Frankl (1959), whose experience of being a prisoner in a Nazi this wave is the response to the many criticisms of Positive Psychology in concentration camp can be used to address today’s global psychological recent years, which are structured around three axes. First, critics point problem of suicidal behaviours (Costanza, Amerio, et al., 2020) after the to the excessive individualism of this approach. Its concept of happiness financial crisis (Economou et al., 2013) and the COVID-19 pandemic and well-being gravitate exclusively around an individual who makes (Costanza et al., 2021). Nowadays, the psychic realm has received a decisions in a very narrow and limited social dimension (Cabanas, new, much broader and more operational definition, which makes it a 2018). Second, some authors (De La Fabian & Stecher, 2017; Teo, 2018) set of relationships between internal aspects of the human being (which affirm that this individualism is a resource to legitimise a new concept of pass through the body and cognition) and other external aspects which Homo Neoliberalus, based on subjectivity centred on utilitarianism and pass directly through knowledge and the technologies which have the lack of socio-political criticism. Finally, it has been suggested that recently begun to dominate our everyday lives (apps focusing on health, there is no analysis of how certain commonplace technologies in our mindfulness, balanced diets, etc.). This is the result, among other things, everyday lives generate a series of affective modulations with our bodies of the fact that although in recent years we have put much more that align them with neoliberal attitudes to productivity, emotions, and emphasis on looking for the so-called society of wellbeing (Rose et al., action (Martínez-Guzmán & Lara, 2019). 2006), which emphasises care for the somatic, at present being physi­ To avoid validating the analysed premises, thus perpetuating the cally well is no longer enough, and we are required to go a step further. mechanisms of subjectivation, we must make clear that of course there Thus, the transformation of different world organisations in relation to are other philosophical approaches to happiness that Positive Psychol­ the concept of health is clear. While in 1948 the World Health Organi­ ogy is not considering at all; for example the philosophical theory of zation defined health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social Absurdism, where the universe is irrational and meaningless. Research wellbeing, and not the mere absence of disease or infirmity” (WHO, based on this would definitely contradict the claims of Positive Psy­ 1946), by the end of the 20th century it was considered “a positive chology, as it states that trying to find meaning would lead humanity concept emphasizing social and personal resources, as well as physical into a conflict with the world. capacities” (PAHO, 1986). In this new accepted sense, “personal” covers Despite all these criticisms, it seems obvious that the number of everything which was formerly called mental, but many more axes too, studies on Positive Psychology has increased exponentially in recent such as our relationship with the information generated by certain years, and several meta-analyses have been published in very important healthcare apps, the results we get from psychological or intelligence journals, showing its effectiveness in increasing psychological well- tests, or our interpersonal skills. In this pivot by the WHO we see health being and reducing depression and stress (Hendriks et al., 2020). become an assumption, and the new goal of every citizen becomes Some authors (Fagundes et al., 2018; Martínez et al., 2007) consider that achieving absolute and overall or comprehensive positive well-being. At all of this shows the existence of a new imperative at the service of an old this crossover of dimensions is when the so-called “psyche” acquires a objective: increasing worker productivity. Other works (Brito et al., new definition and value. 2020) return to the standardisation effect which this imperative, Positive Psychology is one of the movements which has taken expressed through “self-help”, could have on the subjective perceptions advantage of this paradigm change and has aligned itself with this new of neoliberal citizens. attitude towards the psyche, which must be optimised to reach this well- At any event, there are two important gaps in all the literature being. In January 1998 it began using the concepts of “happiness” and mentioned above. First, there is no analysis of the discourses and prac­ “well-being” interchangeably as generic constructs to describe the pro­ tices promoting Positive Psychology, which could be shaping the pre­ posals of its practical and intellectual initiative. The creators of this new viously mentioned third wave. Second, it has not been suggested that the discipline decided that “the content of the scientific enterprise should imperative of happiness or success of Positive Psychology is simply a rest on three pillars” (Seligman, 2002, p. 384): a) the study of positive sign that a new type of power relations is emerging, which does not fall emotion; b) the study of the positive personality, the strengths and under the heading of “neoliberalism” nor under the Foucauldian label of virtues whose regular exercise generates positive feelings; and 3) the biopolitics or optimisation of the life of the neoliberal citizen (Foucault, establishment of a classifying and categorising system. In this way, the 1979). new discipline was affirming that a happy person would be one who To fill these gaps, our research proposed to analyse the contents of enjoyed many positive experiences, had few negative ones, and saw the discourses and the practices promoted by Positive Psychology himself as satisfied with his life (Diener et al., 1999). This meant a through a case study of a Master’s degree taught in a Spanish state change of direction from what had originally underpinned Positive university, to explain if happiness can be related to politics. Although it Psychology. In the beginning it had focused on studying only the posi­ seems paradoxical, we suggest that this hidden political value would not tive aspects of human functioning in its most everyday and immediate be linked to the liberal or neoliberal economic and social imaginary activities. This First Wave, which emerged as a kind of counterweight to which defines our societies. On the contrary, we argue that the dis­ traditional psychology (Gable & Haidt, 2005), received a series of courses and practices of Positive Psychology relate to the emergence of a popular criticisms for its negative side effects, its simplistic application new format of power relations, which Han (2014) calls the psychopo­ and the universality of its theories with a “Pollyanna-ish”1 view of the litical regime. Positive Psychology is an instrument promoting a world (Sample, 2003). This internal questioning gave way to a Second happiness imperative which forms one of the key dimensions of what we Wave which advocated giving up the negative-positive dichotomy and have called the psychopolitics of well-being. This new power regime broadening the field of study, coming to understand well-being in a could be the essential characteristic of our present, and would indicate more dialectic and eudaimonic way (Salanova & Llorens, 2016). This that the arena of power struggles and the urge to control are now not more interactive perspective, which includes the change of direction exclusively in the biological realm (Bios), as post-structuralist thinking mentioned above, has been called “Positive Psychology 2.0” (Wong, has stated (Agamben, 2020; Deleuze & Guattari, 1987; Foucault, 1979; 2011). Hardt & Negri, 2000) since the late 20th century, but now also include a However, what could be called the Third Wave of Positive Psychol­ special interest in the psyche. ogy is already becoming apparent. Here the excessive focus on the in­ To illustrate all of this, first we present and discuss the notions of the dividual will be expanded to include cultural, ethical, and contextual entrepreneur and emotional capitalism. Next, we assess the notion of aspects. According to Lomas et al. (2020), this will introduce a deeper psychopolitics in its conceptual and heuristic aspects. Third, we describe and more complex approach which will take into account the groups and our methodology and data analysis with ATLAS.ti, and finally, we systems which individuals inhabit. The Positive Psychology of the future conclude that Positive Psychology is one of the exponents of a new 2 A. Romaní Rivera et al. New Ideas in Psychology 72 (2024) 101058 power regime. This discipline promotes a happiness imperative which is Psychopolitics makes the individual into a project constantly being the central axis of what we have called the Psychopolitics of Well-being. proposed and reinvented on the emotional plane. In psychopolitical devices, individuals constantly manage their psyche, looking for well- 2. Entrepreneur of the self and emotional capitalism being and positive emotions. The wide range of life choices provided by neoliberalism and the consumer society are accompanied by a The new era of permanent communication and public exposure sensation of individual freedom together with a disconnection from all (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987) has a flipside, which is simply the need for us external, social coercion. Han (2012) suggests that, far from being free, to constantly know ourselves (self-knowledge) and take care of ourselves contemporary individuals have interiorised disciplinary coercion and (self-care). The movement known as Quantified Self, the goal of which is are constantly exploiting themselves to maximise their life projects. to increase physical, mental, and spiritual performance through Positive Psychology as an academic discipline plays a key role in all self-measurement, is a good example of this (Lupton, 2016; Nafus & the above. Its redefinition of happiness, its quantification, and the Sherman, 2014). From the point of view of many authors (Illouz, 2019; definition of the healthy individual based on that quantification are its Lazzarato, 2012), this need is simply the implementation of a new defining elements. The following sections show how its discourses and mechanism of self-exploitation, which finds its main vehicle in gener­ practices follow what we have described, and perfectly reproduce a ating information, and where the beginning and end of the process de­ citizen-project which perfectly fits into this new form of government, pends on our own subjectivity. Psychopolitics. As we know, Foucault (1979) gave the name “entrepreneurs of the self” to individuals who reproduce this self-management logic. The 4. Methodology subject is now an entrepreneur (understanding enterprise to be a task or action which involves work or effort), not only in the professional sphere 4.1. A case study but also in the personal and above all in the emotional realms. This entrepreneur is configured as a performativity of actions, appearing as a This article is based on qualitative research. Specifically, we chose reflective project which is subjected, alone or with the support of con­ the case study method because it would open up the possibility of using a sultants, therapists, coaches or other authorities, to a continuous wide range of techniques, allowing data to be gathered from multiple self-monitoring, to adjust, again and again, the trajectory of sui vida information sources (Yin, 2009). As the main purpose was to describe in (Brockling, 2015). order to find variables and identify relationships, we proposed a holistic In the context discussed above there has been a proliferation of single-case design which would let us explore the context in which the practices and discourses on coaching, self-help, emotional intelligence, phenomenon was inserted and explain causal links of the processes and Positive Psychology. Using them, we dose ourselves with well- involved in the phenomenon in real-life application (Rashid et al., being, try to temporarily calm an unease which we find ourselves un­ 2019). As some researchers explain about this methodology, the main able to identify clearly, and construct a modus vivendi which little by purpose is not to generalize but to particularize a given case based on its little makes the search for happiness its central axis. In this way, we have situational reality (White & Cooper, 2022). gradually entered a new form of “intangible production” which now not The Master’s in Applied Positive Psychology was the case chosen to only values technical expertise (hard skills) or information, but also gather data for the following reasons: First, it is illustrative of the values emotional competencies (soft skills). As well as human capital research topic, since the Happiness proposal of Positive Psychology is and social capital (people with good social networks, to attract new explicitly promoted. Second, its relevance in all Spanish-speaking customers, new ideas, new projects, etc.) at present what is most valued - countries since it is the first Master’s Degree in Positive Psychology to for their capacity for development, their inimitability and their be taught fully online by a university in Spain, in Spanish, and with the “competitive advantage” (Luthans et al., 2007) - are the psychological support of the Spanish Society of Positive Psychology (SEPP). Third, it is (or personal) resources of individuals, such as Attitude, Emotional In­ generally representative of the field because it includes the discourses telligence, personal Strengths or Psychological Capital. For some au­ and applies the practices of the most current Positive Psychology thors, all this shows that we have entered a new type of capitalism endorsed by the methodology of the Master of Applied Positive Psy­ which, going beyond information (Zuboff, 2015), fuses onto and oper­ chology (MAPP) program at the University of Pennsylvania. Fourth, it ates in the emotions (Illouz, 2019). The emotional realm is the new field was easy to access the materials of this one-year training course because of action of capitalisation and wealth generation: we invest in emotions, the main researcher was a student of the Master (in its 5th edition) we look for their profitability, we accumulate them, we sell them … during the investigation. Large corporations and institutions mobilise emotions to generate extra Based on the meta-analysis by Ebneyamini and Sadeghi Moghadam value which is added to the value generated by information and the (2018), we followed the case study protocols of Merriam (1998) and Yin circulation of goods. (2009) and overlapped them to obtain a step-by-step protocol to fit our research needs which resulted in the levels that we finally carried out: 1) 3. What is psychopolitics? literature review, 2) construction of a theoretical framework, 3) iden­ tification of the research problem, 4) definition of research questions, 5) The philosopher Byung-Chul Han, adapting Stiegler’s (2011) notion sample selection, 6) data collection, 7) data analysis and 8) conclusions. of psychopower, recently put forward the thesis that we are witnessing the birth of a new form of government of the population characterised 4.2. Data collection by prioritising the psyche as the object of its actions. He called this Psychopolitics (2014). Unlike biopolitics, whose object is life, whether Specifically, the empirical data raised as the main sources for content in the form of bios (the moral) or zoé (the body), psychopolitics acts on analysis were the following: 1) Course texts containing the theory taught individuals’ pre-reflective mind, exercising a type of power which does in the class in text format, 2) images and graphics in the form of lecture not coerce and oppress, but motivates them and lets them act freely. Han slides, 3) audiovisual files, 4) the program’s official webpage and its (2013) refers to a power which acts based on freedom and positivity, virtual intranet context, and 5) discourses and 6) practices delivered by which does not subjugate violently to bend citizens to its will but se­ the lecturers. duces the citizen into freely choosing to submit. This power does not The research question of whether positive psychology’s discourses standardise, as discipline does with the body, but moulds to the psyche and practices can be related to politics guided the data collection of each individual, explores its nature, and based on that, directs (Merriam & Tisdell, 2015) and led to a document2 constructed over a behaviour. six-month period, for 8 h per week, where notes by the main researcher 3 A. Romaní Rivera et al. New Ideas in Psychology 72 (2024) 101058 were systematically taken on all this content taught in the course. We Table 1 decided to analyse only the second semester as the first half was treated Categories of empirical data and psychopolitics. as period of adaptation to the field and used to design the research Empirical Data Characteristics of Psychopolitics Overlapped taking into account the characteristics of the case studied. Although the (and number of Characteristics students were not part of the observation process, Participant Obser­ units) vation was used to understand the everyday ways of acting, thinking and 1) Course texts & Individualisation: Structures are ● Improvement feeling of a group in a specific space and time under the daily discourses theory (28) disregarded. Responsibility falls on ● Attraction and practices of Positive Psychology delivered by the lecturers. individuals. If they fail, they blame ● Emotional themselves. Capitalism Psychologicisation: The power ● Transparency 4.3. Analysis of the information which used to be exercised against ● Prescription the body is now applied to the ● Positivity To analyse the information we followed abductive reasoning mind. The mental is more ● Measurement important than the physical. (Järvensivu & Törnroos, 2010), which is a knowledge production 2) Images and Improvement: Promotes refining, ● Attraction strategy associated with constructionism that occupies the middle graphics (19) a perpetual improvement of the ● Transparency ground between induction and deduction. Although Plutynski (2011) Self. ● Ubiquity identifies many problems (Boundary, Formalization, Description and ● Gamification 3) Audiovisual Attraction: It does not force Transparency Justification), in our reasoning we used empirical data to illustrate the ● files (3) anything, it invites. Smart power, ● Ubiquity hypothesis while we were accepting the theory to explain the empirical seductive rather than oppressive, ● Immediacy data. So, although we accepted the existing theory of psychopolitics we and giving us the freedom to ● Gamification were also data-driven to (re)generate that theory. And as a good reproduce and even improve the abduction process should have a hypothesis that explains the facts while neoliberal modus vivendi. From “must be” to “can do”. the facts sustain the hypothesis (Peirce, 1998), that is exactly what we Emotional Capitalism: Emotion is found in our case of study. the raw material; neoliberalism A Content Analysis was performed to explore how, and how much, converts the power of the psyche the happiness discourse and practices proposed in the Positive Psy­ into productive power. It exploits everything to do with the emotions. chology course serve the current device of neoliberal governmentality 4) Virtual context Transparency: We strip naked ● Individualisation defined as Psychopolitics. To categorize and link the information (2) voluntarily. The digital panopticon ● Psychologicisation divided into empirical material (data collected) and theoretical material (Big Data) enables us to surveil ● Improvement (characteristics of Psychopolitics), we introduced the empirical corpus each other, creating a ● Attraction in the qualitative data analysis programme ATLAS.ti (version 8) and this standardisation of the masses. ● Immediacy Psychographics with a double Gamification gave us a list of items exemplifying the general concept of Happiness ● function: gathering and proposed by Positive Psychology. distributing information about the The process to qualitatively categorize this information was to desires of society/societies. extract the following attributes from each item: 1) its main character­ Ubiquity: through total istics, 2) what these characteristics imply, and 3) Keyword(s) that can communication, it reaches the whole world horizontally and summarize it. There were 74 different units of data involved in the penetrates all the fabric of society coding. To take an example, from an item of empirical data extracted vertically. It attempts to be present from the course texts and theory such as “Positive Psychology concludes in every sphere of our everyday that happiness is distributed in three large dimensions: Genetics (50%), lives. 5) Discourses Prescription: This shows us what it ● Psychologicisation Circumstances (10%) and Intentional Activity (40%) (Lyubomirsky (13) is good to feel, think and do. It ● Improvement et al., 2005).” it could be qualitatively concluded that 1) Happiness, constructs reality and (fore)tells ● Emotional according to Positive Psychology, depends a little on circumstances, a bit what is desirable. Capitalism more on intentional activity and a great deal on genetics. 2) That implies Positivity: “The good” is rewarded that circumstances are almost irrelevant to happiness, since it depends and made visible, and “the bad” is criminalised and made invisible. on the genetics with which you were born and what you do intention­ Creation and establishment of ideal ally. 3) Keyword(s): individualisation, innate happiness, intentional thoughts and behaviours. control, not dependent on context, etc. 6) Practices (9) Measurement: Everything must be ● Individualisation Therefore, with just one item of empirical material it could already measurable, and everything must ● Psychologicisation be measured. Everything must Improvement be explained that the main premise of the science of happiness is that it ● become data. The Quantified Self as ● Attraction is worth striving to be happy (since it is stated that 40% percent is a data source for Big Data. ● Emotional subject to a certain control by the individual), a fact that could be related Immediacy: Promotes and exploits Capitalism to the Psychopolitical theoretical perspective through the coding immediacy, leaving no space for ● Transparency “Individualisation”. reflection. Stigmatises slowness ● Ubiquity and encourages accelerationism: ● Prescription From there, redundant items were eliminated and the most relevant now or never. Operates at the ● Positivity ones were selected to reach saturation. Next, the remaining items were emotional, pre-reflective level. grouped in codes that represented the main topics of Positive Psychol­ Gamification: It can make our jobs ogy. Finally, each thematic code (for example, “Practices”) was related more flexible and fun, but our working hours follow us home. to the characteristics of Psychopolitics through their respective associ­ There are no longer boundaries ated items. between leisure and business. Life It is noteworthy that this analytical procedure was put to the test by is capital. other researchers from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, reaching similar conclusions. Table 1 summarizes the different types of empirical data gathered column), with the main characteristics being the most representative (first column) and how the characteristics of Psychopolitics (second and the overlapped being just secondary (see Table 2). column) emerged from each specific category. We also show all the re­ As shown in the table, some elements have overlapped and we take petitive characteristics that overlapped during the analysis (third this overlapping into account in the analysis. The categories obtained 4 A. Romaní Rivera et al. New Ideas in Psychology 72 (2024) 101058 Table 2 Table 5 Positive mental health for positive performance. Practising happiness. Empirical Data Primary Empirical Data Primary Characteristics Characteristics Mindfulness Prescription Positive Mental Health (Díaz et al., 2007) Prescription Psychologicisation Psychologicisation Individualisation Positivity Ubiquity Emotional Capitalism Best Possible Self Psychologicisation Theory of the “Happy-Productive Worker” (Lucas & Gamification Individualisation Diener, 2003) Individualisation Improvement Improvement Ubiquity Ubiquity Immediacy Emotional Capitalism Three Good Things Positivity Prescription Prescription Measurement Ubiquity €2.97 Operating Return on Investment (World Economic Emotional Capitalism Savouring Individualisation Forum) Measurement Ubiquity Gamification Attraction Immediacy Positive Language Positivity Measurement Table 3 Immediacy (Re)defining happiness. Psychologicisation Individualisation Empirical Data Primary Prescription Characteristics Diener’s (1999) requirements of happiness: Prescription - Presence of positive emotions (joy) Psychologicisation - Absence of negative emotions (sadness) Positivity Table 6 - Positive evaluation of life (satisfaction) Emotional Capitalism A measurement of happiness. The experience of joy, satisfaction or positive well-being, Emotional Capitalism Empirical Data Primary combined with the feeling that life is good, meaningful Prescription Characteristics and worthwhile. (Lyubomirsky, 2008) True happiness derives from identifying and cultivating Ubiquity Happiness can be measured using questionnaires, tests and Measurement people’s major strengths and from its everyday use in Measurement apps Emotional Capitalism work, love, leisure, and raising children. (Seligman, Prescription Immediacy 2011) Transparency Individualisation Individualisation Ubiquity Improvement Attraction Psychologicisation Transparency Table 4 (Re)modelling happiness. Table 7 Empirical Data Primary Characteristics A new individual: positive and happy. Model of the three paths of Seligman (2002): Prescription Empirical Data Primary Characteristics 1. The Pleasant Life (emotions) Psychologicisation 2. The Good Life (engagement) Positivity What are Positive People like? Prescription 3. The Meaningful Life (purpose) Emotional Capitalism - Social affiliation and free time Psychologicisation Individualisation - Sense of humour Positivity Improvement - Extroverts and emotionally stable Individualisation The PERMA model of happiness (Seligman, 2012): Positivity - Sense of spirituality - Positive Emotions Individualisation - Behaviour tends towards the positive (optimism) - Engagement Attraction - They try to be happy - Relations Psychologicisation - They smile more - Meaning Emotional Capitalism - They live longer and better! - Accomplishment Prescription - Prosocial behaviour (helping others) The Model of Eudaimonic Well-being of Ryff (1989): Emotional Capitalism Personal Resources of Positive People: Prescription - Autonomy Psychologicisation • Self-efficacy Psychologicisation - Self-acceptance Improvement • Resilience Positivity - Positive Relationships Positivity • Optimism Individualisation - Purpose in Life Prescription • Positive emotions Emotional Capitalism - Personal Growth Individualisation • Responsibility - Environmental Mastery Attraction • Trust from the ATLAS.ti analysis of the items were grouped under the et al., 2007)] with their primary characteristics, and then expanding following epigraphs to illustrate their relation with Psychopolitics: 1) these characteristics to other items of empirical data to create networks Positive Mental Health for Positive Performance, 2) (Re)defining of qualitative relations. (To justify the first axis for example, it is a fact happiness, 3) (Re)modelling happiness, 4) Practising happiness, 5) A that the new “Positive Mental Health” was taught on the exact same measurement of happiness, 6) A new individual: positive and happy, 7) page as “Benefits for Performance” and “Return On Investment”, thus Positive Education, 8) Positive Psychology Models and 9) Positive Psy­ corroborating the results of the qualitative analysis of the Master’s). chology New Perspectives. These nine themed categorical structures Although these are the main nine axes of the Psychopolitics of Pos­ were derived from linking each specific unit of empirical data [for itive Psychology, all themes were not equally prominent, and so we example, Positive Psychology’s (re)definition of Mental Health (Díaz decided to eliminate the three last axes from the former analysis, 5 A. Romaní Rivera et al. New Ideas in Psychology 72 (2024) 101058 because they rarely appeared or appeared only in one source and not practices and improving human capital, but through a clear Psycho­ others, and thus were less relevant. The discarded axes were Positive logization. The mind and the psyche dominate the conceptual structure, Education, Positive Psychology Models, and Positive Psychology New replacing interest in physical health. This psychologization is dominated Perspectives. by the emotions which refer to happiness and its possible capitalisation. As we already mention in earlier sections, the conceptual structure of the 4.4. A note about reliability graph perfectly fits the paradigm propounded by the World Health Organisation itself on the link between well-being and personal per­ Given the qualitative nature of this research, it is vital to address formance: “Mental health is a state of well-being in which an individual some issues of trustworthiness, taking into account that the claims we realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, make about what to draw from our analysis are not definitive and can can work productively, and is able to make a contribution to his or her change depending on the context and over time. With our method we community” (WHO, 2018). have analysed frames of meaning that do not allow generalisation, but Here we have the first axis defining Positive Psychology, which do allow us to elaborate an ideal type, a model that fits the case studied suggests that positive mental health is a necessary condition for positive very well and can be used to investigate other cases, while assuming that performance. in other specific cases it may vary. 5.2. (Re)defining happiness 5. What is hidden behind the discourses and practices of positive psychology? The second table we obtained is: The second obvious category structure which appeared in our study Positive Psychology is presented as a discipline without links to any shows how the defining axes of Positive Psychology include the inten­ global political framework. Its aspirations centre on eliminating indi­ tion of reconceptualising the idea of happiness. It goes from a broad and vidual suffering, and its intellectual and practical activity are linked to varied conceptualisation to pivoting almost exclusively on the central finding tools to enable this eradication. Our Content Analysis shows that axis of emotion. Thus, the literature used in the course analysed is first, it turns to the concept of health and happiness to achieve these dominated by classic authors such as Diener et al. (1999) who for years goals, and second, doing this makes apparent the political dimension of have been focusing on how we should feel our emotions, and strange as this discipline, which it tries to sidestep. Its goals define a happiness it may seem, how much. If these emotions are positive and plentiful in imperative through practices which are constantly quantified and time and space, they will create a state of joy and satisfaction, which is measured by the recipient individuals themselves. Next, we will present the desired objective of Positive Psychology (Lyubomirsky, 2008). True the six networks or themed categorical structures which we found in our happiness is built on this axis of emotionality (Seligman, 2012) and all research, and which allow us to make this statement. Each of them in citizens are invited to make their inner selves transparent so that the turn describes an axis defining Positive Psychology as a new scientific proposal of happiness can be applied and radiate into all spheres of discipline and life project. And all of them, as a whole, unanimously everyday life through “its everyday use in work, love, leisure, and show the deployment of a new exercise in power relations we will call raising children.” the Psychopolitics of Well-being. We will introduce these networks with Thus the second defining axis of Positive Psychology, as can be seen a table at the start of each sub-section showing the relationships among in this table, is the articulation of happiness over positive emotional categories obtained with the Atlas.ti software, clearly displaying the experience and the need to quantify these experiences, given that the number and density of links established between them. These tables more often they occur in our lives, the more well-being we will show the groupings of categories we obtained in our analysis. Column 1 experience. shows the data used while column 2 shows the primary Psychopolitical characteristics of every specific item of the Empirical Data. 5.3. (Re)modelling happiness 5.1. Positive Mental Health for Positive Performance At a third moment, we were able to establish this table: The above table shows a third categorical structure whose impor­ Our first axis’ table presents the following groupings: tance surprised us. It refers to the fact that happiness is not just rede­ The above table shows a direct link between positive mental health fined, but also remodelled. Positive Psychology is not averse to the and positive performance in any area or project a citizen is working on. scientific ambition of proposing models and causal explanations. Thus, The verbatim quote from Díaz et al. (2007) is central to this conceptual in this case, it looks for models which support the factors influencing the network: “mental health implies a positive emotional state, […] having creation of human happiness. In fact, the teachings of one of its founders, expectations of a positive future, and in general, an adaptative mode of Martin Seligman, is prominent in the Positive Psychology course interpreting reality. But it also means having resources to face adversity, because it suggests that a “good life” (Seligman, 2002) can be achieved if and even more important, to develop as human beings.” we can break down the concept into three phases or hierarchical stages: Thus, Positive Psychology is presented as a discipline which goes first, the life of the emotions (the Pleasant Life); second, of commitment beyond the deficit; in other words, it aspires to be something more than a (the Good Life); and third, of purpose (the Meaningful Life). Alongside palliative for a lack. It establishes a link between mental health and this structure of three phases, the PERMA model of happiness (Seligman, success (Lyubomirsky et al., 2005) through notions and theories of 2012) also appears often, adding a list of factors which must be fulfilled performance such as the “Happy-Productive Worker” (Lucas & Diener, to have a happy life (Prescription). Other authors such as Carol Ryff 2003). In fact, the Positive Psychology course explains that health is (1989) also appear frequently, as they have formulated models which closely linked to capital, justifying in literally economic terms what is emphasise engagement, or commitment to a purpose and to personal called a Return on Investment: an amount of monetary resources saved growth, using attractive graphics (Attraction) to prescribe the idealistic on the use of health services or returned in other ways, such as increased idea that any autonomous individual (Individualisation) must develop productivity in companies. It mentions as a fun fact that according to the himself or herself (Improvement) to fit into the Well-being Model pre­ World Economic Forum, the value of this ROI is calculated at 2.97 euros scribed by positive science. for each euro invested in Happiness Programmes. The table clearly From the above, we can conclude that the third axis defining Positive shows that Well-being is a keyword which spreads from the sphere of Psychology is modelling happiness according to the image or metaphor health to the business world. And most importantly, that this does not of a path with different stages which must be overcome to reach a final happen through discourse on public-private investment policies or goal, which would be what is considered a “good life” or desirable state 6 A. Romaní Rivera et al. New Ideas in Psychology 72 (2024) 101058 of happiness. responsible for accepting or rejecting them, is the sixth axis defining Positive Psychology. 5.4. Practising happiness 6. Discussion: the happiness imperative of positive psychology The fourth table of results of our research is complementary to the previous one and can be seen below: As we have mentioned above, one of the main criticisms of Positive Obviously, the existence of the network of categories described in the Psychology accuses it of being an instrument of the neoliberal imagi­ previous section is supported by another which describes suitable nary. This accusation is based on the excessive individualism exhibited practices for following the path that leads to the “good place”. Thus, we in this discipline and the link it establishes between happiness and see that one of the key points of Positive Psychology is its supply of a productive activity. However, our research shows that the reality is wide range of so-called “Positive Practices” intended to increase well- more complex. In the previous section we showed that Positive Psy­ being in search of an “optimal human functioning” (Improvement). chology structures its discourses and practices based on six categorical Some of these practices are thinking positive, thinking of your Best axes: a) good mental health means better work and personal perfor­ Possible Self, Savouring the here and now through Mindfulness, and mance; b) happiness is articulated based on emotions; c) happiness is practising gratitude by writing a letter or listing Three Good Things which visualised as a path with several stages which must be overcome; d) have happened at the end of the day. As can be inferred from this list of there are specific practices which enable us to follow that path; e) practices, individuals on their journey to maximum happiness are happiness can be measured (and the new algorithmic technologies and constantly required to explain (Transparency) their emotions, thoughts apps have an important part to play in this); and f) it is not a fallacy to and behaviours using Measuring and recording mechanisms which think that the ideal of a positive, happy individual exists - in other accompany them at all times. Thus, happiness is something which de­ words, the final product of following the path. These axes make up the mands exercise, practice, and perseverance. But not just any type of conceptual and practical framework of this discipline. They set the action leads to “good living”. There is an extensive catalogue in which guidelines for teaching and researching it, and how it understands our individuals must make their emotions, thoughts and behaviours trans­ everyday reality. parent. This is the fourth major axis defining Positive Psychology. These axes quickly show that Positive Psychology goes beyond the liberal-neoliberal framework. Evidently, if we pay attention to the axes 5.5. A measurement of happiness which emphasise individuality and the link between happiness and production, we can accuse it of being a tool at the service of reproducing A fifth table offers these results: this framework. However, in doing that we would be ignoring what all One of the most characteristic elements of Positive Psychology, and the other axes are showing us. Therefore, we propose a joint reading of which makes it radically different from other approaches which also the six axes which offers a framework for interpreting them, charac­ deal with the question of human well-being (psychoanalysis, cognitive terised by four dimensions. First, Positive Psychology offers an imper­ psychology in all its variants, emotional intelligence, etc.) is its emphasis ative. That is, the citizen is free to choose what it proposes, but not on the ability to measure happiness. This theme is the heart of the fifth choosing it means renouncing good living and the prospect of all lives conceptual structure which appeared in our research. that want to be lived to the full. This imperative operates as a subtle “Happiness can be measured using questionnaires, tests and apps” is obligation pointing to an individual ethic which shows everything that is a phrase recorded from the training course which epitomises the modus good to feel, think and do. This obligation is established in every sphere operandi of Positive Psychology as a scientific discipline. This leverages of everyday life and operates through the most immediate emotions, the aspiration of the scientific method to measure everything (Mea­ applying a positivity to the mind which makes the individual responsible surement) so that its proposal for happiness seems to involve a goal for continuing to submit to an endless project of optimisation. Second, which can be objective and operational, and presents a certain level of the individual is considered a project continuously working towards stability. The basic premise of the “science of happiness” is that every­ future improvement. Happiness, as we have mentioned, is at the end of a thing must be measurable and everything must be measured: when journey which must be taken, deploying certain practices of self- someone asks how we feel, we immediately become transparent and the observation, self-governance, self-generated information, and exhibi­ emotional data we provide (for example, reacting with emoticons [icons tion of the self to other people. Third, the information this individual of the emotions] on social networks online) can be quantified based on produces about their internal states is quantified, measured, converted various systems. Quantifying and measuring happiness is the fifth axis to data, and can be recorded for analysis. Finally, it is advisable to note defining Positive Psychology. that the main field of action for all the above is the psyche, rather than the somatic or social reality of the citizen. It will be through intervention 5.6. A new individual: positive and happy in the psychic plane that they will reach, or not, that goal of happiness and well-being that every human longs for. Finally, our data are grouped in this sixth table: Positive Psychology, for all these reasons, is not exactly a tool of Finally, our exploration obtained a categorical structure which had liberalism-neoliberalism. Rather, it forms part of the sphere of intelli­ to do with the definition of the citizen. Here, individual people are the gibility of Psychopolitics. Thus, we see individuals who convert every­ main recipients and beneficiaries of the messages sent by Positive Psy­ thing in their psyche into data, which are then evaluated and returned to chology. This discipline explains what persons determined to be “posi­ them so that they can continuously optimise and improve their mental tive” are like, and what resources they have. In this exercise we observed structures. The novelty or nuance which Positive Psychology adds to this three elements. First, an exacerbated individualisation which appears as psychopolitical exercise is to promote what we could call a Psychopo­ a result of the Psychologization mentioned above. Second, a projection litics of Well-being. That is, this exercise of datification of the psyche of this individual into the future, given that they are considered a project which permits its infinite optimisation can be directed to a specific goal which can be improved indefinitely. Finally, this individual is made of well-being or good living. responsible for making, or not making, the decision which can lead to a The Psychopolitics of Well-being seems to be seeping into every fuller, happier life. In other words, the resources, the practices, the aspect of our everyday life. It makes happiness the core of its action on knowledge, the scientific constancy exist, and therefore it is ultimately the psyche, and while its goals may be noble and seek the constitution of the individual who is responsible for having a good life or rejecting that a human being with less suffering, it still deploys subtle power relations path. Thus, the characterisation of a certain type of individual who faces and control mechanisms. These include the establishment of an imper­ a context which offers resources for improving their life, and is ative that motivates us intelligently instead of punishing us; it promises 7 A. Romaní Rivera et al. New Ideas in Psychology 72 (2024) 101058 tangible and scientifically proven realities, rather than political or reli­ the bios to that of the psyche. This is what enables us to define a pro­ gious utopias; it offers courses of action that are practically impossible to ductive, active individual aligned with the requirements of the status reject, rather than hard-to-achieve fantasies; and it makes our psyche a quo, the practical consequences of which are spreading into the spheres project open to its scrutiny and intervention, where individuals’ ability of our everyday reality through the creation of more happiness programs to choose is diminishing, given that they delegate their decision-making in the field of education, well-being workshops to manage one’s criteria to computer applications and systems of knowledge like that emotional health at work, new positive applications to the “citizen sci­ offered by Positive Psychology. ence”, and obviously training in the field of psychology as well, where life coaching has become so important that it is now the new definition 7. Strengths of the study of Popular Psychology. However, Positive Psychology does something more than just This research could establish a base from which we can continue reproduce a power mechanism; it creates it to maintain itself and it has exploring the full implications of this framework, and precisely the established a variant or nuance of Psychopolitics which we have called general strength of this study is that it has paid attention to the historic, the Psychopolitics of Well-being. Here and now, the good life, the life social, and symbolic nature of a particular analysed object. This involved worth living, is the life that is constantly seeking the well-being gener­ a focus on examining the discourses and practices in which that object is ated by positive thoughts and emotions. inserted and defined (Denzin & Lincoln, 1998). This case study explored a contemporary system (Johansson, 2007) over a defined period (Cres­ Author’s statement well et al., 2007), without attempting to isolate that unit from its real context of production (Dul & Hak, 2007) thus allowing us to observe The authors declare that the text is completely original and that there psychological power relations that happen in real life. Thanks to having are no conflicts of interest in it. placed us in a privileged study position from within the case itself [with one of us being a participant observer], this has allowed us to observe Data availability how a Master’s in Positive Psychology empowers a new era of “positive graduates” who are continuing with the work of perpetuating the chain Data will be made available on request. of positivity (and all that this implies), meaning that we now know first-hand how Positive Psychology is reproducing and how it uses its Appendix A. Supplementary data followers to ensure the continuity of its discourses and practices, so from this research they will be aware of the role they are playing in society. Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi. This study shows the power relations that are enabled by Positive Psy­ org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2023.101058. chology, something that is currently not being done. The fact that in the end everyone is interested in happiness makes the results of this research References relevant not just to experts but to all the people who in one way or another have been, are being, or definitely will be affected by “The Agamben, G. (2020). What is an apparatus?" and other essays. Stanford University Press. happiness of Positive Psychology". America’s Founding Documents. (1776). Declaration of independence: A transcription. htt ps://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript. Aquinas, T. (2010). The theology of thomas aquinas. 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