Lurching Toward Happiness in America

With this promising but slight book, UC Berkeley sociologist Fischer (Still Connected) tackles the subject of happiness. Scholars know that people who are married and healthy tend to be happier. Conversely, poverty decreases happiness, though above a certain point, wealth probably doesn’t increase it. Though academics have studied happiness since the 1950s, there has been a surge of studies in recent years: since 2000, the number of articles on happiness in economics journals “roughly tripled.” In the weakest chapters of this book, Fischer summarizes headlines then briefly (and insufficiently) critiques them. The Atlantic worries that e-dating threatens monogamy, but the reverse may be true. Newspapers scream that we are getting lonelier, while, in fact, says Fischer, loneliness is not new. Still, some of his digests are pointed and clever, such as his description of the difference between people who tie happiness to time spent outdoors and strengthening “personal relationships” and those who emphasize more jobs and more pay: “sort of Seattle Democrats versus Youngstown Democrats.” And when Fischer goes more in-depth—for example, when he dissects the function of leisure-time and paid vacations—he’s terrific. (Nov.)