Bright Sided How Positive Think Barbara Ehrenreich

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.Also by Barbara EhrenreichThis Land Is Their Land: Reports from a Divided NationDancing in the Streets: A History of Collective JoyBait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American DreamNickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in AmericaBlood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of WarThe Snarling CitizenKipper’s GameThe Worst Years of Our Lives:Irreverent Notes from a Decade of GreedFear of Falling: The Inner Life of the Middle ClassThe Hearts of Men:American Dreams and the Flight from CommitmentGlobal Woman:Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy(with Arlie Russell Hochschild)Re-making Love: The Feminization of Sex(with Elizabeth Hess and Gloria Jacobs)For Her Own Good: 150 Years of the Experts’ Advice to Women(with Deirdre English)Witches, Midwives, and Nurses: A History of Women Healers(with Deirdre English)Complaints and Disorders: The Sexual Politics of Sickness(with Deirdre English)The Mean Season: The Attack on the Welfare State(with Fred Block, Richard A.Cloward, and Frances Fox Piven)BRIGHT-SIDEDBRIGHT-SIDEDHow the Relentless Promotionof Positive ThinkingHas Undermined AmericaBarbara EhrenreichMetropolitan BooksHenry Holt and CompanyNew YorkMetropolitan BooksHenry Holt and Company, LLCPublishers since 1866175 Fifth AvenueNew York, New York 10010[http://www.henryholt.com] www.henryholt.comMetropolitan BooksTM and TM are registeredtrademarks of Henry Holt and Company, LLC.Copyright © 2009 by Barbara EhrenreichAll rights reserved.Distributed in Canada by H.B.Fenn and Company Ltd.Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication dataEhrenreich, Barbara.Bright-sided : how the relentless promotion of positive thinking has undermined America / Barbara Ehrenreich.—1st ed.p.cm.Includes bibliographical references and index.ISBN 978-0-8050-8749-91.Optimism—United States.2.Happiness—United States.3.Self-confidence— United States.4.Success in business—United States.I.Title.BF698.35.O57E37 2009155.2'32—dc222009023588Henry Holt books are available for special promotionsand premiums.For details contact: Director, Special Markets.First Edition 2009Designed by Meryl Sussman LevaviPrinted in the United States of America1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2To complainers everywhere:Turn up the volume!ContentsIntroductionONE Smile or Die: The Bright Side of CancerTWO The Years of Magical ThinkingTHREE The Dark Roots of American OptimismFOUR Motivating Business and the Business of MotivationFIVE God Wants You to Be RichSIX Positive Psychology: The Science of HappinessSEVEN How Positive Thinking Destroyed the EconomyEIGHT Postscript on Post?Positive ThinkingNotesAcknowledgmentsIndexBRIGHT-SIDEDIntroductionAmericans are a “positive” people.This is our reputation as well as our self-image.We smile a lot and are often baffled when people from other cultures do not return the favor.In the well-worn stereotype, we are upbeat, cheerful, optimistic, and shallow, while foreigners are likely to be subtle, world-weary, and possibly decadent.American expatriate writers like Henry James and James Baldwin wrestled with and occasionally reinforced this stereotype, which I once encountered in the 1980s in the form of a remark by Soviet émigré poet Joseph Brodsky to the effect that the problem with Americans is that they have “never known suffering.” (Apparently he didn’t know who had invented the blues.) Whether we Americans see it as an embarrassment or a point of pride, being positive—in affect, in mood, in outlook—seems to be engrained in our national character.Who would be churlish or disaffected enough to challenge these happy features of the American personality? Take the business of positive “affect,” which refers to the mood we display to others through our smiles, our greetings, our professions of confidence and optimism.Scientists have found that the mere act of smiling can generate positive feelings within us, at least if the smile is not forced.In addition, good feelings, as expressed through our words and smiles, seem to be contagious: “Smile and the world smiles with you.” Surely the world would be a better, happier place if we all greeted one another warmly and stopped to coax smiles from babies—if only through the well-known social psychological mechanism of “mood contagion.” Recent studies show that happy feelings flit easily through social networks, so that one person’s good fortune can brighten the day even for only distantly connected others.1Furthermore, psychologists today agree that positive feelings like gratitude, contentment, and self-confidence can actually lengthen our lives and improve our health [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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