Killing Joy: Feminism and the History of Happiness

TLDR

Unhappiness is framed as a worldly consciousness that disturbs the familiar, rather than a self‑consciousness. The article offers a feminist critique of happiness, proposes an alternative feminist history of happiness, and examines feminist consciousness as a consciousness of unhappiness. The authors suspend the belief that happiness is inherently good or desired, analyze how happiness turns certain goods into “happy objects,” introduce conditional happiness, and explore how some people’s happiness depends on others’. The study reflects on black feminist consciousness as a hidden aspect of happiness, concluding that feminists could claim freedom to be unhappy without turning unhappiness into a political cause.

Abstract

This article offers a feminist critique of happiness. It proceeds by suspending belief that happiness is a good thing, or that happiness is what we want, as beliefs that are central to the intellectual history of happiness. The article suggests that feminist histories might offer an alternative history of happiness. It shows how happiness is what makes some things into goods (happy objects are those that are anticipated to cause happiness) and introduces the concept of conditional happiness, when one person's happiness is made conditional upon another's, to explore how, for some, happiness means following other people's goods. The article considers feminist consciousness as a consciousness of unhappiness, of what is lost or is given up by following the paths of happiness. Such consciousness does not necessarily involve a form of self‐consciousness but a worldly consciousness in which unhappiness disturbs the familiar. The article reflects specifically on black feminist consciousness as a consciousness of what does not get noticed when happiness provides a horizon of experience. It concludes by suggesting that feminists might want to claim the freedom to be unhappy without making unhappiness into a political cause.