Toward a critical theory of happiness: Philosophical background and methodological significance

Happiness is discussed in its development since the pragmatists' interpretation of the concept. From early psychological approaches onwards, the notion of happiness has existed in the tension between the normative “summum bonum” and the empirical — “subjective well-being”. Dialectical philosophy attempted to mediate between these two levels, with Hegel locating happiness in the sphere of reason, and Marx interpreting it as a consequence of social practice. Building upon this materialist notion and upon Freud's analysis of distorting forces, the Critical Theorists of the Frankfurt School warn against taking the subjective experience of well-being at face value. The appropriateness of their caveats is illustrated in the methodological debates over response bias in the social psychology literature. It would appear that it is quite unsatisfactory to define happiness operationally as that which is reflected directly in self-reports.