HIST 2061 - The Pursuit of Happiness

This course will study the cultural and intellectual history of the pursuit of happiness, focusing on 19th and 20th century Europe. It will examine the intellectual underpinnings of the pursuit of happiness in late Enlightenment thought; the revolutionary implications of the pursuit of happiness for political order and stability; the rise of consumer and leisure culture (advertising, the rise of the department store, and paid vacations) in the 19th century; and the tensions between mass culture and individual happiness. The course will include a wide and eclectic range of readings, including Adam Smith, Mary Wollstonecraft, Alexandra Kollantai, Friedrich Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud, among others.