Ross Abbinnett is Senior Lecturer in Social and Political Theory, University of Birmingham, UK. His main research interests lie in the areas of social and political theory, culture and aesthetics, and technology and society. He has published extensively in these fields, including Truth and Social Science (Sage, 1998), Culture and Identity (Sage, 2003), and Marxism After Modernity (Palgrave, 2006).

• Introduction:  Elements of the Politics of Happiness1. Liberalism and the Uses of DesireThe Governance of Pain and PleasureThe Science of WellbeingLife Beyond ContentmentDeath and the New World Order2.  Postmodernism, or, The Dream of Limitless ExcessAesthetic Consolations Art, Irony, and RomanticismThe Tragedy of Pure CultureSimulacra of Happiness3. Marxism and the Beautiful Object of LabourOrganic Labour and Species BeingHappiness and Revolutionary MaterialismWork, Servitude, and RessentimentSocialism and the Messianic4. Fascism and the Pleasure of Self-DestructionThe Essence of FascismAnxiety and Modern DesireReactionary Love and ‘The People'Spectres of Fascism5. Religion and the Love of the SacredReligion in the Disenchanted WorldFaith and EnlightenmentOrthodoxy and the Death of GodThe Ecstasy of the Sacred Conclusion: Happiness and Catastrophic Modernity

"Can we be happy in a world marked by catastrophe? Should we try? What is happiness anyway? In this subtle and entrancing work Ross Abbinnett thinks deeply and profoundly about these questions. He draws on the European philosophical tradition to show why happiness is important and in so doing rescues happiness from the banalities of the new utilitarianism. This is an important book." - Keith Tester, Professor of Sociology, The University of Hull, UK

Ross Abbinnett is Senior Lecturer in Social and Political Theory, University of Birmingham, UK. His main research interests lie in the areas of social and political theory, culture and aesthetics, and technology and society. He has published extensively in these fields, including Truth and Social Science (Sage, 1998), Culture and Identity (Sage, 2003), and Marxism After Modernity (Palgrave, 2006).

• Introduction:  Elements of the Politics of Happiness1. Liberalism and the Uses of DesireThe Governance of Pain and PleasureThe Science of WellbeingLife Beyond ContentmentDeath and the New World Order2.  Postmodernism, or, The Dream of Limitless ExcessAesthetic Consolations Art, Irony, and RomanticismThe Tragedy of Pure CultureSimulacra of Happiness3. Marxism and the Beautiful Object of LabourOrganic Labour and Species BeingHappiness and Revolutionary MaterialismWork, Servitude, and RessentimentSocialism and the Messianic4. Fascism and the Pleasure of Self-DestructionThe Essence of FascismAnxiety and Modern DesireReactionary Love and ‘The People'Spectres of Fascism5. Religion and the Love of the SacredReligion in the Disenchanted WorldFaith and EnlightenmentOrthodoxy and the Death of GodThe Ecstasy of the Sacred Conclusion: Happiness and Catastrophic Modernity

"Can we be happy in a world marked by catastrophe? Should we try? What is happiness anyway? In this subtle and entrancing work Ross Abbinnett thinks deeply and profoundly about these questions. He draws on the European philosophical tradition to show why happiness is important and in so doing rescues happiness from the banalities of the new utilitarianism. This is an important book." - Keith Tester, Professor of Sociology, The University of Hull, UK

Ross Abbinnett is Senior Lecturer in Social and Political Theory, University of Birmingham, UK. His main research interests lie in the areas of social and political theory, culture and aesthetics, and technology and society. He has published extensively in these fields, including Truth and Social Science (Sage, 1998), Culture and Identity (Sage, 2003), and Marxism After Modernity (Palgrave, 2006).

• Introduction:  Elements of the Politics of Happiness1. Liberalism and the Uses of DesireThe Governance of Pain and PleasureThe Science of WellbeingLife Beyond ContentmentDeath and the New World Order2.  Postmodernism, or, The Dream of Limitless ExcessAesthetic Consolations Art, Irony, and RomanticismThe Tragedy of Pure CultureSimulacra of Happiness3. Marxism and the Beautiful Object of LabourOrganic Labour and Species BeingHappiness and Revolutionary MaterialismWork, Servitude, and RessentimentSocialism and the Messianic4. Fascism and the Pleasure of Self-DestructionThe Essence of FascismAnxiety and Modern DesireReactionary Love and ‘The People'Spectres of Fascism5. Religion and the Love of the SacredReligion in the Disenchanted WorldFaith and EnlightenmentOrthodoxy and the Death of GodThe Ecstasy of the Sacred Conclusion: Happiness and Catastrophic Modernity

"Can we be happy in a world marked by catastrophe? Should we try? What is happiness anyway? In this subtle and entrancing work Ross Abbinnett thinks deeply and profoundly about these questions. He draws on the European philosophical tradition to show why happiness is important and in so doing rescues happiness from the banalities of the new utilitarianism. This is an important book." - Keith Tester, Professor of Sociology, The University of Hull, UK