The Loss of Happiness in Market Democracies. By Robert E. Lane. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000. 466p. $42.00 cloth, $19.00 paper

Conrad P. Waligorski

American Political Science Review, 2002, vol. 96, issue 1, 185-186

Abstract: Happiness, unhappiness, and depression are not the usual foci of political science or economics, but Robert Lane demonstrates their importance. The Loss of Happiness in Market Democracies is a worthy companion to and extension of Lane's earlier work, especially The Market Experience (1991). Lane employs psychology, genetics, evolutionary theory, and medical research to convince economists and democratic theorists that biological and psychological research can enrich their often unrealistic assumptions about well-being and behavior. He argues that in affluent societies there is growing unhappiness, growing depression, and declining marginal utility of income to produce happiness. These are accompanied by mistrust and increasing political negativity, which further undermine happiness. The dominant Western image of individualism ignores that people often do not know what makes them happy, which undermines prevailing market and democratic premises (p. 284).

Date: 2002
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