"Happiness is a Choice" with William Davies

If happiness is a choice, let’s talk about who gets to choose it, and who’s just trying to survive a system that tells them it’s their fault they’re miserable.

Erica and Erin are joined by William Davies, political economist, author of The Happiness Industry, and one of the sharpest critics of how governments and corporations turned happiness into a metric, a mandate, and a market. 

Together, they dig into the cultural scaffolding behind our obsession with happiness: where it comes from, who benefits, and what it’s costing us.

Connect with William Davies:

https://williamdavies.blog/

https://bookshop.org/beta-search?keywords=William+Davies

Transcript

Happiness is a Choice

Trash Talk — Episode 13 | June 3, 2025

Episode Summary

Sociologist and author William Davies joins us to explore how happiness became a personal project, a corporate KPI, and a political metric. We unpack the rise of positive psychology, the role of government and tech in shaping wellbeing narratives, and what gets lost when happiness becomes something you’re supposed to hack.

Table of Contents

• Intro
• How Happiness Became a Public Policy Priority
• The Role of Positive Psychology and Self-Help Culture
• Guest Interview Highlights
• Key Takeaways
• Call to Action

Intro

Will Davies is here with us today to discuss the complex and evolving narrative around happiness. While the U.S. has long treated self-help as a cultural mainstay, the U.K.'s relationship with wellbeing has more recently entered the spotlight—especially through government policy and public discourse.

How Happiness Became a Public Policy Priority

William shares that his interest in happiness emerged from his background in public policy. Over the last 20 years, happiness and wellbeing have gone from fringe concerns to major areas of focus for governments, think tanks, and international institutions like the OECD.

In the U.K., cultural resistance to emotional discourse (“the stiff upper lip”) began to shift due to rising rates of anxiety and depression, increasing awareness of mental health, and exposure to American self-help narratives.

Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness index is often cited as an example of happiness-as-policy, but Davies argues it’s an outlier. While countries like France explored new wellbeing metrics, most governments haven’t made radical changes.

The Role of Positive Psychology and Self-Help Culture

We talk about how happiness became individualized and commodified. Positive psychology teaches that while circumstances may be outside our control, our internal response can be reprogrammed to boost happiness—like going to the gym for your mind. This thinking underpins much of the modern self-help industry, CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), and even corporate wellness initiatives.

But there's a catch. When happiness is framed as a choice, unhappiness becomes a personal failing. This shift can isolate people, oversimplify emotional complexity, and ignore structural contributors to distress—like inequality, housing insecurity, or toxic workplaces.

Guest Interview Highlights

“Happiness is increasingly treated like a life KPI—but what happens when that metric becomes both mandatory and mechanized?” “Positive psychology suggests that you can train your brain like a muscle. But that logic can obscure deeper grief, systemic injustice, or emotional nuance.” “We used to think unhappiness told us something. Now it’s treated like a glitch to fix.” “Corporate sentiment analysis, HR wellness apps, and AI mood trackers are pushing us into a future where our feelings are no longer private.” “Happiness should be an entry point, not a destination.”

Key Takeaways

• The U.S. has a long history of self-help; the U.K. has only recently begun adopting it at scale, especially in policy and media.
• Positive psychology reframes happiness as a personal project—but can lead to guilt, burnout, or emotional suppression.
• Governments and corporations increasingly view happiness as something to measure and manage, rather than question or explore.
• Algorithmic sentiment analysis and emotional tracking risk oversimplifying mental states for efficiency and profit.
• Real happiness may come from social, political, and material stability—not just internal attitude adjustments.
• We should treat unhappiness as information, not just a problem to fix.

Show Notes & Links

• Follow Erica Breuer: LinkedIn
• Follow Erin Thomas: LinkedIn
• Visit the Trash Talk Website: buzzsprout.com/2451264