Well-being, happiness and the structural crisis of neoliberalism: an interdisciplinary analysis through the lenses of emotions

The sociology of emotions is a fast-growing disciplinary field. Research on emotions has enabled major advances in medical science, political science, anthropology, psychosociology etc. Turner and Smets have shown that social relations feature a kernel of phenomena with an emotional substrate ranging from face-to-face encounters to the emergence of social movements. The social arena is shaped by emotions, which are powerful agents of change (for instance, the events that triggered the Arab spring). In this paper, we focus on the links between emotions, happiness and well-being apprehended as a polymorphic state culturally determined by an emotional substrate. Finally, through the lenses of emotions, we sketch out the features of the structural crisis of neoliberalism and the lessons for a renewed understanding of the underlying socio-economic phenomena.