On the dictatorship of happiness. A manifesto

Abstract

The pursuit of happiness is not an exclusive theme of our time. As early as the 1930s, Sigmund Freud warned us about the inevitable discomfort caused by the tension between our desires and societal demands, which leads to situations of suffering and dissatisfaction. In recent decades, various mechanisms have been developed to manage these dissatisfactions in order to control our behaviors and emotions, which some authors refer to as the "dictatorship of happiness."