Work, care, and gender. The science of (un)happiness

“This book is not addressed to the learned, or to those who regard a practical problem merely as something to be talked about,” with this sentence English philosopher Bertrand Russell began The Conquest of Happiness and it has become an inspiration for me and a starting point for my analysis. Staying true to Russell's ideas, I have written a book which—I believe—can be addressed to all (scholars as well) who are interested in happiness and how it can be achieved. I have placed my considerations on happiness in the areas we all know: family, marriage, children and gender.

When writing the book I surfed through Internet forums and analysed the results of scientific studies in order to scrutinise Russell's seven causes of unhappiness: competition (when investing in children), boredom (of doing housework), fatigue (of double shift), envy and comparisons of mothers, males’ sense of sin, persecution mania and new fathers’ fears of public opinion. Let's be honest: my findings are not always nice. Not infrequently, the results of scientists' work contradict what we believe. Read it only if you are ready to face new and unexpected.

Author affiliation:

Piotr Michoń, Poznań University of Economics and Business, Poland

Introduction  
Chapter 1. Competition: Investing in children  
Chapter 2. Boredom: The boredom of domesticity  
Chapter 3. Fatigue: Double shift  
Chapter 4. Envy and comparisons  
Chapter 5. The gendered sense of sin  
Chapter 6. Persecution mania: Different standards, worrying, and household managers  
Chapter 7. Fear of public opinion: New fathers  
References  
List of online comments