Happiness Contested

Innes suggests that in the eighteenth century ‘happiness’ was a widely current term which could denote an individual ‘feeling’, a social experience, a spiritual state, or a political imperative. From the century’s end, changes in thought and politics put pressure on these meanings. The claim that good government promoted the happiness of the people became a flashpoint when both radical reformers and loyalists tried to give ‘happiness’ practical substance during years of hardship. Malthus argued that the happiness realistically available was limited, and that to suggest otherwise encouraged anti-social behaviour—a view that resonated widely. While some dissident ‘Romantic’ Tories continued to argue thereafter that government should deliver happiness as popularly conceived, mainstream politicians, theologians, and political economists developed doubts. By contrast radicals (including Bentham and his circle) argued that the failure to deliver happiness demonstrated the need for radical political change