LEADER 03910nam 2200625 a 450 001 9910461621203321 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a0-8147-8363-5 010 $a0-8147-8855-6 024 7 $a10.18574/9780814783634 035 $a(CKB)2670000000177911 035 $a(EBL)865920 035 $a(OCoLC)793165427 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000658520 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11377854 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000658520 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10690683 035 $a(PQKB)11049607 035 $a(StDuBDS)EDZ0001323814 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC865920 035 $a(OCoLC)793207330 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse19850 035 $a(DE-B1597)547946 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780814783634 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL865920 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10555037 035 $a(EXLCZ)992670000000177911 100 $a20111104d2012 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur|n|---||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aSatisfaction not guaranteed$b[electronic resource] $edilemmas of progress in modern society /$fPeter N. Stearns 210 $aNew York $cNew York University Press$dc2012 215 $a1 online resource (281 p.) 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 $a0-8147-8362-7 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 327 $aIntroduction: being cheerful and modern -- The gap: happiness scales and the edge of sadness -- Component parts: modernity and ideas of happiness and progress as historical forces -- Modernity's deficiencies -- False starts and surprises: making modernity more difficult -- The dilemmas of work in modernity -- Death as a modern quandary -- Century of the child? Childhood, parenting, and modernity -- Born to shop: consumerism as the modern panacea. 330 $aIn the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, modern urban, industrial, affluent societies have made great strides towards fixing some of the problems that plagued other societies for centuries: food shortages are nearly eliminated, infant and maternal mortality has fallen dramatically, birth control is both readily available and effective, education levels are higher, and internal violence is significantly reduced. Modernity?s blessings are many and bountiful?but has modernity really made us happy?Satisfaction Not Guaranteed is a book about the modern condition, and why the gains of living in modern urban, industrial, affluent societies have not proved more satisfying than they have. It examines why real results that paralleled earlier anticipations of progress have not generated the ease and contentment that the same forecasters assumed would apply to modern life. Employing his trademark inquiry of emotions in American history, Peter N. Stearns asks why, if modern life has been generally characterized by measurable themes of progress, abundance, and improvement, are people not happier or more content with their lot in life? Why is there an increased incidence of psychological depression, anxiety, and the sense that no one has ever reached a pinnacle of happiness or contentment? It?s not so much that modernity went wrong, but rather that it has not gone as swimmingly as was anticipated. Satisfaction Not Guaranteed uses concrete examples from both history and the present, such as happiness surveys, to discuss how as a society we might better juggle the demands of modern life with the pursuit of happiness. 606 $aCivilization, Modern$y21st century 606 $aProgress 608 $aElectronic books. 615 0$aCivilization, Modern 615 0$aProgress. 676 $a909.83 700 $aStearns$b Peter N$0183190 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910461621203321 996 $aSatisfaction not guaranteed$92490436 997 $aUNINA