Lurching Toward Happiness in America

The promise of America has long been conceived as the promise of happiness. BeingAmerican is all about the opportunity to pursue one's own bliss. But what is the good life, and arewe getting closer to its attainment? In the cacophony of competing conceptions of the good,technological interventions that claim to help us achieve it, and rancorous debate over government'srole in securing it for us, every step toward happiness seems to come with at least one step back.

In Lurching toward Happiness in America, acclaimed sociologistClaude Fischer explores the data, the myths, and history to understand how far America has come indelivering on its promise. Are Americans getting lonelier? Is the gender revolution over? Doesincome shape the way Americans see their life prospects? In the end, Fischer paints a broad pictureof what Americans say they want. And, as he considers how close they are to achieving that goal, healso suggests what might finally get them there.

Claude Fischer is Professor of Sociology at University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of Made in America: A Social History of American Culture and Character, and, most recently, Still Connected: Family and Friends in America Since 1970.