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.

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