Critical Hedonism(s): Collective Joy

Most of life’s greatest joys are those we share with others. These shared joys become “collective joy” when we co-create their sources with others—when a group comes together to produce a version of joy that is irreducible to the sum of private experiences. As Emilie Durkheim explains, a kind of “collective effervescence” is available to groups that we cannot find on our own—“a sort of electricity . . . which quickly transports . . . to an extraordinary degree of exaltation.” Recent authors on collective joy—such as Barbara Ehrenreich, Lynne Segal and adrienne marie brow—point to its radicality in an age of individualism and personal acquisitiveness. In this discussion, we will discuss why collective joy matters, how to access it, and what the world could be like if it became more central to our culture.
CFITICAL HEDONISM(S) is a free and open-to-the-public discussion space for exploring and interrogating topics, prompts, and questions pertaining to the politics of desire. The starting point of Critical Hedonism(s) is the realization that an essential part of changing the world is changing what we want, aspire for, and take pleasure in. Monthly discussions like this one offer a crucial method for understanding how desire is organized in our culture, and how it might be organized differently. We explore the injustices of desire, the ways in which it is used to manipulate, motivate and stratify, and how it is shaped by institutions. We also explore the inherent challenges of hedonism, and consider what kinds of frameworks could be used to mediate our relationship with it. For more about Critical Hedonism(s), see https://www.criticalhedonisms.com