Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America

We all know someone who’s tried to push a copy of The Secret on us, insisting that one reading will change our life and that positive thinking is the solution when times are tough. But Barbara Ehrenreich, best-selling author of Nickel and Dimed and Bait and Switch, dispels much of the pseudo-science  behind the powers of positive thinking in her latest book, Bright-Sided.

Although she would genuinely like to see more smiles and hugs in the world, Ehrenreich refers to the ongoing movement of positive thinking as a mass delusion, as applied to her own encounter with “Pink Ribbon Culture” during her bout with breast cancer. Her frustrations lie with those who insist that the only way to achieve success and money is through positive thinking. It’s not fair, she notes, that the sick, poor, or unemployed are thought to be in those circumstances because they emit negative thoughts.

In Bright-Sided, Ehrenreich delves deep into researching the “happiness industry” by talking to a variety of lifestyle coaches, career coaches, motivational speakers, mega-church leaders, and positive psychologists. In her final conclusion, she decides that fears need to be validated, and realism recognized. Otherwise, delusion is accepted as the norm and issues like the housing crisis can occur. In her view, we should be allowed to feel grumpy without feeling that we’re letting people, or our immune system, down.

Bright-Sided is a decent read, but several questions remain at the end: How exactly do you measure happiness?  What are the tangible effects of other people’s positive thinking? And, most importantly, why does Ehrenreich, who chooses to think negatively, care so much?