Field:
    Political Theory

Dissertation Title:
    The Politics of Happiness and the Practice of Democracy

Committee:
    Carole Pateman (Chair), Giulia Sissa, Ray Rocco, and Perry Anderson: (History; contact via Tom Mertes )

Date of Completion: June 2010

Contact Information:
    Mark Kaswan
    UCLA Political Science Department
    4289 Bunche Hall
    Los Angeles, California 90095-1472
    Phone: 818-807-5918
    Fax: 310-825-0778

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Curriculum Vitae:
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Dissertation Summary:
    Abstract PDF
    Happiness, like its more-often discussed offspring, rationality, receives little attention in political science, mostly taking the position of an unstated assumption, its presence lurking between the lines in the premises that undergird research. What brings it out from its hiding place is the recognition that there are different ways of conceiving of happiness, and that these different conceptions can lead to radically different questions, premises and conclusions. My dissertation examines the implications for democratic theory of different ways of conceptualizing happiness. I focus on the work of Jeremy Bentham and William Thompson, a friend and “disciple” of Bentham’s, who starts with Bentham’s premises but ends up in a very different place. While both seek “the greatest happiness,” the conclusions they reach are radically different because Thompson’s conception of happiness is deeply social in a way that contrasts sharply with Bentham’s individualistic hedonism. This leads to differences in their theories of utility, which also produces substantial differences in their theories of democracy: Where Bentham limits democracy to a means of holding rulers accountable to the people, Thompson extends democratic principles to the social institutions within which people regularly interact.

Research Interests:
    In general terms, I am interested in the principles that underlie social institutions. In terms of method, this draws me to the history of political thought, although my questions are concerned with the present and the future. My research involves a rich field of intersecting theoretical paths: utilitarianism, democratic theory, political economics and the theoretical foundations of property, community and associated questions of identity, and the nature of politics and the political. More specifically, I am interested in cooperatives because, as socio-economic institutions founded on principles of democracy, cooperatives could play an important part in embedding democratic practices more deeply in our own society and around the world. In order for them to do so, however, a theoretical foundation needs to be more firmly laid. Laying this foundation is an important goal of my work.

Teaching Interests:
    Democratic theory, community-based learning, classical and neoclassical political economics, utilitarianism, feminism, environmental political theory, critical race theory, post-colonial theory, the canon of political theory