DIY Happiness Cultures of Self-help, the Transformational Citizen and New Civic Order

The emotional dominant of well-being in contemporary cultures today,demands a transformational citizen. The transformational citizen is one who enhances and improves her/himself, feels/experiences a sense of well-being, and thereby contributes to cultural well-being as well. The discourse of well-being constructs the idea(l) of an autonomous individual who, having evaluated her/his strengths and weaknesses through a process of self-surveillance, proceeds to improve her/himself, and in the process sets new aspirations for her-/himself and others and acquires a cultural membership in a group of successful people. This essay attempts to map the shift in discourse from the care of the Self to the transformational citizen and finally the myth of a ‘new civic order’.