Wellbeing Machine

Book excerpt: Wellbeing Machine shows how wellbeing arises in the intimate processes of daily life. Wellbeing and illbeing are generally seen as interior states of the individual, which can readily be linked to individuals being blamed for the status of their wellbeing. This book shifts attention away from the individual and onto the collective body. This approach generates a conceptual entity called the wellbeing machine, which comprises four assemblages that represent different responses to the challenges of everyday life experienced by people with depression. In this manner, wellbeing emerges from assemblages that transform in a sustainable way over time. Assemblages associated with illbeing are generative and vital to the production of wellbeing. Wellbeing Machine shifts discussion about the wellbeing bioeconomy into new terrain. It investigates the intersections between emergent wellbeing and labour, power, and capitalism, and produces knowledge about wellbeing that does not contribute negative associations about individuals¿ wellbeing levels.