Adorno held that shielding people from problems yields illusory happiness that eventually bursts catastrophically

Evidence

I can give you a simple answer: Yes! I have a particular conception of objective happiness and objective despair, and I would say that, for as long as people have problems taken away from them, for as long as they are not expected to take on full responsibility and full self-determination, their welfare and happiness in this world will merely be an illusion. And it will be an illusion that will one day burst. And when it bursts, it will have dreadful consequences. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2484

Categorization

• DEFINE: Vivid articulation of Adorno’s concept of ‘objective happiness and objective despair’ — a core Frankfurt School notion worth pinning down.
• XREF: Directly anticipates Fromm and later thinkers on infantalization; resonates with the myth-of-happiness critique the Frankfurt School shared and with current debates about freedom versus security. — connects to: Adorno held that delegated problem-solving produces illusory happiness destined to burst