Happiness: Understandings, Narratives and Discourses

"Discourses of happiness surround us in contemporary culture. Listen to any pop song, and there is a reasonable chance that happiness will feature somewhere in the words. Watch any advertisement, and you will likely come across a product or service that promises to improve your life in some way. We have also seen a proliferation of the self-help industry in recent decades. This original and timely book offers one of the first sociological analyses of the ways in which people make sense of their experiences and perceptions of happiness. Drawing on a range of accounts from qualitative interviews, it documents how we make sense of happiness via a distinctly therapeutic, individualized discourse, but simultaneously, how the concept is also understood to be rooted in social relationships and structures"--

List of contents

1. Introduction 2. Happiness: The Story So Far 3. What is Happiness? 4. The Happy Self: Understanding Happiness through Therapeutic Discourse 5. 'Pack Animals'? Interpersonal Relationships and Happiness 6. Orientations to Money, Working Life and Happiness 7. Conclusion

Product details

• Authors: L Hyman, L. Hyman, Laura Hyman
• Publisher: Palgrave UK
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 14.10.2014
• EAN: 9781137321527
• ISBN: 978-1-137-32152-7
• No. of pages: 177
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Psychology > Theoretical psychology; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; B, Sociology, Cultural Studies, Social Theory, Family, personality, Social Psychology, Sociology: family & relationships, Regional and Cultural Studies, Regional Cultural Studies, Sociology, general, Regional Studies, Personality and Social Psychology, Personality and Differential Psychology, Sociology of Family, Youth and Aging, families, Social sciences—Philosophy, Palgrave Social Sciences Collection, Culture—Study and teaching, Families—Social aspects