Religious and Non-Religious Perspectives on Happiness and Wellbeing

Religious and Non-Religious Perspectives on Happiness and Wellbeing PDF Author: Taylor & Francis Group
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 9780367485733
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
This book explores the theme of happiness and well-being from religious, spiritual, philosophical, psychological, humanistic and health perspectives. Taking a non-binary approach, it considers how happiness in particular has been understood and appropriated in religious and non-religious strands of thought. The chapters offer incisive insight from a variety of perspectives, including atheism and major religions such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism. Together they demonstrate that although worldviews might vary substantially, there are concurrences across religious and non-religious perspectives on happiness that provide a common ground for further cross-cultural and interreligious exploration. What the book makes clear is that happiness is not a static or monolithic category. It is an ongoing process of being and becoming, striving and seeking, living ethically and meaningfully, as well as arriving at a tranquil state of being. This multifaceted volume makes a fresh contribution to the contemporary study of happiness and is valuable reading for scholars and students from religious studies and theology, including those interested in interreligious dialogue and the psychology of religion, as well as positive psychology.

Religious and Non-Religious Perspectives on Happiness and Wellbeing

Religious and Non-Religious Perspectives on Happiness and Wellbeing PDF Author: Taylor & Francis Group
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 9780367485733
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book explores the theme of happiness and well-being from religious, spiritual, philosophical, psychological, humanistic and health perspectives. Taking a non-binary approach, it considers how happiness in particular has been understood and appropriated in religious and non-religious strands of thought. The chapters offer incisive insight from a variety of perspectives, including atheism and major religions such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism. Together they demonstrate that although worldviews might vary substantially, there are concurrences across religious and non-religious perspectives on happiness that provide a common ground for further cross-cultural and interreligious exploration. What the book makes clear is that happiness is not a static or monolithic category. It is an ongoing process of being and becoming, striving and seeking, living ethically and meaningfully, as well as arriving at a tranquil state of being. This multifaceted volume makes a fresh contribution to the contemporary study of happiness and is valuable reading for scholars and students from religious studies and theology, including those interested in interreligious dialogue and the psychology of religion, as well as positive psychology.

The Exploration of Happiness

The Exploration of Happiness PDF Author: Antonella Delle Fave
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400757026
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
This specially selected collection of landmark work from the Journal of Happiness Studies maps the current contours, and the likely future direction, of research in a field with a fast-rising profile. This volume, which inaugurates a series aiming to explore discrete topics in happiness and wellbeing studies, features selected articles published in the Journal of Happiness Studies during its first decade, which culminated in an ‘impact factor’ in 2011. As the introductory work in the series, it provides readers with a vital overview of the prominent issues, problems and challenges that well-being and happiness research has had to overcome since its appearance on the scientific stage. The journal’s very success evinces both the high scientific quality of the research covered, and the steadily growing interest in a subject that draws responses from a vast range of epistemological aiming points, taking in economics, sociology, psychology, philosophy, education and medicine. The series of volumes following this debut publication will represent a unique contribution to the literature in their multidisciplinary focus on particularized topics. It is reckoned that this will help strengthen cross-disciplinary synergies among authors investigating the same topic, as well as whet the appetite for happiness research among professionals and experts inhabiting a variety of academic domains. This volume addresses the theory of well-being and happiness, the different research approaches now probing their features and components, and the socio-economic and cultural issues that impact on their promotion..

Happiness Across Cultures

Happiness Across Cultures PDF Author: Helaine Selin
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9789400799295
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Different cultures experience happiness differently. Traditionally, the West is considered materialistic, and happiness is said to come from achievement and acquisition. The East is said to be more people-oriented, where happiness is a result of deep personal interactions. Thus, poor people can be happier in the East than the West, because they are not so concerned with possession and more with society. This book considers happiness and quality of life in non-Western countries and cultures. Its coverage is diverse and spans the breadth of the non-Western world, revealing unique perspectives of happiness and life quality embedded in rich cultural traditions and histories.

Pursuits of Happiness

Pursuits of Happiness PDF Author: Gordon Mathews
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 9781845454487
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
Anthropology has long shied away from examining how human beings may lead happy and fulfilling lives. This book, however, shows that the ethnographic examination of well-being--defined as "the optimal state for an individual, a community, and a society"--and the comparison of well-being within and across societies is a new and important area for anthropological inquiry. Distinctly different in different places, but also reflecting our common humanity, well-being is intimately linked to the idea of happiness and its pursuits. Noted anthropological researchers have come together in this volume to examine well-being in a range of diverse ways and to investigate it in a range of settings: from the Peruvian Amazon, the Australian outback, and the Canadian north, to India, China, Indonesia, Japan, and the United States. Gordon Mathews is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has written What Makes Life Worth Living? How Japanese and Americans Make Sense of Their Worlds (1996) and Global Culture /Individual Identity: Searching for Home in the Cultural Supermarket (2000), and co-written Hong Kong, China: Learning to Belong to a Nation (2007); he has co-edited Consuming Hong Kong (2001) and Japan's Changing Generations (2004). Carolina Izquierdo is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for the Everyday Lives of Families (CELF) at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research has centered on health and well-being among the Matsigenka in the Peruvian Amazon, the Mapuche in Chile, and middle-class families in the United States.

Fundamentals of Happiness

Fundamentals of Happiness PDF Author: Lall Ramrattan
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1839107731
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
Examining the fundamental thinking underpinning the foundation for economic studies of happiness, this book explores the theories of key economists and philosophers from the Greek philosophers to more modern schools of thought. Lall Ramrattan and Michael Szenberg explore the general measures of happiness, utility as a method, metrical measures of happiness, happiness in literature and the scope of happiness in this concise book.

The Psychology of Happiness in the Modern World

The Psychology of Happiness in the Modern World PDF Author: James E. Allen, PhD, MSPH, NHA, IP
Publisher: Springer Publishing Company
ISBN: 0826132839
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 399

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Book Description
Written in a conversational style yet empirically grounded, this book reviews what we know about the science of happiness. It is the first text to closely examine the social psychological processes as well as individualistic approaches that affect happiness. It explores how our social, cultural, and economic environment, the personal choices we make, and our evolutionary heritage shape our happiness. Topics that are inherently interesting to students such as how income and unemployment, marriage, children, and relationships, health, work, religion, economic growth, and personal safety affect happiness, are reviewed. Research from psychology, economics, and sociology is examined providing an interdisciplinary perspective of this fascinating field. Social issues such as income inequality and the effects of advertising, materialism, and competition are also explored. Highlights include: Covers both the socio-structural issues and individual differences that impact our happiness providing the most comprehensive coverage of any text available. Emphasizes a social psychological approach that considers factors such as income, economics, culture, work, materialism, relationships, religion, and more, often ignored in other texts. Relates the material to students’ lives by posing questions throughout the text to further spark interest in the subject matter. Highlights the latest research and the methodologies used to obtain it to help students better understand how to interpret results. Reviews the evidence that shows that happiness can change over time and how to increase it. Examines how positive emotions and how we interpret events impacts our well-being, along with empirically verified interventions and possible societal changes that can improve happiness. Features a chapter on evolutionary psychology that suggests that there are limits to happiness but how it can be enhanced by pursuing behaviors associated with the successes of our ancestors. Intersperses summary paragraphs throughout the chapters to facilitate learning. Provides discussion questions, activities, assignments, and suggested videos, websites, examples, and additional readings in the instructor’s resources to stimulate critical thinking and class discussion. Features web based instructor’s resources including PowerPoints, sample syllabi, lecture tips and suggestions, and more. Intended for as a text upper-division courses in the psychology of happiness or positive psychology or as a supplement in courses in social or health psychology or psychology of adjustment.

The Happiness Compass

The Happiness Compass PDF Author: Francesco Sarracino
Publisher: Nova Science Publishers
ISBN: 9781628088175
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
How happy are you? This naive question proved to be so powerful as to shake up social sciences and attract the attention of media and policy makers around the globe. Everybody wants to be happy. Thanks to the recent progress in measuring subjective well-being, social sciences have asserted that people's own evaluation about their well-being must be taken seriously. The opportunity of measuring happiness in a consistent and reliable way provides new impulse to a joint effort from a variety of disciplines to improve people's quality of life and potentially change the way modern societies are organised. This book provides a reference tool to understand current developments. It provides an overview of the evolving body of happiness research and draws some of its future trajectories. This book collects the contributions of scientists from psychology, sociology, economics, political science and other scientific domains sharing the quest for improving people's quality of life. Building on this expertise, the book provides a compass to orient the reader in a burgeoning literature to document, inform and suggest ideas for future research.

Researching Happiness

Researching Happiness PDF Author: Mark Cieslik
Publisher: Policy Press
ISBN: 152920612X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
This original collection draws on the latest empirical research to explore the practical challenges facing happiness researchers today. By uniquely combining the critical approach of sociology with techniques from other disciplines, the contributors illuminate new qualitative and biographical approaches of the study of happiness and well-being.

Critical Perspectives in Happiness Research

Critical Perspectives in Happiness Research PDF Author: Luka Zevnik
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3319044036
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 165

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Book Description
This book presents an interdisciplinary exploration of the origins of happiness in the modern Western culture and makes the argument that happiness is not universal but is instead a culturally and historically specific experience, characteristic only to the Western world. It begins with an overview of the main research approaches to happiness and then studies the important but elusive theme in the context of culture and relations of power. The second part of the book analyses the social, religious, ethical and political processes that lead to the emergence of the experience of happiness, including consumer culture in contemporary societies. It presents an analysis of the medieval Christian experience which concludes that the modern experience of happiness only emerged in the 17th and 18th century, when the ideal of human existence increasingly started to be pursued in the present life. In its conclusion, this book explores the concept of modernization as the collective pursuit of happiness.

Quality of Life in Japan

Quality of Life in Japan PDF Author: Ming-Chang Tsai
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9811389101
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
This edited volume approaches the life experiences and well-being of Japanese people from an empirical perspective. It explores the current trend of happiness among Japanese over time and examines the association of income, lifestyle, and perceived life conditions using modern econometric models with supplementary qualitative observations. Issues relating to ageing, gender, household division of labour, and emigration are also examined to provide a wide scope of results based on both survey and field methods for culturally sensitive researchers. Going beyond the conventional cultural interpretation of the uniqueness of the Japanese case, this book provides timely, empirical evidence for understanding how the various social groups comprising the Japanese population have enjoyed a better quality of life, while some groups are very dissatisfied with social arrangements and have elected to emigrate. The book is a pioneering endeavour to reveal the detailed structure of quality of life and well-being in Japanese society.