The happiness riddle and the quest for a good life / Mark Cieslik.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 227-228) and index.

Dedication; Acknowledgements; Contents; 1: Introduction: The Happiness Riddle; Researching Happiness and a Good Life; Outline of the Book; Bibliography; 2: Philosophy and the History of Happiness; The Buddha and Eastern Notions of Happiness; Classical Greek Writings on Happiness; Roman and Christian Writings on Happiness; Happiness and the Rise of Modern Societies; Bibliography; 3: The Economics of Happiness; The Emergence of the Economics of Happiness; Some Problems with the Economic Modelling of Happiness; The Capabilities Approach to Wellbeing

Contemporary Economics of Happiness: 'Behavioural Economics'Bibliography; 4: Positive Psychology and Happiness; Early Positive Psychology; Happiness and Human Fallibility; Martin Seligman, Authentic Happiness and Flourishing; Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and 'Flow' Experiences; Criticisms of Positive Psychology; Bibliography; 5: Psychoanalytical Theory and Happiness; Freud's Models of the Self; 'Civilization and Its Discontents'; The Influence of Freud on Sociology; Freud, Popular Culture and Happiness; Bibliography; 6: Sociological Approaches to Happiness

The Legacy of Classical Sociology Happiness in the Writings of Durkheim and Marx; Alienation and Happiness; Happiness and Ideologies; Max Weber on Happiness; Simmel and Happiness; Modern Sociology and Scepticism About Happiness Research; The Frankfurt School and Happiness; The Problem of Happiness: Discourses, Loss of Community, Narcissism and Emotional Labour; Contemporary Sociology, Wellbeing and Happiness; Researching Happiness: A Cross-Disciplinary, Biographical Approach; Bibliography; 7: Happiness and Young People

The Restructuring of Youth Transitions and the Influence on Wellbeing Multiple Disadvantage, Marginal Transitions and the Influence on Wellbeing; Success and Happiness Against the Odds?; Success Yet Poor Wellbeing: The Shadows of the Past; Alice's Story; Life's Full of Surprises: Alice and the 'Gap Year'; Happiness, Fateful Moments and Hidden Resources; The 'Ebb and Flow' of Young People's Wellbeing; Bibliography; 8: The 'Thirty Somethings': Happiness in the Late Twenties and Thirties; Friends and the Meaning of Happiness?; Happiness, Solitude and 'Time for Oneself'

Aging, Independence and Wellbeing Happiness and Work-Life Balance; Social Class, Austerity and the Structuring of Wellbeing?; Making Sense of Key Moments in Life: The Conflict Between Habitus and Personal Change; Barry and Carl: Happiness and Alternative Lifestyles; Barry and Carl: Settling Down and Being Happy?; Bibliography; 9: Happiness in Mid Life; James: Middle Class and Happy, but a Mid-life Crisis?; 'Keeping Up Appearances': Fear of a Failing Marriage; Kevin and Paula: 'Life's Been a Struggle But Happy'; Gardening and Cycling: Happiness Amidst Economic Decline

This book examines the meaning of happiness in Britain today, and observes that although we face challenges such as austerity, climate change and disenchantment with politics, we continue to be interested in happiness and living well. The author illustrates how happiness is a far more contested, social process than is often portrayed by economists and psychologists, and takes issue with sociologists who often regard wellbeing and the happiness industry with suspicion, whilst neglecting one of the key features of being human - the quest for a good life. Exploring themes that question what it means to be happy and live a good life in Britain today, such as the challenges young people face making their way through education and into their first jobs; work life-balance; mid-life crises; and old age, the book presents nineteen life stories that call for a far more critical and ambitious approach to happiness research that marries the radicalism of sociology, with recent advances in psychology and economics.0This book will appeal to students and academics interested in wellbeing, happiness and quality of life and also those researching areas such as the life course, work-life balance, biographies, aging and youth studies.