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Happiness Across Cultures

Views of Happiness and Quality of Life in Non-Western Cultures

  • Book
  • © 2012

Overview

Editors:
  1. Helaine Selin

    1. Hampshire College, Amherst, USA

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. Gareth Davey

    1. , Counselling and Psychology, Hong Kong Shue Yan University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR

    View editor publications

    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Contributions from international scholars from diverse disciplines and cultures
  • Explores countries from across the world and focuses on special themes of happiness
  • Insightful compliation for researchers who study happiness

Part of the book series: Science Across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Science (SACH, volume 6)

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Table of contents (30 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxiii
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Helaine Selin, Gareth Davey
    Pages 1-12

  3. Happiness in India

    • Robert Biswas-Diener, Louis Tay, Ed Diener
    Pages 13-25

  4. Happiness on the Tibetan Plateau

    • Dave Webb
    Pages 27-41

  5. Happiness and Life Satisfaction in Malaysia

    • Ryan T. Howell, Wan Tien Chong, Colleen J. Howell, Kurt Schwabe
    Pages 43-55

  6. Happiness and Quality of Life in the People’s Republic of China

    • Gareth Davey
    Pages 57-73

  7. Quality of Life of an Asian Metropolis in a Governance Crisis: The Case of Hong Kong

    • Ming Sing
    Pages 75-94

  8. Quality of Work Life in Macau

    • Ricardo Rato, Gareth Davey
    Pages 95-106

  9. Satisfaction and Societal Quality in Kazakhstan

    • Pamela Abbott, Claire Wallace
    Pages 107-120

  10. Singapore: A Happy State of Mind?

    • Siok Kuan Tambyah, Soo Jiuan Tan
    Pages 121-135

  11. Happiness in Thailand

    • Rossarin Soottipong Gray
    Pages 137-148

  12. The Politics of Wellbeing in International Development: Research with Organic Farmers in Cambodia

    • Alice Beban
    Pages 149-165

  13. Farmers’ Happiness from Fish Production: A Case Study in Vietnam

    • Nguyen Minh Duc  
    Pages 167-180

  14. Constructions of Happiness and Satisfaction in the Kingdom of Tonga

    • Heather E. Young-Leslie, Sean E. Moore
    Pages 181-193

  15. Happiness in an Aboriginal Australian Community: What It Means ‘To Be Well’ and ‘To Enjoy Life’ in Central-Western New South Wales, Australia

    • Daniela Heil
    Pages 195-207

  16. Happiness in the Amazon: Folk Explanations of Happiness in a Hunter-Horticulturalist Society in the Bolivian Amazon

    • Victoria Reyes-García, Tsimane’ Amazonian Panel Study (TAPS)
    Pages 209-225

  17. Happiness in Brazil

    • Gazi Islam
    Pages 227-240

  18. Happiness in Mexico: The Importance of Human Relations

    • Mariano Rojas
    Pages 241-251

  19. Happy Villages and Unhappy Slums? Understanding Happiness Determinants in Peru

    • Mònica Guillen-Royo, Jackeline Velazco
    Pages 253-270

  20. Life Satisfaction in Malawi

    • Tim Hinks, Simon Davies
    Pages 271-292
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Keywords

About this book

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.

Editors and Affiliations

  • Hampshire College, Amherst, USA

    Helaine Selin

  • , Counselling and Psychology, Hong Kong Shue Yan University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR

    Gareth Davey

About the editors

Helen Selin is a science librarian and staff faculty associate at Hampshire College. She is also the editor of the Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Her interests concern difference ways of doing medicine and science.

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