Happiness Across Cultures

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxiii

   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

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.

• Bangladesh happiness
• Brazil happiness
• Buddhism happiness
• China happiness
• Hong Kong happiness
• India happiness
• Japan happiness
• Kazakhstan happiness
• Malawi happiness
• Malaysia happiness
• Peru happiness
• Singapore happiness
• South Africa happiness
• South Korea happiness
• Zen and happiness
• anthropology and happiness
• cross-cultural happiness
• feminism
• gender studies
• happiness and islam
• happiness studies
• hedonism
• interpersonal mistrust
• non-western cultures
• philosophy of happiness
• psychology and happiness
• quality of life
• relationships and happiness
• subjective well-being
• unhappiness
• well-being

• Hampshire College, Amherst, USA

  Helaine Selin

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

  Gareth Davey

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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