The Happiness Riddle and the Quest for a Good Life

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

   PDF

2. Introduction: The Happiness Riddle

   • Mark Cieslik

   Pages 1-11

3. Philosophy and the History of Happiness

   • Mark Cieslik

   Pages 13-26

4. The Economics of Happiness

   • Mark Cieslik

   Pages 27-41

5. Positive Psychology and Happiness

   • Mark Cieslik

   Pages 43-53

6. Psychoanalytical Theory and Happiness

   • Mark Cieslik

   Pages 55-66

7. Sociological Approaches to Happiness

   • Mark Cieslik

   Pages 67-91

8. Happiness and Young People

   • Mark Cieslik

   Pages 93-122

9. The ‘Thirty Somethings’: Happiness in the Late Twenties and Thirties

   • Mark Cieslik

   Pages 123-155

10. Happiness in Mid Life

    • Mark Cieslik

    Pages 157-187

11. Happiness in Old Age

    • Mark Cieslik

    Pages 189-216

12. Conclusions: Making Sense of the Happiness Riddle

    • Mark Cieslik

    Pages 217-226

13. Back Matter

    Pages 227-235

    PDF

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. 

This 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.

• self-help
• mid life crisis
• Sociology
• young adults
• childhood
• Britain
• psychology
• economics

“First, it will stimulate some critical thinking in anyone who is embarking on an undergraduate or Master’s level course in positive psychology (or thinking of doing so). Second, it gives a good overview of the study of well-being for students of other social sciences. Third, it would be useful reading for public policymakers who wish to counterbalance some of the rather simplistic messages that are occasionally used to promote the ‘happiness agenda.’” (Nicholas J. L. Brown, PsycCRITIQUES, Vol. 62 (38), September, 2017)

  

• Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

  Mark Cieslik

Mark Cieslik is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Northumbria University, UK. He established the British Sociological Association Happiness Study Group in 2009.     

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