Deconstructing Happiness

Critical Sociology and the Good Life

Jordan McKenzie (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

170 Seiten

2016
Routledge (Verlag)
978-1-138-83260-2 (ISBN)

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This book offers an original account of the good life in late modernity through a uniquely sociological lens. It considers the various ways that social and cultural factors can encourage or impede genuine efforts to live a good life by deconstructing the concepts of happiness and contentment within cultural narratives of the good life. While empirical studies have dominated the discourse on happiness in recent decades, the emphasis on finding causal and correlational relationships has led to a field of research that arguably lacks a reliable theoretical foundation. Deconstructing Happiness offers a step toward developing that foundation by offering characteristically sociological perspectives on the contemporary fascination with happiness and well-being. In doing so, it seeks to understand the good life as a socially mediated experience rather than a purely personal or individually defined way of living. The outcome is a book on happiness, contentment and the good life that considers the influence of democracy, capitalism and progress, while also focusing on the more theoretical challenges of self-knowledge, reason and interaction.

Jordan McKenzie is a lecturer in Sociology at the University of New England in New South Wales, Australia.

Introduction: Thinking Critically About Happiness 1. An Introduction to the Sociology of Happiness: Revisiting the Classics 2. Happiness, Sadness, and Contentment in the Sociology of Emotion 3. Reason, Self-Understanding and Autonomy in the Pursuit of Happiness 4. From Freud to Bauman: A Modern History of Discontentment 5. Democracy, Economics and the Public Sphere: If Money Won’t Buy Happiness, Who Should We Vote For? 6. Knowing Happiness and Contentment: The Good Life as a Hermeneutic Exercise. Conclusion.

Erscheint lt. Verlag	4.4.2016
Reihe/Serie	Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought
Zusatzinfo	1 Line drawings, black and white; 1 Illustrations, black and white
Verlagsort	London
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Gewicht	470 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Sozialpsychologie
Themenwelt	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Allgemeines / Lexika
ISBN-10	1-138-83260-X / 113883260X
ISBN-13	978-1-138-83260-2 / 9781138832602
Zustand	Neuware