Available:*
Library | Item Barcode | Call Number | Material Type | Item Category 1 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... | 30000010302968 | BF575.H27 G74 2012 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
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Summary
Summary
Although happiness is based upon individuals' subjective perception of their own situation, understanding the concept of happiness is important for forming policies in modern societies. Taking into account discussions from disciplines across the social sciences, this book explores varying notions of happiness and how these are applied to create a theoretical understanding of the concept.
The book then goes on to demonstrate how a general theoretical concept of happiness can be used to add to our knowledge of central aspects of modern society, ranging from questions related to welfare state analysis, through to evaluating everyday life for individual people. In doing so,nbsp;Happiness presents an up-to-date and applied account of how happiness is now widely used in economics, sociology, psychology and political science, whilst also exploring the relationship between happiness and public policy.
Author Notes
Bent Greve is Professor in Social Science with an emphasis on welfare state analysis of the University of Roskilde, Denmark. His research interest focuses on the welfare state, and social and labour market policy, often from a comparative perspective. He has published extensively on social and labour market policy, social security, tax expenditures, public sector expenditures and financing of the welfare state. He is regional and special issues editor of Social Policy & Administration. Recent books include Choice (2010), Social Policy and Happiness in Europe (2010), and Occupational Welfare (2007).
Reviews 1
Choice Review
In the first decade of the 21st century, a renewed interest in happiness emerged across the social sciences and around the globe. In this short volume, part of Routledge's "Key Ideas" series, Danish social scientist Greve contributes to and summarizes this current interdisciplinary interest in happiness and its applicability and implications for individual well-being as well as social and public policy. Six chapters introduce the concept of happiness and approaches to thinking about it; discuss how one defines and would attempt to measure it; dissect its relationship to income, labor-market experiences, and health; expand on broader indicators of welfare and measures of societal development; and conclude with the author's suggested emendations, including proposed new indexes to measure and improve on societal welfare. Figures, tables, and running parenthetical footnotes cum references complement the prose. Happiness is certainly one of the hot topics among both academics and policy makers. Too short to capture the totally of this interest, Greve's book is nevertheless up-to-date, offers a blend of philosophical underpinnings and empirical work, and constitutes a solid introduction for intelligent lay readers and more well-versed scholars. Summing Up: Recommended. All readership levels. A. R. Sanderson University of Chicago
Table of Contents
| 1 Introduction |
| 2 What is Happiness |
| 3 Can we Measure Happiness? |
| 4 Happiness and Public Policy - Any Connection? |
| 5 Why we Need a New Measurement of Welfare |
| 6 Conclusions |
