- [UNTITLED]
- Dedications
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- List of Contributors
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Introduction to Psychological Approaches to Happiness
- The Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions: Form, Function, and Mechanisms
- The Endowment–Contrast Model: A Lens for Happiness research
- Past, Present, and Future of Flow
- Emotionally Intelligent Happiness
- Religious Engagement and Well-being
- Positive Psychological Experiences and Psychopathology: A Self-Regulatory Perspective
- The Rewards of Happiness
- Happiness Experienced: The Science of Subjective Well-being
- Introduction to Psychological Definitions of Happiness
- Notions of the Good Life
- Subjective Well-being
- Measuring Happiness and Subjective Well-being
- Eudaimonia
- What Makes for a Life Well Lived? Autonomy and its Relation to Full Functioning and Organismic Wellness
- Functional Well-being: Happiness as Feelings, Evaluations, and Functioning
- Introduction to Philosophical Approaches to Happiness
- The Pursuit of Happiness in History
- Happiness in Early Chinese Thought
- Continental Contributions to our Understanding of Happiness and Suffering
- The Seductions of Happiness
- The Nature and Significance of Happiness
- Philosophical Methods in Happiness Research
- Happiness and its Opposites
- Introduction to Spiritual Approaches to Happiness
- A Buddhist View of Happiness
- Relational Buddhism: An Integrative Psychology of Happiness Amidst Existential Suffering
- Well-being from the Hindu/Sanātana Dharma Perspective
- Flourishing Through Meditation and mindfulness
- Heaven on Earth: Beneficial Effects of Sanctification for Individual and Interpersonal Well-being
- Quieting the Mind and Low Arousal Routes to Happiness
- Introduction to Happiness and Society
- Economics and the Study of Individual Happiness
- Comparing Well-being Across Nations: Conceptual and Empirical Issues
- The Geography of Happiness
- Well-being in Consumer Societies
- Well-being and Sustainable Development
- Well-being and Public Policy
- Introduction to Positive Education
- Education and Well-being
- Should Education Have Happiness Lessons?
- Well-being and Resilience in Education
- Happiness in the Classroom
- Applying Happiness and Well-being Research to the Teaching and Learning Process
- Resilience Education
- Teaching for Wisdom
- Going Beyond the Accidental: Happiness, Education, and the Wellington College Experience
- Positive Education at Geelong Grammar School
- An Introduction to Happiness and Organizations
- Virtuousness as a Source of Happiness in Organizations
- How Work Shapes Well-being
- Work Design and Happiness: An Active, Reciprocal Perspective
- Jobs and Job-holders: Two Sources of Happiness and Unhappiness
- Managing Psychological Capital in Organizations: Cognitive, Affective, Conative, and Social Mechanisms of Happiness
- Reflected Best Self Engagement at Work: Positive Identity, Alignment, and the Pursuit of Vitality and Value Creation
- Encouraging Employee Happiness
- Executive Well-being
- Introduction to Relationships and Happiness
- Close Relationships and Happiness
- Adult Attachment and Happiness: Individual Differences in the Experience and Consequences of Positive Emotions
- Perceived Social Support and Happiness: The Role of Personality and Relational Processes
- Friendship and Happiness
- Introduction to Development, Stability, And Change of Happiness
- An Evolutionary Psychological Perspective on Happiness
- Set-Point Theory May Now Need Replacing: Death of a Paradigm?
- Variety is the Spice of Happiness: The Hedonic Adaptation Prevention Model
- Promotion and Protection of Positive Mental Health: Towards Complete Mental Health in Human Development
- Post-Traumatic Growth: Eudaimonic Happiness in the Aftermath of Adversity
- Creating a Stable Architectural Framework of Existence: Proposing a Model of Lifelong Meaning
- Introduction to Happiness Interventions
- Increasing Happiness in the General Population: Empirically Supported Self-help?
- Positive Psychology in Practice: Positive Psychotherapy
- Happiness in Valued Living: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy as a Model for Change
- Coaching and Well-being: A Brief Review of Existing Evidence, Relevant Theory, and Implications for Practitioners
- Mindfulness and Cultivating Well-being in Older Adults
- Well-being Therapy: Theoretical Background, Clinical Implications, and Future DIrections
- The Collaborative Recovery Model: Developing Positive Institutions to Facilitate Recovery in Enduring Mental Illness
- Conclusion: The Future of Happiness
- Contributor Index
- Author Index
- Subject Index
Abstract and Keywords
Debates on the relationship between consumption and well-being predate the emergence of consumer societies by thousands of years, but have recently intensified with growing concerns about global warming and new data on subjective happiness. This chapter reviews how two broadly defined research orientations in consumer behavior have approached well-being. The first, consumer culture theory (CCT), addressed issues vital to well-being, such as the construction of community and personal identity. The second, “neo positivist,” utilizes quantitative methods to infer relationships between objective conditions of consumer society and subjective experience. After a discussion of consumer society in general, the chapter highlights criticisms and defenses of marketing and consumer societies within CCT. Next, the chapter discusses objective indicators of well-being within consumer societies, particularly as debated within economics, quantitative sociology and the environmental sciences. Finally, the authors outline findings from positive psychology on subjective well-being within consumer societies, with a particular focus on income, materialism and consumer behavior.
Keywords: Happiness, subjective well-being, materialism, consumer culture, consumerism, voluntary simplicity
Aaron Ahuvia, Department of Management Studies, University of Michigan–Dearborn, Dearborn, MI, USA
Elif Izberk-Bilgin, Department of Management Studies, University of Michigan– Dearborn, Dearborn, MI, USA
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- [UNTITLED]
- Dedications
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- List of Contributors
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Introduction to Psychological Approaches to Happiness
- The Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions: Form, Function, and Mechanisms
- The Endowment–Contrast Model: A Lens for Happiness research
- Past, Present, and Future of Flow
- Emotionally Intelligent Happiness
- Religious Engagement and Well-being
- Positive Psychological Experiences and Psychopathology: A Self-Regulatory Perspective
- The Rewards of Happiness
- Happiness Experienced: The Science of Subjective Well-being
- Introduction to Psychological Definitions of Happiness
- Notions of the Good Life
- Subjective Well-being
- Measuring Happiness and Subjective Well-being
- Eudaimonia
- What Makes for a Life Well Lived? Autonomy and its Relation to Full Functioning and Organismic Wellness
- Functional Well-being: Happiness as Feelings, Evaluations, and Functioning
- Introduction to Philosophical Approaches to Happiness
- The Pursuit of Happiness in History
- Happiness in Early Chinese Thought
- Continental Contributions to our Understanding of Happiness and Suffering
- The Seductions of Happiness
- The Nature and Significance of Happiness
- Philosophical Methods in Happiness Research
- Happiness and its Opposites
- Introduction to Spiritual Approaches to Happiness
- A Buddhist View of Happiness
- Relational Buddhism: An Integrative Psychology of Happiness Amidst Existential Suffering
- Well-being from the Hindu/Sanātana Dharma Perspective
- Flourishing Through Meditation and mindfulness
- Heaven on Earth: Beneficial Effects of Sanctification for Individual and Interpersonal Well-being
- Quieting the Mind and Low Arousal Routes to Happiness
- Introduction to Happiness and Society
- Economics and the Study of Individual Happiness
- Comparing Well-being Across Nations: Conceptual and Empirical Issues
- The Geography of Happiness
- Well-being in Consumer Societies
- Well-being and Sustainable Development
- Well-being and Public Policy
- Introduction to Positive Education
- Education and Well-being
- Should Education Have Happiness Lessons?
- Well-being and Resilience in Education
- Happiness in the Classroom
- Applying Happiness and Well-being Research to the Teaching and Learning Process
- Resilience Education
- Teaching for Wisdom
- Going Beyond the Accidental: Happiness, Education, and the Wellington College Experience
- Positive Education at Geelong Grammar School
- An Introduction to Happiness and Organizations
- Virtuousness as a Source of Happiness in Organizations
- How Work Shapes Well-being
- Work Design and Happiness: An Active, Reciprocal Perspective
- Jobs and Job-holders: Two Sources of Happiness and Unhappiness
- Managing Psychological Capital in Organizations: Cognitive, Affective, Conative, and Social Mechanisms of Happiness
- Reflected Best Self Engagement at Work: Positive Identity, Alignment, and the Pursuit of Vitality and Value Creation
- Encouraging Employee Happiness
- Executive Well-being
- Introduction to Relationships and Happiness
- Close Relationships and Happiness
- Adult Attachment and Happiness: Individual Differences in the Experience and Consequences of Positive Emotions
- Perceived Social Support and Happiness: The Role of Personality and Relational Processes
- Friendship and Happiness
- Introduction to Development, Stability, And Change of Happiness
- An Evolutionary Psychological Perspective on Happiness
- Set-Point Theory May Now Need Replacing: Death of a Paradigm?
- Variety is the Spice of Happiness: The Hedonic Adaptation Prevention Model
- Promotion and Protection of Positive Mental Health: Towards Complete Mental Health in Human Development
- Post-Traumatic Growth: Eudaimonic Happiness in the Aftermath of Adversity
- Creating a Stable Architectural Framework of Existence: Proposing a Model of Lifelong Meaning
- Introduction to Happiness Interventions
- Increasing Happiness in the General Population: Empirically Supported Self-help?
- Positive Psychology in Practice: Positive Psychotherapy
- Happiness in Valued Living: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy as a Model for Change
- Coaching and Well-being: A Brief Review of Existing Evidence, Relevant Theory, and Implications for Practitioners
- Mindfulness and Cultivating Well-being in Older Adults
- Well-being Therapy: Theoretical Background, Clinical Implications, and Future DIrections
- The Collaborative Recovery Model: Developing Positive Institutions to Facilitate Recovery in Enduring Mental Illness
- Conclusion: The Future of Happiness
- Contributor Index
- Author Index
- Subject Index