The Concept of Happiness

 

There are a number of structural indicators that are used to identify if individuals are happy. These essentially include social indicators and structural processes which are used as a means of understanding the manner through which individuals are able to attain happiness. They are highly subjective to such an extent that they lead to a situation where some theories have developed that promotes the idea that happiness is superficial. Marx and Durkheim, for example, developed theories that suggest that happiness is superficial and that it is based on the consumerist culture that creates a false illusion or the promise of happiness (Cieslik, 2015). A consequence is that happiness is seen as a concept that seeks to hide the reality of the lives of individuals, such as the concept of suffering and how it comes about.

From a symbolic interactionist perspective, happiness is essentially a means through which to ensure that the power relations in society are enforced. This is especially the case considering that a considerable number of definitions of happiness have come to be associated with consumerism, and this has become an essential part of accepted social behavior. The achievement of happiness is one of the biggest goals of members of society because it has come to be associated with wellbeing. From a symbolic interactionist perspective, happiness is closely tied to wellbeing and it is the reason behind the establishment of relations between individuals across society (Cieslik, 2015). The pursuit of happiness is what has essentially become the means through which the current social order has been established.

For a considerable number of interviewees, their ideal form of happiness was one where they were allowed to pursue their own happiness. However, they were more likely than not to encounter pressure from their parents, who often sought to ensure that their children adopted their own notions of the ideal forms of happiness (Cieslik, 2015). A consequence was that the interviewees’ notions of happiness were formed from a diversity of influences, not only from their home environments, but also from other factors that were considered important in their lives. These were especially the case when it came to the way that they identified themselves and their own notions of what happiness actually meant for them.

Cieslik argues that individuals both feel and do happiness, and this is a concept that promotes the idea that human beings aim at attaining happiness. Feeling happiness involves getting pleasure out of an action that an individual has undertaken or has had undertaken for them. Doing happiness, on the other hand, involves actively seeking out activities that are aimed at bringing about the feeling of happiness. Human beings often go about their lives undertaking activities that they believe will bring them the most happiness such as having friends, jobs, and living in environments that will ensure that they are made happy. A consequence of this situation is that individuals form relationships that are narrowly focused on how other people can be able to satisfy the sense of wellbeing that is often associated with happiness.