Vocabularies of happiness
Journal Title: Journal of Comparative Research in Anthropology and Sociology - Year 2013, Vol 4, Issue 2
Abstract
This paper seeks to explore through interviews the vocabularies of happiness that interviewees invoke in face-to-face interactions to account for their happiness or lack thereof and, especially, for the (un)happiness of others. In other words, how do respondents present their own or others’ happiness – be they close or distant acquaintances, or people in general, in an interview conversation? Also, what understanding of others do these accounts make visible? This work embraces a discursive psychological (DP) perspective, focusing on how different versions of happiness are being put together by respondents presenting themselves as competent and credible individuals, while at the same time positioning themselves in a moral order of happiness.
Authors and Affiliations
Roxana Bratu
Keywords
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