Overview
- Outlines a mode of well-being different from globally dominant European and American models
- Argues that an interdependent approach is a more sustainable, forward-looking pathway to well-being
- Draws together research on interdependence from cultural psychology, comparative sociology, philosophy, and education
- This book is open access, which means that you have free and unlimited access.
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Table of contents (7 chapters)
Keywords
- Interdependent Well-Being
- happiness studies
- well-being
- sociology of happiness
- international education
- collectivist cultures
- East Asia
- happiness and sustainability
- Individual differences in happiness and well-being
- interdependent approach to happiness
- the Japanese self
- cultural difference model
- culturally sensitive models of happiness
- Culture and Happiness
- emotion
- indices of happiness and well-being
- Happiness and Measurement
- Open Access
About this book
This open access book examines an interdependent approach to happiness and well-being, one that contrasts starkly with dominant approaches that have originated from Western culture(s). It highlights the diversity of potential pathways towards happiness and well-being globally, and answers calls - voiced in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals - for more socially and environmentally sustainable models.
Leading global organizations including the OECD, UNICEF, and UNESCO are now proposing human happiness and well-being as a more sustainable alternative to a myopic focus on GDP growth. Yet, the definition of well-being offered by these organizations derives largely from the philosophies, social sciences, and institutional patterns of Europe and the United States. Across seven chapters this book carefully probes the inadequacy of these approaches to well-being globally and reveals the distorting effect this has on how we imagine our world, organize institutions, and plan ourcollective future(s). It shares a wealth of evidence and examples from across East Asia - a region where interdependence remains foregrounded - and concludes by provocatively arguing that interdependence may provide a more sustainable approach to happiness and well-being in the 21st century. A timely and accessible book, it offers fresh insights for scholars and policymakers working in the areas of psychology, health, sociology, education, international development, public policy, and philosophy.
This is an open access book.
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Authors and Affiliations
About the authors
Yukiko Uchida is Professor at Kyoto University, Institute for the Future of Human Society, Japan. From 2019-2020, she was a Fellow at CASBS, Stanford University USA. After receiving her PhD in Social Psychology from Kyoto University in 2003, she worked as a visiting researcher at the University of Michigan and Stanford University. As a Cultural Psychologist, she studies the psychological mechanisms behind the experience of emotions like well-being.
Jeremy Rappleye is Associate Professor at Kyoto University, Graduate School of Education, Japan. He received his PhD in Education from the University of Oxford, and since 2012 has worked at Kyoto University in the division of Philosophical Pedagogy. His recent research centers on understanding how diverse institutional patterns (education) derive from different cultural worldviews, with particular focus on conceptualizations of self, (well-)being, and reality.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: An Interdependent Approach to Happiness and Well-Being
Authors: Yukiko Uchida, Jeremy Rappleye
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26260-9
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and Psychology, Behavioral Science and Psychology (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2024
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-26259-3Published: 01 December 2023
eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-26260-9Published: 30 November 2023
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XV, 172
Number of Illustrations: 38 b/w illustrations
Topics: Employee Health and Wellbeing, Cross Cultural Psychology, Positive Psychology, Sustainable Development, Public Policy, Clinical Psychology