Recipes for happiness: a proposal for the analysis of the moral orientation of actions and emotions

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.28939/iam.debats-135-1.1

Keywords:

happiness, emotions, social norms, social behaviour, feeling rules, morality.

Abstract

This article elaborates a proposal for the analysis of the discourses on the paths to achieve happiness. Recipes for happiness are studied as a moral orientation of social action: imperative messages disseminated through the Internet that seek to guide its recipients towards the attainment of happiness. In a field dominated by psychological research on subjective experiences, happiness is approached as an institutionalized social discourse from a sociological perspective: it is analysed as a social production and as a socially framed emotion. Research is based on a systematic observation of the web and on quantitative and qualitative procedures of textual analysis. We present the channels of digital dissemination that promote recipes, their scientific legitimation, and the focus on a generic individual as the recipient of the messages and responsible for the action. A typology is proposed based on the meaning, nature and purpose of the actions that lead to happiness. The results show how recipes involve normative and moral orientations of actions and emotions: they indicate what to do and how to think and feel to be happy. Happiness as a moral obligation involves most concerns shaping the agenda of contemporary societies, with a marked emphasis on individualism and on a utilitarian understanding of social relations and the social environment.

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Author Biographies

Alberto Martín Pérez, Universitat de Barcelona

Professor agregat del Departament de Sociologia de la Universitat de Barcelona. És doctor en Sociologia per l’École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales de París i la Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Les seues principals línies d'investigació es desenvolupen en els àmbits de la sociologia política i de la ciutadania i la sociologia de les emocions

José Antonio Rodríguez Díaz, Universitat de Barcelona

Catedràtic de Sociologia de la Universitat de Barcelona. Doctor en Economia i PhD en Sociologia per la Yale University. La seua investigació i publicacions actuals se centren en el paper de les xarxes socials en les organitzacions i en la societat, estudis de futur i les dimensions socials de la felicitat.

José Luis Condom Bosch, Universitat de Barcelona

Professor titular del Departament de Sociologia de la Universitat de Barcelona. És doctor en Sociologia per la Universitat de Barcelona. Ha participat en nombroses investigacions com a metodòleg i és consultor en disseny i anàlisi d'enquestes. La seua investigació actual se centra en el desenvolupament de nous mètodes digitals per a l'anàlisi de camps organitzatius.

Aitor Domínguez Aguayo, Universitat de Barcelona

Professor associat del Departament de Sociologia de la Universitat de Barcelona. És graduat en Sociologia per la Universitat de Barcelona i Màster en Investigació i Intervenció Psicosocial per la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Actualment desenvolupa la tesi doctoral sobre cos, masculinitat i felicitat.

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Published

2021-05-29

How to Cite

Martín Pérez, A., Rodríguez Díaz, J. A., Condom Bosch, J. L. and Domínguez Aguayo, A. (2021) “Recipes for happiness: a proposal for the analysis of the moral orientation of actions and emotions”, Debats. Journal on culture, power and society, 135(1). doi: 10.28939/iam.debats-135-1.1.

Issue

Vol. 135 No. 1 (2021)

Section

SPECIAL ISSUE

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