Conditions of Happiness

This book is about the degree to which people take pleasure in life: in short 'happiness'. It tries to identify conditions that favor a positive appreciation of life. Thus it hopes to shed more light on a longstanding and intriguing ques­ tion and, possibly, to guide attempts to improve the human lot. During the preceding decades a growing number of investigations have dealt with this issue. As a result there is now a sizable body of data. Yet it is quite difficult to make sense of it. There is a muddle of theories, concepts and indicators, and many of the findings seem to be contradictory. This book attempts to bring some order into the field. The study draws on an inventory of empirical investigations which involved valid indicators of happiness; 245 studies are involved, which together yield some 4000 observations: for the main part correlational ones. These results are presented in full detail in the simultaneously published 'Databook of Happiness' (Veenhoven 1984). The present volume distils conclusions from that wealth of data. It tries to assess the reality value of the findings and the degree to which correlations reflect the conditions of happiness rather than the consequences of it. It then attempts to place the scattered findings in context. As such, this work is not a typical study of literature on happiness.

`...as a reference work his book closes a great gap, especially concerning cross-national quality of life research. ... the value of his work for the Social Indicator's Movement is less in the supply of new realizations for the researcher involved in this thematic, but rather in the profound ans systematic working-up for scientists who want to get an overview of quality of life research. This makes people look forward with great interest to Veenhoven's forthcoming publication (1988) which will provide a survey and review of research in the years 1975-1985.' European Sociological Review, 2:3 (1986)