6533b831fe1ef96bd1299a39
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Narrating well-being in the context of precarious prosperity: An account of agency framed by culturally embedded happiness and gender beliefs
Ionela VlaseRebekka Siebersubject
media_common.quotation_subjectFlourishing05 social sciences050109 social psychologyContext (language use)Gender studiesGender StudiesArts and Humanities (miscellaneous)050903 gender studiesAgency (sociology)Well-beingThrivingHappiness0501 psychology and cognitive sciencesNarrativeSociologyProsperity0509 other social sciencesmedia_commondescription
This article sets out to critically examine the accounts of well-being produced by a middle-aged Swiss woman living in precarious prosperity. By taking on a feminist reading of the narrative on well-being, the article challenges the taken for granted assumption of the powerful agent in thriving societies. Insights from literature on happiness in nations and gender beliefs enabled addressing the woman’s capability to exert agency, while acknowledging the influence of the context in which narratives are embedded. In addition, the presence of a non-national interviewer appears to be an incentive for the interviewee’s compliance with cultural meta-narratives. The approach of well-being as ‘agential flourishing’ proved helpful in assessing the woman’s capability on a gendered career path in atypical employment to deal with precariousness.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-08-22 | European Journal of Women's Studies |