 Happiness in the United Arab Emirates: conceptualisations of happiness among Emirati and other Arab studentsLouise Lambert D'raven and Nausheen Pasha-Zaidi International Journal of Happiness and Development, 2015, vol. 2, issue 1, 1-21 Abstract: How happiness is defined depends on who is asked. The prevailing views of happiness currently found in the literature tend to be Western and individualistic and shape what is viewed as normative. In this descriptive exploratory study, based in the United Arab Emirates, Emirati and other Arab expatriate students were asked to define happiness and describe how it is viewed by their cultures. Both groups defined happiness as a collective state generated through relationships with family and social groups, rather than through the self. It was also defined as an emotion and approach to life and involved religion and goal setting. Emiratis noted the presence of good governance as a contributor to happiness while other Arabs noted its absence. The findings enrich the current understanding of happiness and provide a preliminary view of what other cultures may consider to be happiness. Keywords: culture; happiness conceptualisations; positive psychology; Emirati; Arab students; lay conceptions; United Arab Emirates; expatriate students; family; social groups; emotion; religion; goal setting; good governance. (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:ijhdev:v:2:y:2015:i:1:p:1-21 Access Statistics for this article More articles in International Journal of Happiness and Development from Inderscience Enterprises Ltd |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.