The Meanings and Definitions of Happiness Among Citizens Sajad Moradi (A Qualitative Study in Ilam Province)

Happiness as a social condition consists of three aspects including personal (positive affect and life satisfaction), social (strong and supportive relations and social cohesion) and structural (necessary settings and preconditions for flourishing and actualization of human capabilities) It’s an important issue in social and welfare policies
Regarding to the fact that happiness is not in an appropriate state in Iran and Illam province, its meanings among people should be understood and used in planning and interventional actions. Hence, the current research has been done to study the meanings and definitions of happiness from the citizens’ viewpoint of Ilam.
The conceptual debates have been formulated in philosophical, psychological and sociological approaches to depict the sophisticated and multi-dimensional nature of happiness. The current research is a qualitative one in the interpretative and constructionist paradigm. The data have been gathered by semi-structured interviews. The participants are 36 persons who have been chosen by purposive sampling. The interviews have been
First, happiness as liberty which has two sub-themes: negative liberty (being free from any unpleasant factor that is preventive of peace and good life) and positive liberty (having necessary facilities for pursuit goals and priorities of life). The Second theme is happiness as adjustment which means harmony and fitness between subjective and objective conditions of life. Third, happiness as life satisfaction or positive evaluation of life, and the forth one is happiness as power that being able to accept and dealing with troubles and unpleasant affaires and their negative consequences. Based on findings, policy recommendations have been formulated in four strategies including: reconstruction of community by rejuvenate and strengthen social capital, improve objective conditions of life by employment and livability of environment, paying more attention to justice and distributive equality in macro-level policymaking so that facilities and opportunities for actualization of personal capabilities be attainable fairly, and finally, rethinking in the content of those institutions’ programs that are responsible for education and socialization to reinforcement of citizenship ethics, collective identities and ultimate ends.