This original collection draws on the latest empirical research to explore the practical challenges facing happiness researchers today. By uniquely combining the critical approach of sociology with techniques from other disciplines, the contributors illuminate new qualitative and biographical approaches of the study of happiness and well-being.

In the past, happiness studies has been dominated by the work of philosophers, economists and psychologists, but more recently there has been a growing interest from social scientist into the natures of happiness and wellbeing. This original collection draws on the latest empirical research to explore the practical challenges facing happiness researchers today, such as how to conduct happiness research in different cultural contexts, how to theorise wellbeing or how to operationalise definitions of happiness in qualitative and biographical research. By uniquely combining the critical approach of sociology with techniques from other disciplines, the contributors illuminate new approaches to the study of happiness and well-being.