Graduate Student, School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research
Thesis Title: ‘Unhappy News’: An Examination of the Problematisation of Happiness in Major UK Newspapers
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Frank Furedi
Ellie Lee |
About
My PhD research concerns the increasing tendency to problematise ‘happiness’—and more recently, ‘wellbeing’—in major UK newspapers over the past two decades. Using a number of historical archives and databases as its starting point, the thesis traces historical uses of the term ‘happiness’ from the perfunctory evocations of the past to the present-day project of redefining the idiom as the legitimate domain of expertise and campaigns to bring it to the forefront of public debate. With methodological tools garnered from ethnographic content analyses, I examine the rhetorical techniques employed by advocates to gain widespread support for their cause and identify the implicit cultural currents that underlie the contemporary drive to problematise emotion and individualise social problems.
