Socio-cultural conditions of happiness formation in public consciousness

The article considers happiness as a social category corresponding to modern social conditions of life (happiness as a goal or a process; as a fleeting present, multifaceted past or multivariate future; as divine grace/fortune/luck or personal merit). The paper analyzes the forms of the social dimension of happiness. The aim of the research is to show the socio-cultural context of the nature of happiness in public consciousness. For this purpose, we use the methods of online survey (n = 1,600) and focus group interview (n = 45) of representatives of different socio-economic groups, of different age and gender, living in different regions of the Russian Federation. This allowed identifying the universal criteria of happiness, present in the definitions of ancient philosophers and modern scientists, and also designated by Russians as the main indicators and conditions of happiness in life (economic opportunities, personal relationships, health, self-actualization, opportunities for communication and obtaining new emotional states). The work emphasizes modern features affecting the understanding and possibilities of development and expansion of the category of happiness both in the life of an individual and the whole society (mass society and mass culture; digitalization and virtualization of society; globalization). We reveal the impact of external conditions that determine the context of o development of the meanings of happiness in society, as well as individual forms and mechanisms of happiness development of an individual and communities of people. We conclude about the interdependence and interrelation of external socio-cultural and historical context and the formation of individual life style, life trajectories and worldview conditions of understanding happiness and living in happiness now or specific goals of a happy life later. The prospects for the development of happiness research are various focuses of attention of sociology, philosophy, and cultural studies on the nature of happiness in the modern changing world and the role of the new human everyday life in this world, where happiness has new features and conditions of emergence and development, diverse modeling and reproduction.