Happiness is becoming more and more important because we give great importance to personal growth and well-being in our individualistic culture. In this thesis, I focused on the perception of happiness from the perspective of modern Western society, since the perception of happiness is a culturally and historically specific social construct. Individuals seek it in a variety of ways, such as religion or psychotherapy. In search of happiness, however, some turn to self-help books which have become a mass phenomenon. These are mostly more affordable, cost-effective, entertaining, and a good solution for private problem-solving. In them, they find both spiritual and New Age advice, as well as advice from the field of positive psychology. In this work, I researched various self-help books that address the topic of happiness. I was interested in how they present happiness to readers because their portrayal of happiness is also a reflection of society’s perception. I also researched which tips are most common and what are the biggest differences and similarities between different self-help books.
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