Happiness and the civil society

This chapter focuses on the relationship between happiness, social policy, and civil society. It does so by especially looking into how people's happiness is influenced by their social relations. The existing knowledge shows that social relations are an important issue and core aspect related to the quality of life for persons. The chapter also investigates how doing good things, including voluntary work, can have an impact on the level of happiness for people, both receivers and givers. The Chapters points to that voluntary work, including informal care, can be part of the good life, and thus not only something to do which has a positive impact for others but also something that can be important for an individual's own life. Trust also seems to have a positive impact on the quality of life. However, the amount of time spent on voluntary work can have an impact as too many hours of especially informal care can reduce happiness, implying that the role of the welfare state with regard to care will continue to be important.