The concept of happiness has attracted vast interest in various fields, ranging from philosophy & psychology to political science & economics, but also self-help approaches.
Governments worldwide have turned to insights from these fields to inform their policies, e.g. by offering positive encouragement for their populations to pursue entrepreneurial activities, to grow the creative industry or to model health policy. In Greece, happiness has been a frequent subject of governmental proclamations in the attempt to brand the country anew after years of crisis. This panel analyses how the Greek government has mobilized happiness to address its population and attract desirable migrants and brain-gainers; while also discussing how these groups themselves render happiness, eudemonia, wellbeing, and prosperity in relation to Greece meaningful.
Meet our speakers and chair:
Athanasia Chalari is an Associate Lecturer at the Open University whereas previously she has worked at Manchester University, LSE and the University of Northampton as Head of Sociology . Her area of expertise associates with the Sociology of the Individual, Identities, Social Crisis and Change and Modern Greek Society. She has conducted research as Visiting Research Fellow at the HO-LSE, University of Tokyo, University of Toronto and York University in Canada. She is the author of several books, book chapters and journal articles, and an expert evaluator for the European Commission - Marie Curie/Horizon research projects.
Nikos Erinakis is an Assistant Professor of Social & Political Philosophy and Philosophy of Culture at the University of Crete. He holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy [University of London & recognised research student at the University of Oxford], having studied Economics [AUEB], Philosophy & Literature [Warwick], and Philosophy of the Social Sciences [LSE]. He is also the Director of Research at the Athens-based Institute for Alternative Policies ENA. His research builds on contemporary conceptions of creativity, authenticity, autonomy and freedom [e.g. Authenticity and Autonomy: From Creativity to Freedom, Keimena, 2020 (Academy of Athens Award)]. He currently teaches and publishes extensively on Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence and Philosophy of Digitality. He is also a critically acclaimed and widely translated published poet.
Philipp Katsinas is a postdoctoral researcher at the REDEFINE project at the Open University. His current research builds on urban and economic geography to study the social and spatial impacts of infrastructural projects on urban economies. Previously, Philipp held research and teaching positions at the London School of Economics, Queen Mary University of London, Birkbeck University of London, and King’s College London. He is part of the City Collective for the journal City.
Dimitris Soudias is a Walter Benjamin Fellow at the Department of Political Science (University of Kassel). He is the Principal Investigator of the research project Welfare Visions 2.0: Future-Making Practices in the Social Economies of Athens and Berlin (WELFAIR), funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Dimitris' research builds on political sociology and cultural economy approaches to study such issues as solutionism, happiness, (social) innovation and entrepreneurship in neoliberalism. His recent book, Paradoxes of Emancipation: Radical Imagination and Space in Neoliberal Greece, has been published with Syracuse University Press.
More about this event
The Hellenic Observatory (@HO_LSE) is internationally recognised as one of the premier research centres on contemporary Greece and Cyprus. It engages in a range of activities, including developing and supporting academic and policy-related research; organisation of conferences, seminars and workshops; academic exchange through visiting fellowships and internships; as well as teaching at the graduate level through LSE's European Institute.
The twitter Hashtag for this event is: #LSEGreece
From time to time there are changes to event details so we strongly recommend checking back on this listing on the day of the event if you plan to attend. Whilst we are hosting this listing, LSE Events does not take responsibility for the running and administration of this event. While we take responsible measures to ensure accurate information is given here this event is ultimately the responsibility of the organisation presenting the event.