Research on happiness, quality of life, and well-being has become increasingly popular in the academic field and among the general public over the past few years, as thousands of self-help books, podcasts, and personal coaching entered the global market. There has even been established a new academic discipline - happiness studies. This thesis approach happiness from the perspective of critical cultural studies with the aim to trace the happiness network and grasp the “art of governance” employed to a life worth living. 

With the application of the Actor-Network Theory as a method, this case study of the Happiness Museum in Copenhagen sheds the light on the actors of the happiness network and its relationships with(in) culture, politics and the market.