Abstract
Happiness is a symbolic polysemic construction, with multiple- philosophical roots, which brings sense to the good and desirable for human life. In social sciences and psychology it is approached from multiple concepts, and accordingly their results orient public policy. One emic approach is proposed, through a cross-cultural study of its social representation on samples of students and professionals from health and educational areas of Chile and Italy, which are socializing agents on well-being and quality of life. The research included two qualitative studies, the first using an open-ended questionnaire to 164 participants and the second conducting eight focus groups with 65 subjects. Inductive content analysis was used to generate categories and socio-semantic dimensions. A common nucleus to both countries was found, for the notion, components and three types of happiness. It was concluded that the meanings of happiness influence the experiences, interpretations, trials of life and the vital project orientation of individuals. These results were problematized in light of global studies of happiness and the treatment of the construct in the social scenario.
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