Social fears and happiness: Dualism in the formation of the delayed happiness models

The sociological approach to the study of happiness makes it possible to include sociocultural factors in the subject field of felicitary research. Considering happiness as a multi-level and dynamic phenomenon allows us to raise the question of its nonlinearity and temporality. The article puts forward the hypothesis about the influence of social fears and the level of subjective self-esteem of happiness on the formation of models of delayed happiness. The article is based on the results of the sociological survey of the residents of Russian cities aged 18–60 (n = 1170). The typology of the respondents was constructed the basis of their emotional state, and five types were identified on the basis of their dominant emotions. The repertoire of social fears and the frequency of their manifestation are described, the relationship with emotional type and assessment of the level of happiness is shown. The generational approach made it possible to record the points of difference in the manifestation of emotions, fears and postponement of happiness among representatives of three generational groups. A higher severity of signs of delayed happiness was recorded in the younger generation. The influence of social fears on the formation of delayed happiness was proved. As the feeling of fear represses felicitary emotions, their dualism reveals dynamism through the emergence of patterns of postponing happiness.