Welcome to the Happiness and Culture—Special Topic community! We’re so happy you’re here and we want you take full advantage of the opportunities our new platform provides. Please read over the code of conduct so we can continue to ensure a safe and supportive space for all. Thank you for your dedication to the Popular Culture Association!

Call for Papers

We are seeking paper proposals for the 2026 PCA Conference in Atlanta, GA, on April 8-11, 2026. The papers may focus on any aspect of the relationship between the pursuit of happiness (tentatively understood as subjective well-being) and broadly defined popular culture.

While the desire for happiness is considered to be universally human, beliefs and attitudes about happiness seem to vary with changing religious views, economic conditions, historical periods, geographic locations, and other factors. Should you get rich? Start a family? Live a virtuous life? Become a star? Seek enlightenment? Help others? The answer depends on when, where, and whom you ask.

Our topic explores the role that popular culture and its products and institutions (such as popular arts and rituals, social and other media, advertising, education, and dominant scientific paradigms) play in constructing and/or popularizing different ideas about happiness and how best to pursue it. 

Possible topics include (but are not limited to):

- Portrayal of happiness in popular movies, novels, or tv shows. For example, the relationship between a character’s gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or socio-economic status and what makes them happy.

- Happiness-causing properties of popular genres and products, such as romantic comedies, sitcoms, video games, and meditation apps.

- The use of happiness in advertising

- The science of happiness. Do scientific findings correlate with cultural beliefs about (and popular portrayals of) happiness?

- Compare/contrast portrayals of happiness in different historical periods, different countries, and different genres.

- The relationship between the prevailing ideas about happiness and the economy.

For additional information and paper ideas, please visit www.happinessandculture.com.

We welcome papers from members of ethnic minorities, the LGBTQ community, and immigrant communities, as well as from the members of non-mainstream, alternative cultures.

We are considering proposals for individual papers and/or complete panels.  Sessions are scheduled in 1.5-hour slots, typically with four papers or speakers per standard session.  Individual presentations should not exceed 15 minutes.  Please submit a 100–150-word abstract for individual papers and/or a 250–300-word abstract for panels. Please include the title of the paper and/or panel. Working professionals, scholars, educators, and students are all encouraged to submit.

Please address any questions or concerns to the area chair:

Vida Penezic

Independent Scholar

E-mail:  vida_p@hotmail.com

www.vidapenezic.com

www.happinessandculture.com

Important Dates to Remember:

• Database opens for Submissions - Sept. 1, 2025
• Early Bird Registration Begins - Sept. 1, 2025
• Deadline for Paper Proposals - Nov. 30, 2025
• Travel Grant Applications Due - Dec. 15, 2025
• Early Bird Registration Ends for Presenters - Dec. 31, 2025
• Regular Registration Begins for Presenters - Jan. 1, 2026 
• Travel Grant Decisions / Notifications - Jan. 31, 2026
• Regular Registration Ends for Presenters - Jan. 31, 2026
• Late Registration Starts for Presenters - Feb. 1, 2026
• Preliminary Program draft available - Feb. 6, 2026

Those Presenters Not Registered by Feb. 15 Will be Dropped from the Program

CONFERENCE IN ATLANTA, GA - April 8-11, 2026