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The Importance of Friendship in the Construction of Positive Nations

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Positive Nations and Communities

Part of the book series: Cross-Cultural Advancements in Positive Psychology ((CAPP,volume 6))

Abstract

This chapter is written by two Argentineans, Graciela Tonon and Lía Rodriguez de la Vega, and brings interesting data from their own studies regarding friendship as relational glue for a positive nation. Departing from the results gathered, where friendship emerged as the variable ranked with the highest value for the people interviewed, they define the concept and its typologies and connect it with the idea of a positive nation, with Martin Seligman’s flourishing model, and, finally, with Aristotle’s idea of friendship as community. Alongside the chapter, we can understand, through the testimonies and words of the interviewed, the dynamic perspectives regarding friendship as an instrument for self-construction, where mechanisms of proximity and similarity intervene and evoke a founding for participation and collective construction.

Friendship is a virtue and the most necessary for life

(Aristóteles 2008,1155, a, 1–3)

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Graciela Tonon developed the first application of the index in Argentina. She is a primary researcher of the International Well-Being Group organized by Dr. Robert Cummins in the Australian Centre on Quality of Life, Deakin University Australia. Lia Rodriguez de la Vega is project researcher.

  2. 2.

    The Greater Buenos Aires area is a geographical area that surrounds the Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires. It is organized in 24 departments and, in accordance with the census of 2010, possesses a population of 9,916,715 inhabitants.

  3. 3.

    Research projects directed by Dr. Graciela Tonon, Quality of Life Research Program, Faculty of Social Sciences, Universidad Nacional de Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, Quality of life of young people of the south zone of Buenos Aires Conurbano, and Quality of life of young people of the south zone of Buenos Aires Conurbano: public participation and access to health. Programa Nacional de Incentivos para Docentes Investigadores, Ministerio de Educación, Argentina.

  4. 4.

    Course of qualitative methodology taught by Dra. Graciela Tonon in the Psychology Program. Universidad de Palermo, Argentina. April 2012.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Social Sciences, Universidad de Palermo, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Graciela Tonon

  2. UNI-COM, Faculty of Social Sciences, Universidad Nacional de Lomas de Zamora, Lomas de Zamora, Argentina

    Graciela Tonon & Lía Rodriguez de la Vega

Authors
  1. Graciela Tonon
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  2. Lía Rodriguez de la Vega
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Graciela Tonon .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. CAPP–Ctr. for Pub. Pol. and Adm., Technical University of Lisbon School of Soc. and Pol. Scs, ISCSP, Lisboa, Portugal

    Helena Águeda Marujo

  2. CAPP–Ctr. for Pub. Pol. and Adm., Technical University of Lisbon School of Soc. and Pol. Scs, ISCSP, Lisboa, Portugal

    Luis Miguel Neto

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Tonon, G., de la Vega, L.R. (2014). The Importance of Friendship in the Construction of Positive Nations. In: Águeda Marujo, H., Neto, L. (eds) Positive Nations and Communities. Cross-Cultural Advancements in Positive Psychology, vol 6. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6869-7_4

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