Flourishing Across Cultures: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Well-Being, Social Belonging, and Resilience

Understanding what enables individuals and communities to flourish — across cultures, social groups, and historical contexts — is one of the most pressing questions in contemporary social psychological science. Yet the majority of foundational research on well-being and human strengths has been conducted within Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) societies, raising critical questions about the universality and cultural specificity of these constructs across diverse social groups and cultural contexts. This Research Topic seeks to bridge flourishing research and cross-cultural perspectives by assembling empirical, theoretical, and methodological contributions that examine how well-being manifests, functions, and is understood across diverse cultural contexts. The deeply social nature of flourishing means that experiences of well-being and resilience are fundamentally shaped by social identity, cultural group membership, intergroup contact, and collective belonging, as well as by power and status dynamics, stereotyping, prejudice, and experiences of inclusion and exclusion.Well-being constructs — such as subjective well-being, character strengths, gratitude, self-compassion, psychological resilience, post-traumatic growth, flow, and meaning in life — are increasingly being studied in non-Western populations. Yet, significant gaps remain in our understanding of how cultural values (e.g., individualism vs. collectivism, dialectical thinking, relational harmony), power dynamics, intragroup and intergroup processes, socioeconomic conditions, historical contexts, and indigenous philosophies shape the experience, conceptualization, and promotion of flourishing. Critically, the ways in which individuals experience belonging or exclusion within their communities, negotiate multicultural or bicultural social identities, and build collective resilience differ significantly across social groups and cultural settings. This Research Topic addresses these gaps by encouraging submissions that explore both cultural and group-level variations in the antecedents, expressions, and outcomes of flourishing.We welcome contributions in the following areas:* Social identity, cultural group membership, and intergroup contact as drivers of well-being, belonging, and resilience across cultural contexts* The effects of stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination, stigma, marginalization, and exclusion on flourishing and resilience* Power, status, and cultural differences in the experience and expression of well-being across populations* Immigrant, bicultural, and multicultural identity perspectives on well-being, adjustment, and intergroup belonging* Collective resilience, community support, and group-based coping across cultural contexts* Cultural adaptation and validation of flourishing instruments in underrepresented populations* Culturally rooted conceptions of well-being and group belonging (e.g., Ubuntu, Ikigai, Confucian and Buddhist traditions)* Theoretical integrations between intergroup and cultural psychology, well-being frameworks, and indigenous psychology Topic editors: Wang Zheng, Dorota Weziak-Bialowolska Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/81674/flourishing-across-cultures-cross-cultural-perspectives-on-well-being-social-belonging-and-resilience