Arianna Huffington draws upon a range of cultural practices in Thrive, with a particular focus on meditation and mindfulness, which have roots in Buddhism and yoga. These practices were increasingly being adopted in Western culture during the time Huffington conceived of Thrive. Jeff Wilson’s Mindful America: The Mutual Transformation of Buddhist Meditation and American Culture (2014), was published in the same year as Thrive.

Although Thrive is not explicitly rooted in a specific religion, the book explores themes of spirituality, seeking a deeper sense of meaning and purpose in life. This reflects a broader cultural interest in exploring spiritual aspects outside traditional religious frameworks.

The book’s foremost cultural context, however, is situated within American work culture, with its emphasis on success, achievement, and ambition. The culture also celebrated excess in terms of both effort and consumption, and the rise of celebrities as social media expanded in importance intensified the focus on more. There was, however, criticism being voiced in scholarship about the West’s obsession with excesses at the time of publication: “excess is at once regaled and disdained” (Sternheimer, Karen. Celebrity Culture and the American Dream: Stardom and Social Mobility. 2nd ed., Routledge, 2014, p.