TAG | “Be Happy” catching on around the world |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Monday, 01 September 2008 | |
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Page 3 of 3 The article by the Inglehart team “Development, Freedom, and Rising Happiness: A Global Perspective (1981–2007)” appears in the July 2008 issue of the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science. It is authored by Ronald Inglehart (Department of Political Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A.), Roberto Foa (Department of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.), Christopher Peterson (Department of Psychology, University of Michigan), and Christian Wetzel (School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Jacobs University, Bremen, Germany). The New Scientist article from August 27, 2008 concludes by paraphrasing what the authors state in their research. Concerning people in Eastern Europe, New Scientist states, “What democratic progress and burgeoning economies have in common is the personal freedom they bestow, says the WVS team. This explains why many eastern Europeans are much happier even though their economic situation worsened in the transition from communism, says co-author Roberto Foa at Harvard University. Belarus is a notable exception, he says, as it is the eastern European country that had the least political reform.” With respect to China, New Scientist states, “China too seems to be getting unhappier, despite its economic growth spurt, though Foa says this might be because the team only has data for China since the 1990s, which may not reflect the longer term.” And, for India, New Scientist states, “What makes for overall well-being is more complicated than it seems at first glance, however. India's "subjective well-being score", which collates happiness and life satisfaction, has fallen since the 1980s. It turns out that even though more people report being very happy, far fewer are satisfied with their life. Is this the first sign of "affluenza" - the consumer-driven ennui that some say is plaguing the west?” Finally, with respect to Latin America, New Scientist states, "Latin American countries often come top in happiness league tables. Though they are not the richest, researchers believe this is partly due to their strong sense of family values and national pride. In the WVS survey, Mexico had the biggest leap in numbers of "very happy" people. Foa says this is due to profound sociopolitical transformation: "There has been widespread democratisation, so that people have greater opportunities to work, travel, and express themselves," he says, plus better protection of women's rights.” The University of Michigan article concludes by saying, “’The people of rich countries tend to be happier than those of poor countries, but even controlling for economic factors, certain types of societies are much happier than others. The results clearly show that the happiest societies are those that allow people the freedom to choose how to live their lives," Inglehart said.” Further, “As an example, Inglehart points to the tolerant social norms and democratic political systems in Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Canada all of which rank among the 10 happiest countries in the world.” The UM article continues, “‘The events of the past 25 years have brought a growing sense of freedom that seems to be even more important than economic development in contributing to rising happiness,’ Inglehart said. ‘Moreover, the most effective way to maximize happiness seems to change with rising levels of economic development. In subsistence-level societies, happiness is closely linked with in-group solidarity, religiosity and national pride. At higher levels of economic security, free choice has the largest impact on happiness.’” And, “He also notes that the largest recent increases on the subjective well-being index, measuring both happiness and life-satisfaction, occurred in the Ukraine, followed by Moldova, Slovenia, Nigeria, Turkey and Russia. ‘While most ex-communist countries show low levels of happiness, many of them show large recent increases in subjective well-being,’ Inglehart said. ‘The collapse of communism was generally followed by a sharp decline in well-being, which tended to rise again with economic recovery.’” Finally, “Comparing World Values Survey data from 1981 to 2007 with earlier data from 1946 from the World Database of Happiness, Inglehart and colleagues found that 19 of 24 countries show rising happiness and several countries—India, Ireland, Mexico, Puerto Rico and South Korea—show steeply rising trends. Only four countries show downward trends—Austria, Belgium, the United Kingdom and West Germany.”
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