The Politics of Happiness

southsiderosie

An article in the Guardian detailed David Cameron's plans to move ahead with the creation of a 'happiness index' for Britain. It's an idea that has been tossed around for a while amongst academics, and now it seems to be catching on with policymakers as well:

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, announced last year he intended to include happiness and wellbeing in France's measurement of economic progress. Sarkozy was responding to recommendations made by two Nobel economists, Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen, who called on world leaders to move away from a purely economic concept of gross domestic product, which measures economic production, to wellbeing and sustainability. That report suggested a shift from production to greater attention to household wealth and an assessment of whether countries were growing sustainably or damaging the environment...<snip>.

Over the last two months Downing Street has called on experts, including Sen, to advise it on the policy and keep one eye on Sarkozy's progress. "We've certainly drawn on Sarkozy, we have learnt from them and hope to go a bit further," a source said.

"There has been scepticism but David Cameron was very clear in opposition this would be what he would do and even in tough times it's just as relevant an agenda. The purpose of GDP is ultimately to help people lead more satisfactory lives and it is as important during a downturn as during a boom."

In 2006, just five months into his time as Conservative party leader, Cameron described the task of gauging people's wellbeing as one of the "central political issues of our time".

It may sound a bit wacky, but I think this is kind of cool. I definitely agree with the idea that there are important measures beyond the ones currently used to measure GDP that need to be taken into account when explaining the overall well-being of a country. Plus it is always good to have alternative ways of collecting and evaluating data. It will be interesting to see how the questions are framed, and whether or not the government/opposition will be able to capitalize politically on the findings.

That said, based on the comments, I'm not sure this proposal is going over so well with the general population.

What do other people think? Does happiness matter? Should it be measured? Can it be measured? Or are Cameron and Sarkozy off their rockers?

Manach

Please correct me if I'm wrong, this being the politics board, but does this Happiness index relate to the concept of Utilitarianism :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism ?

Dannyboy83

I would say it's a fairly important metric and I don't know why they don't try to measure it already.

metrovelvet

Both the French and the American constitutions include happiness in them. Both the American and the French have one of the highest rates of anti-depressant usage in the world, as well has the two highest divorce rates in the west. The idea of happiness, imo has led to utter misery because everyone is after it, and no one knows what it is.

Focalbhach

southsiderosie wrote: »

What do other people think? Does happiness matter? Should it be measured? Can it be measured? Or are Cameron and Sarkozy off their rockers?

The psychological literature has a fairly well-developed base of research on subjective well-being. It's conceptualised as a construct comprising both short-term positive and negative affect - i.e., feelings - and more cognitive judgements of life satisfaction, both generally ('I am happy with my life') and in specific relevant areas ('I am happy with my life at work' / 'I am happy with my friendships' / etc.). Any or all of those aspects have been referred to as 'happiness', but overall well-being seems to be the most comprehensive measure. The Gallup World Poll already gathers data cross-nationally on life satisfaction, though I'm not sure offhand what their measure is.

I'm glad to see it receiving attention. You'd imagine that any government's policies are by and large aimed, however tangentially, at maintaining well-being among the population (the converse would a bit depressing), so it makes sense to at least have a conversation about it.

sarkozy

If by this, the Tories mean a 'Subjective Wellbeing' index (some UK think-tanks like New Economics Foundation did interesting work on this - and Eurostat has collected subjective wellbeing data since the 1970s), then they'll notice that they then can't have policies which promote growth and inequality.

The findings on 'subjective wellbeing' (happiness, basically) reveal that past a certain point of material wellbeing and income, subjective wellbeing plateaus. In other words, being richer doesn't make anyone any happier.

Here's the kicker: at this point, what further lifts subjective wellbeing are community ties, health, feeling like you have more in common with others. In other words, if the Tories are serious about this, then they must increase progressive redistribution, substantially reduce economic and social inequality and pursue policies that don't pursue growth at all costs (because the environment will be destroyed and that's bad for everyone).

But this is the Tories. The opposite of all this is the cornerstone of their policies.

NewHillel

Manach wrote: »

Please correct me if I'm wrong, this being the politics board, but does this Happiness index relate to the concept of Utilitarianism :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism ?

I don't believe it does. This link is more appropriate.



The four pillars of GNH, are:

• Economic self-reliance
• Environmental Protection
• Preservation and promotion of national culture
• Strong democratic institutions and good governance.

Lots of room for improvement here in Ireland, then. (Though I do think the overall concept is fantastic.)

sarkozy

NewHillel wrote: »

I don't believe it does. This link is more appropriate.



The four pillars of GNH, are:

• Economic self-reliance
• Environmental Protection
• Preservation and promotion of national culture
• Strong democratic institutions and good governance.

Lots of room for improvement here in Ireland, then. (Though I do think the overall concept is fantastic.)

Things like this will inevitable be biased and ideological, but not without real-world effects as a consequence. Look at how utterly dominated we are by the concept of GNP/GDP growth. Also,, each of those indicators you listed there seem instantly problematic to me. Take 'economic self-reliance' - first of all reducing human agency to an economic concept, and, secondly, individualising agency and economic activity. In other cultures, particularly asian cultures, studies into 'happiness' find it connected with interdependence among family and community.

So the question I ask is: what political purpose does this new Tory distraction serve were it implemented?

Here's an interesting recent article on the debate.

I'd also like to draw attention to the newly published UNDP Human Development Report. It introduces three important new measures of 'human well-being' and is well worth a look (particularly Chapter 5).

Laminations

The Geary Institute in UCD do some good work on subjective well being. I couldn't be arsed googling for links though

Laminations

Also for anyone interested in this I'd advise they look up behavioural vignettes as a means to test subjective attitudes as traditional methods have resulted in such odd findings as the Chinese stating they feel more politically free than Americans feel

del_c

There's an interesting book called Affluenza grasping at some of these ideas. Author mentions that people imagine the idea of politics is to imporve their lives i.e. make them happy...by in large politicians see their role as generating economic growth.

Some skewed arguments in it, but some very good ideas. Read it myself at the height of the celtic tiger and caused me to have an aversion to building any more debt....

sarkozy

Laminations wrote: »

Also for anyone interested in this I'd advise they look up behavioural vignettes as a means to test subjective attitudes as traditional methods have resulted in such odd findings as the Chinese stating they feel more politically free than Americans feel

I knew an economist here who was conducting behaviours and attitudes in relation to HIV & AIDS. A standard questionnaire was combined with this behavioural vignettes method and the findings were very interesting. I don't know if Eurostat has been using approaches like this to track subjective wellbeing.

motherriley

Not to mention how happy the lib/cons are becasue 6 of them in the front row are millionaires. These are the people that know all about poverty and making cuts that are to take place in the new year. They are making disable people to be reassessed for their benefits. Grrrrrrrrrr. People with serious illness are called for assessments to a company Atos that have a computer with set questions for these people.

Also the MEP's now they are worth their weight in gold as they can get it so easy with easy money on the euro gravy train.


http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/4od#3139895

southsiderosie

Different happiness surveys tend to end up with different countries or regions on top. Most of the ones I remember reading have either Scandinavians or Latin Americans as 'happiest'. But Scandinavians have high suicide rates, and Latin America has the highest levels of income inequality in the world, not to mention high rates of violent crime.

If you look at what makes individuals happy though, having hobbies or activities you love, not worrying about 'keeping up with the Joneses', and having strong social networks all seem to be tied to happiness. The thing is, these are also aspects of life that are increasingly difficult for people in fast-paced consumption-driven societies. And I certainly don't know what government can do about that other than protect the right to some leisure time (although if happiness were tied to leisure time and state-subsidized culture, the French should be happier than they are, no?).

Focalbhach

southsiderosie wrote: »

Different happiness surveys tend to end up with different countries or regions on top. Most of the ones I remember reading have either Scandinavians or Latin Americans as 'happiest'.

A couple of interesting videos on the subject from Ed Diener, who has done a lot of work on 'happiness'. Some of what he says is mentioned above, but among other things he repeatedly emphasises the importance of community, social trust (e.g. between strangers) and social order, and strong personal relationships.

Cookie_Monster

George Hook already has one, maybe the state can just buy it off him