Wealth does not create individual happiness and it doesn’t build a strong country, either
A study in the recent issue of Psychological Science in the Public Interest addresses how economic status is no longer a sufficient gauge of a nation’s well-being. The authors argue that the psychological well-being of its citizens is the greatest measure of a nation– not the well-being of its economy. “While wealth has trebled over the past 50 years%u2026well-being has been flat, mental illness has increased at an even more rapid rate, and data, not just nostalgic reminiscences, indicate that the social fabric is more frayed than it was in leaner times,” the authors state. Prosperity is neither the answer nor the cause of satisfaction. The study calls for an ongoing systematic set of national indicators of well-being to report on a society and aid in its policy-making.
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“Wealth does not create individual happiness and it doesn’t build a strong country, either”
This makes sense to me. I like the philosophy of many European countries, that give lots of holidays and a month of in summer. I believe in the philosophy “work to live” not “live to work.” I especially admire the native culture of Thailand, where a high premium is placed on artistic hobbies — story telling, making elaborate masks and other decorative objects that we see in Thai restaurants here, dance, and religious ritual and community. I believe that Fritjof Capra, in The Turning Point, also discusses how a society that rips workers from their home communities and families of birth, to pursue better jobs elsewhere, uprooting children. Something needs to change, but changing social systems is difficult, because they are complex so a change in one component requires change in many others. Also because an element of unpredictable surprise exists in human behavior, so unintended — and undesirable — outcomes are possible from even the most well-intentioned change.
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Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 24 Sep 2004
