What is a happy society?
Topic by Ines
Notes by Lawrence
There is a saying in journalism that if the media had to report only good news, it would mean that the world is in such a bad state that good news was something rare. In real life, so far at least, bad news is still rare.
We can extend this idea to social happiness: if we have to report social happiness it’s because society is generally unhappy or at least not tranquil. What is clear is that these recent years things have not been very nice. Before the pandemic we had an increasing trend towards income disparities, then the covid pandemic hit, but the economic and political situation has not really returned to anything like past-normal.
The war in Ukraine is not helping matters, but are we feeling happy now or not? The subject is not easy to deal with, and something that is as subjective as happiness is certainly a complex issue. A key question we can start from is whether a society can actually be happy? Never mind, how or what make a society happy.
This topic is well studied and analysed by various authors in different disciplines. I will therefore refer you to some articles that deal with subject in depth. But first a link to the now well known “The World Happiness Report” (https://worldhappiness.report/)
Creating a Happy Society Is More Complicated Than We Think (2020)
Trusting societies are overall happier – a happiness expert explains why (2022)
Best and take care
Lawrence
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PhiloMadrid meeting on Skype 6:30pm Sunday 27th November: What is a happy society? + NEWS
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