Abstract This study shows, for the first time, that city unhappiness is common across the world. ... more Abstract This study shows, for the first time, that city unhappiness is common across the world. We use the World Values Survey cumulative dataset 1981–2020 from www.worldvaluessurvey.org. In all developed countries, without exception, we find that city dwellers are not happier than rural residents.
A palliative nurse listed the most common regrets of the dying in their last days: "I wish I... more A palliative nurse listed the most common regrets of the dying in their last days: "I wish I hadn't worked so hard" is among the top, especially for men. We know from philosophers, social scientists, and religious teachings that greed and materialism are vices. Yet, neo-classical economic theory, which dominates current thinking, promotes the maximization of income and consumption as a virtue. In this paper, we test whether wanting \more work and more money" results in human flourishing measured as life satisfaction. We also use additional measures of greed/materialism based on whether respondents agreed with the following statements: \next to health, money is most important," \no right and wrong ways to make money," and \a job is just a way to earn money." Results for all measures concur there are large negative effect sizes of these measures on life satisfaction, on average about half of the positive effect of income. The findings support policies aiming to curb excessive working hours, materialism, and conspicuous/positional consumption. This study is associative, not necessarily causal, and results may not generalize beyond the US, especially where people are less obsessed with work and money.
The unprecedented protests that unfolded in June 2013 in Brazil, surprised even the most observan... more The unprecedented protests that unfolded in June 2013 in Brazil, surprised even the most observant Brazilian scholars. A local conflict over the increase of public transportation fare took an unexpected turn and ignited a massive nationwide mobilization. These protests have perplexed many because Brazil was not experiencing the context of economic or political instabilities that are common to other countries around the world, where massive protests have emerged. Using data from the World Values Survey, we developed a general analysis highlighting individual factors that were significant in explaining protest participation among Brazilians to shed light on possible indicators that could have predicted the recent mobilizations. In particular, this work seeks to understand the extent to which a change from materialist to post-materialist values, as theorized by Inglehart (1971), could contribute towards explaining the recent protests in Brazil. Our findings demonstrate that post-materi...
Abstract This study shows, for the first time, that city unhappiness is common across the world. ... more Abstract This study shows, for the first time, that city unhappiness is common across the world. We use the World Values Survey cumulative dataset 1981–2020 from www.worldvaluessurvey.org. In all developed countries, without exception, we find that city dwellers are not happier than rural residents.
Background Trust is one of the key driving forces behind human action and an important factor in ... more Background Trust is one of the key driving forces behind human action and an important factor in shaping human interaction. Trust can improve economic growth, political and civic involvement, democratic stability, and subjective well-being. Yet, trust has been in decline for the last 60 years in the U.S. Purpose This article tests the effect of several indicators of religiosity, including an index for both social and individual religiosity, on trust. Common religious doctrine instructs followers to place their trust solely in God, and can therefore be interpreted as a determinant of generalized trust. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to find out whether religious people are more likely to be distrustful of others and whether they are more likely to be misanthropic. Methods We use the US General Social Survey (GSS, 1972–2018, [Formula: see text]), a large, recurring, and nationally-representative sample of U.S. adults. Using the GSS, we investigate the relationship between religios...
Abstract This study shows, for the first time, that city unhappiness is common across the world. ... more Abstract This study shows, for the first time, that city unhappiness is common across the world. We use the World Values Survey cumulative dataset 1981–2020 from www.worldvaluessurvey.org. In all developed countries, without exception, we find that city dwellers are not happier than rural residents.
A palliative nurse listed the most common regrets of the dying in their last days: "I wish I... more A palliative nurse listed the most common regrets of the dying in their last days: "I wish I hadn't worked so hard" is among the top, especially for men. We know from philosophers, social scientists, and religious teachings that greed and materialism are vices. Yet, neo-classical economic theory, which dominates current thinking, promotes the maximization of income and consumption as a virtue. In this paper, we test whether wanting \more work and more money" results in human flourishing measured as life satisfaction. We also use additional measures of greed/materialism based on whether respondents agreed with the following statements: \next to health, money is most important," \no right and wrong ways to make money," and \a job is just a way to earn money." Results for all measures concur there are large negative effect sizes of these measures on life satisfaction, on average about half of the positive effect of income. The findings support policies aiming to curb excessive working hours, materialism, and conspicuous/positional consumption. This study is associative, not necessarily causal, and results may not generalize beyond the US, especially where people are less obsessed with work and money.
The unprecedented protests that unfolded in June 2013 in Brazil, surprised even the most observan... more The unprecedented protests that unfolded in June 2013 in Brazil, surprised even the most observant Brazilian scholars. A local conflict over the increase of public transportation fare took an unexpected turn and ignited a massive nationwide mobilization. These protests have perplexed many because Brazil was not experiencing the context of economic or political instabilities that are common to other countries around the world, where massive protests have emerged. Using data from the World Values Survey, we developed a general analysis highlighting individual factors that were significant in explaining protest participation among Brazilians to shed light on possible indicators that could have predicted the recent mobilizations. In particular, this work seeks to understand the extent to which a change from materialist to post-materialist values, as theorized by Inglehart (1971), could contribute towards explaining the recent protests in Brazil. Our findings demonstrate that post-materi...
Abstract This study shows, for the first time, that city unhappiness is common across the world. ... more Abstract This study shows, for the first time, that city unhappiness is common across the world. We use the World Values Survey cumulative dataset 1981–2020 from www.worldvaluessurvey.org. In all developed countries, without exception, we find that city dwellers are not happier than rural residents.
Background Trust is one of the key driving forces behind human action and an important factor in ... more Background Trust is one of the key driving forces behind human action and an important factor in shaping human interaction. Trust can improve economic growth, political and civic involvement, democratic stability, and subjective well-being. Yet, trust has been in decline for the last 60 years in the U.S. Purpose This article tests the effect of several indicators of religiosity, including an index for both social and individual religiosity, on trust. Common religious doctrine instructs followers to place their trust solely in God, and can therefore be interpreted as a determinant of generalized trust. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to find out whether religious people are more likely to be distrustful of others and whether they are more likely to be misanthropic. Methods We use the US General Social Survey (GSS, 1972–2018, [Formula: see text]), a large, recurring, and nationally-representative sample of U.S. adults. Using the GSS, we investigate the relationship between religios...
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