Culture and Subjective Well-Being (Well Being and Quality of Life)

The question of what constitutes the good life has been pondered for millennia. Yet only in the last decades has the study of well-being become a scientific endeavor. This book is based on the idea that we can empirically study quality of life and make cross-society comparisons of subjective well-being (SWB). A potential problem in studying SWB across societies is that of cultural relativism: if societies have different values, the members of those societies will use different criteria in evaluating the success of their society. By examining, however, such aspects of SWB as whether people believe they are living correctly, whether they enjoy their lives, and whether others important to them believe they are living well, SWB can represent the degree to which people in a society are achieving the values they hold dear. The contributors analyze SWB in relation to money, age, gender, democracy, and other factors. Among the interesting findings is that although wealthy nations are on average happier than poor ones, people do not get happier as a wealthy nation grows wealthier. The Scientific Study Of What Constitutes The Good Life Forms The Basis Of This Book. The Contributors Focus On Cross-cultural Comparisons Of Subjective Well-being, Analyzing The Extent To Which People Across The World Live By Their Values. Introduction -- Measuring Subjective Well-being To Compare The Quality Of Life Of Cultures / Ed Diener And Eunkook M. Suh -- Cultural Syndromes And Subjective Well-being / Harry C. Triandis -- Individual Psychological Culture And Subjective Well-being / Charlotte Ratzlaff [and Others] -- Self, The Hyphen Between Culture And Subjective Well-being / Eunkook M. Suh -- Goals As Cornerstones Of Subjective Well-being : Linking Individuals And Cultures / Shigehiro Oishi -- The Pursuit Of Happiness And The Realization Of Sympathy : Cultural Patterns Of Self, Social Relations, And Well-being / Shinobu Kitayama And Hazel Rose Markus -- Genes, Culture, Democracy And Happiness / Ronald Inglehart And Hans-dieter Klingemann -- Money And Happiness : Income And Subjective Well-being Across Nations / Ed Diener And Shigehiro Oishi -- National Differences In Micro And Macro Worry : Social, Economic, And Cultural Explanations / Shalom H. Schwartz And Gila Melech -- Freedom And Happiness : A Comparative Study In Forty-four Nations In The Early 1990s / Ruut Veenhoven -- Age And Sex Differences In Subjective Well-being Across Cultures / Richard E. Lucas And Carol L. Gohm -- Perceived Control And Subjective Well-being Across Nations And Across The Life Span / Alexander Grob. Edited By Ed Diener And Eunkook M. Suh. A Bradford Book. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Front Cover 1 Copyright Page 2 Contributors 3 Acknowledgment 5 I. Introduction 5 1. Measuring Subjective Well-being to Compare the Quality of Life of Cultures 6 2. Cultural Syndromes and Subjective Well-being 16 3. Individual Psychological Culture and Subjective Well-being 40 II. Cultural Differences in the Definition and Causes of Well-being 63 4. Self, the Hyphen between Culture and Subjective Well-being 63 5. Goals as Cornerstones of Subjective Well-being: Linking Individuals and Cultures 87 6. The Pursuit of Happiness and the Realization of Sympathy: Cultural Patterns of Self, Social Relations, and Well-being 113 III. Societal Conditions 162 7. Genes, Culture, Democracy, and Happiness 162 8. Money and Happiness: Income and Subjective Well-being across Nations 181 9. National Differences in Micro and Macro Worry: Social, Economic, and Cultural Explanations 215 10. Freedom and Happiness: A Comparative Study in Forty-four Nations in the Early 1990s 253 IV. Individual Differences 285 11. Age and Sex Differences in Subjective Well-being across Cultures 285 12. Perceived Control and Subjective Well-being across Nations and across the Life Span 312 Index 333