Happiness in the News and Actual Happiness

December 31, 2008 at 5:04 pm · Filed under Inspiration, Optimism and tagged: Inspiration, Optimism

Just came accross this news item on the site of Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant. I’m translating it here because I think it offers some salient points, and also — somewhat related — as a kind of kick-off for a series of articles I hope to feature here in the new year called “Optimistic SF around the World” (I have approached quite a few people worldwide and received very positive reactions and hope to make it a monthly recurring item: watch this space for more news early next year).

The title says it all:

“The Dutch trust each other and call themselves ‘very happy’.”

The Hague — Much more than 25 years ago, Dutch people trust each other, research from the University of Tilburg shows.

The mutual trust between the Dutch people has increased in the last couple of years. Almost two thirds (63 percent) of them answer — to the question if others in general are to be trusted — with a resounding ‘yes’. 25 years ago that percentage was 44.

This is what research, performed by the University of Tilburg, for which 1,500 Dutch people have been interviewed, shows. The research is part of the European Values Study, which compares norms and values of European citizens every nine years. The main report appears at the end of 2009.

Not only the mutual trust, but also the tolerance of Dutch people for things like homosexuality, divorce and abortion increased greatly in the past 25 years. The cause for the high mutual trust is partly due to the relative wealth and partly due to the liberal political system, in which the Dutch are free to make their own choices, according to social sciences professor Paul de Graaf, who leads both the Dutch and European research of trust and tolerance.

Corruption

‘Citizens of relatively poor Eastern European countries trust mainly their family. The rest of the village and the country, including politicians, will take you in at the slightest opportunity, is what these people — who are also much more familiar with corruption — think’, according to de Graaf. ‘In the Netherlands people are relatively well-to-do. In general we don’t think that the neighbours or the politicians are out to get us.’

[Left the graph depicting mutual trust (in blue), personal happiness (in red) as a percentage from 0 to 100; and satisfaction (in green) on a scale from 1 to 10.]

The results are remarkable, because the current government — at its inception — was actually quite worried about the mutual trust. ‘With me personally things are fine, but with society at large not so much so’, would be the general mood. That would be translated as ‘my kids are brought up correctly, but not those of the neighbours’, de Graaf says. However the research shows, he summarises: ‘I’m fine and the others aren’t doing too bad, either.’

Also the so-called ‘hardening of society’, that many seem to have observed since the rise of Pim Fortuyn, would be not quite as bad. ‘That trend does not appear from the numbers’, says De Graaf.

Declining of (consumer) confidence

Although the Tilburg research was done just before the credit crisis erupted, the results would not be much different if it was done right now, the social sciences professor thinks. ‘Only if the recession pulls through and results in massive layoffs, then confidence and mutual trust will decline.’

‘Through all the shouting at websites one would almost think that most Dutch people are unhappy and unsatisfied’, de Graaf adds. But that would be a misconception, as well. In 2008, 56 percent of Dutch people call themselves ‘very happy’. A good 25 years ago that number was 34 percent. De Graaf: ‘I must conclude that the majority of Dutch people are as happy as pigs in muck.’

I tend to have the following discussion quite a lot here in Holland: people complaining that our society has become more harsh (‘hardened’ would be the literal translation), more anti-social. I counter this by calling it bullshit and stating that news reporting — both in the old-fashioned paper newspapers and online — has become more sensational and focussed on horror stories, because these sell better. It’s a cynical trend — probably ages old already, but becoming so much more apparent as the global community becomes more and more interlinked — that distorts (our view of) reality. Same with our feeling of safety: again the mass media (and sometimes the government, as well, unfortunately) tries to paint a picture of our society going down the drains and the streets becoming more unsafe by the minute. And again I have to call bullshit: I’m not saying it’s safe everywhere, but much safer than we are led to believe, even though the above research does not show this directly.

This research provides some evidence for my point of view: contrary to the false perception spread by the media (who have an agenda: bad news sells!) life in the Netherlands has been getting better. And here’s my prediction for 2033: in another 25 years it will get even better (yes: even if the near future — aka the credit crisis — looks bleak. But we’ve overcome the oil crisis, the internet bubble, and more).

Finally, as a reference, a map: “A Globel Projection of Subjective Well-being: the First Published Map of World Happiness” (check out the original BBC article, and the article at Technovelgy, which also has a “Happy Planet Map” that includes the impact on the environment, and shakes up the whole ranking. Yes, things are just very complicated). From 2006:

(UPDATE, 21-01-2009): according to the latest Eurobarometer survey of the European Union (via de Volkskrant), the Dutch are the most content Europeans (followed by the Swedes and the Danes). A staggering 92% of the Dutch considers their current situation as ‘good’.

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