The Loss of Happiness in Market Democracies

by Robert E. Lane

• ISBN13: 9780300078015
• ISBN10: 0300078013
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2000-01-11
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

Despite the fact that citizens of advanced market democracies are satisfied with their material progress, many are haunted by a spirit of unhappiness. There is evidence of a rising tide of clinical depression in most advanced societies, and in the United States studies have documented a decline in the number of people who regard themselves as happy. Although our political and economic systems are based on the utilitarian philosophy of happiness -- the greatest good for the greatest number -- they seem to have contributed to our dissatisfaction with life. This book investigates why this is so.

Drawing on extensive research in such fields as quality of life, economics, politics, sociology, psychology, and biology, Robert E. Lane presents a challenging thesis. He shows that the main sources of well-being in advanced economies are friendships and a good family life and that, once one is beyond the poverty level, a larger income contributes almost nothing to happiness. In fact, as prosperity increases, there is a tragic erosion of family solidarity and community i

Author Biography

Robert E. Lane is Eugene Meyer Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Yale University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Part I Introduction
Shadow on the Land	3	(10)
Part II Well-Being and Depression
Unhappiness in Our Time	13	(23)
Happiness as an Endowment: Evolution, the Fall from Grace, and Devalued Children	36	(23)
Part III Income versus Companionship
Why Money Doesn't Buy Happiness for Most of Us	59	(18)
Companionship or Income?	77	(22)
Searching for Lost Companions in Market Democracies	99	(26)
Appendix to Chapter 6. Community Characteristics by Size of Place	120	(5)
Gaining Felicity While Losing Income?	125	(16)
Part IV The Market Makes People Unhappy
Materialism in Market Democracies	141	(18)
Is Well-Being a Market Externality?	159	(16)
Pain and Loneliness in a Consumers' Paradise	175	(20)
Part V Is Democracy a Source of Unhappiness?
Rising Malaise at Democracy's Feast	195	(21)
Do Democratic Processes Contribute to Ill-Being?	216	(15)
The Pain of Self-Determination in Democracy	231	(18)
Companionate Democracy	249	(14)
Political Theory of Well-Being	263	(20)
Part VI Individualism
Are People the Best Judges of Their Own Well-Being?	283	(17)
Self-Inspired Pain	300	(19)
Part VII Conclusion
The Way Home	319	(20)
Appendix. Measures of Well-Being and Depression	339	(10)
Notes	349	(102)
Index	451