The Politics of Happiness
The Happiness Quotient
Apparently, our political elite are taking the idea of social
happiness seriously. Work is in process attempting to measure the impact of policy measures designed to promote happiness rather than economic growth per se.Positive psychology has been used for years in the work place to encourage higher productivity but it's never been employed on a social scale.
The Office for National Statistics is to devise questions for a household survey, to be carried out up to four times a year, this will begin Spring 2011.
According to Dave, the Royal millionaire, "there's more to life than money" and wellbeing is one of the "central political issues of our time". (Dave borrows most of his ideas, this one comes from Robert Kennedy.)
Other politicians, who think they know what Dave is on about, say that it's not the Government's job to make people happy but they should take account of the policy effects on health and wellbeing. Indeed almost 30 MPs have signed a Commons motion, proposed by Lib Dem Jo Swinson, arguing that "promoting happiness and well-being is a legitimate and important goal of government".
Beware! Psychologists at Work
A highly entertaining new report has just been published by Demos, with some help from PricewaterhouseCooper, entitled "Good Growth".
Demos, for those who don't know, is a Tory 'think tank' and PwC is largest financial services company globally. The report we are told is tentative and preliminary, however, it's also important.
It's important because it's part of a futuristic trend in economics that attempts to reassess the role of government in the regulation of economic activity by identifying outcomes that enhance social wellbeing.
The focus of the report is "Good Growth", i.e. those variables that citizens consider central to promoting a happier existence than would be the case if the focus was simply on the growth of GDP.
Demos and PwC are not a bunch of happy clappers seeking to enlist citizens in a chorus of chanting for the sake of harmony. Their report fits with ongoing studies by the World Bank, the IMF and the Stiglitz Commission and the United Nations, as well as, our own ONS - busy compiling Dave's 'happiness index'.
Why, we need to ask, all this effort on what used to be called 'welfare economics' now, when that branch of the subject has largely been ignored by our politicians and the City spivs at the sambuca trough.
The whole of the capitalist enterprise can be summed up as follows, production damages people, government intervenes to alleviate the damage, over time material conditions improve but the damage takes on new forms, less obvious and more subtle, more psychological than physical.
The current prominence of the welfare agenda recognises that the pursuit of economic growth has had its day. The idea behind the current spate of studies into wellbeing is twofold; to inform the political elite's decision making in order to quiet the troubled minds of the citizenry, and to use the current economic crisis to reassess economic activity in order to promote human wellbeing rather than profit.
And can't you just hear Louis Armstrong singing 'And I think to myself, what a wonderful world'.
Economics has failed, so send in the psychologists. In particular, send in B F Skinner, guru of behaviourism. All these reports and studies, all the data gathering are designed to capture the ingredients that Skinner identified for creating the engineered society.
What is happiness?
"It requires that basic needs are met, that individuals have a sense of purpose, that they feel able to achieve important personal goals and participate in society. It is enhanced by conditions that include supportive personal relationships, strong and inclusive communities, good health, financial and personal security, rewarding employment, and a healthy and attractive environment." Margaret Hodge
A cynical view
Could it be that compiling a 'happiness quotient' will only serve to make politicians feel better, dare we say happy?
The big idea underpinning all this measuring of happiness is that the exclusive focus on GDP, as a measure of national success, has ignored much and might have led to a less than optimum outcome for the economy.
This might be a good time to point out that welfare economics is not new, it's just that part of the economics textbook that politicians prefer to leave to the market. Where it naturally gets ignored or the problems get exported to West Africa or sold as carbon credits on the global exchanges.
Beware ideologues dressed as sheep
Are we now being expected to believe that politicians are going to start taking our happiness seriously, in the midst of an economic crisis.
Yes, is the answer, our political elite have no ideas except recourse to a fantasy world - where everything and anything is possible. In this magic place new crusades will be forged and ideologues like the economist Richard Layard (now Baron Layard of Highgate) will carry the banner of happiness.
The Baron told us in 2007, ‘What we need is an educational revolution in which a central purpose of our schools becomes to help young people learn the secrets of the happy life and the happy society’.
The Baron is of course standing on the shoulders of the great ideologue of the happiness movement, positive psychologist Martin Seligman. However, close up, Seligman is more behaviourist than humanist and Layard is more a moralist than economist.
These people are not leading us in a pursuit of happiness, they are redefining happiness; this is a moral crusade, this is social engineering and the factories are the schools.
Read Layard's Happiness and the teaching of values and make up your own mind.
Happiness is not a new idea...
Tony Blair’s Strategy Unit was exploring the potential for promoting
‘happiness policies’ at a ‘life satisfaction seminar’ in Whitehall 2002. Defra was set to work compiling a 'happiness index', we don't know what happened to it or Defra. We think that Defra got sidetracked by toxic leaks from secret research establishments and this made them very unhappy.
Soviet dictator, Joseph Stalin, affectionately referred to himself as the ‘constructor of happiness’, he also took a great interest in imaginatively inventing statistics to prove it. Pictures of smiling Soviet peasants attending to their chores provided everyday proof; only Enver Hoxha’s Albania provided more proof, i.e. through the great leaders published writing. Given that Enver was the only writer published during the period between 1944-1985 in Albania, we'll have to take his word for it. These men were social engineers, they were no good at it but it didn't stop them trying.
Smiley Faces All Round
A respondent to a BBC questionnaire wrote:
"Lord save us from mirth monitors, community grin assessments, and personal smile quotas."
How long will it be before Call Me Dave's Big Society commissars issue us all with Smiley Face stamp books?
Happiness: update
Action for Happiness, launched Tuesday 12th April, boasts more than 9,000 members from 68 countries, all of them committed to building happiness. Well, actually, that's just the number of people who have signed up via the Action for Happiness website.
Happiness guru, Lord Richard Layard says:
"This is a movement for radical cultural change which can provide the basis for a better culture in the 21st century, we want millions of people around the world to form Action for Happiness groups to do just that - using the tools which we are able to provide."Tools, tools, they've got tools....
Layard believes people can take specific actions to boost happiness. He acknowledges that genes and circumstances - factors outside one's control - will affect happiness. But he says happiness also depends on conscious choices and conscious reaction to what happens to us.
"Happiness is also contagious, so when we feel good we help make others around us happier too," the website says.
A list of 'tools' to make you happier
- Doing things for others
- Connecting with people
- Taking care of your body
- Noticing the world around you
- Learning new things
- Having goals to look forward to
- Finding ways to bounce back
- Taking a positive approach
- Being comfortable with who you are
- Being part of something bigger
You can also download some free posters for your bedroom wall to make you happier as well.
