IWS Documented News DAILY POSTINGS

IWS Documented News Service

_______________________________

Institute for Workplace Studies-----------------Professor Samuel B. Bacharach

School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies

Cornell University

16 East 34th Street, 4th floor--------------------Stuart Basefsky

New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau

________________________________________________________________________

This service is supported, in part, by donations. Please consider making a donation by following the instructions at http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/iws/news-bureau/support.html

 

American Psychological Association (APA)

 

The Subjective Well-Being Political Paradox: Happy Welfare States and Unhappy Liberals

Adam Okulicz-Kozaryn, Oscar Holmes, IV, and Derek R. Avery

Journal of Applied Psychology

Online First Publication, August 25, 2014. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0037654

or

http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/apl-a0037654.pdf

[full-text, 10 pages]

 

Press Release 9 September 2014

Liberal Countries Have More Satisfied Citizens While Conservatives Are Happier Individuals, Study Finds
http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2014/09/satisfied-citizens.aspx

 

Liberal policies make people happy, personal beliefs make conservatives happier

 

WASHINGTON — People living in more liberal countries are happier on average than those in less liberal countries, but individually, conservatives are happier than liberals no matter where they live, according to a study of people in 16 Western European countries.

 

“Liberal governments tend to do more to shield citizens against certain hardships, such as unemployment and poverty, which can make people feel happier overall,” said the study’s lead author, Adam Okulicz-Kozaryn, PhD, of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. “On the other hand, conservatives rate their well-being higher than liberals because conservatives more readily support and rationalize the status quo, thus, believing that socioeconomic hardships are a result of individual shortcomings.” The study appears online in the American Psychological Association’s Journal of Applied Psychology^®.

 

Overall, people living in countries with more liberal policies reported higher life satisfaction than those in countries with less liberal policies, irrespective of their own political views, according to the study. The more conservative citizens reported higher life satisfaction than their liberal counterparts, regardless of their government’s political leanings. “These findings lead us to believe that conservatives living in liberal countries are most likely to report the highest well-being,” said Okulicz-Kozaryn.

 

The differences in happiness ratings between individuals and countries were evident when researchers compared how people rated their own life satisfaction with each country’s welfare policies. For example, when researchers looked at what a country does for its citizens, greater liberalism corresponded with higher well-being, but when researchers looked at citizens’ political beliefs, greater liberalism corresponded with poorer life satisfaction, said Okulicz-Kozaryn.

 

The researchers analyzed surveys collected from 1,134,384 people between 1970 and 2002 in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Denmark, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Finland, Sweden, Austria and Norway. The surveys were representative samples of each country’s population. This data set is part of a series of public opinion surveys conducted on behalf of the European Commission. 

 

To determine if a country was politically liberal or conservative, the researchers looked at ease of access to services such as pensions, sickness benefits and unemployment compensation. They also examined each country’s level of spending on welfare, which is found in a report produced by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden was often cited as being the most liberal country, with more public welfare services, while countries such as Ireland, France and Portugal were found to be more conservative. In general Scandinavian countries were the happiest countries and were also the most liberal. Denmark was consistently the happiest country in the study.

 

The surveys also had each person rate his or her level of personal life satisfaction on a scale from “not at all satisfied” to “very satisfied.” To determine individual political orientation, each participant rated his or her political views as being somewhere from very liberal to very conservative. 

 

“Our findings are important to governments and organizations because they underscore the impact that these two entities have on one another,” said Okulicz-Kozaryn. “Politics is everywhere, and our findings suggest that citizens are best served when governments and organizations work together by instituting policies that have been shown to increase citizens’ well-being. For example, if governments do not enact sufficient policies that protect citizens from underemployment, the expected decreases in well-being can have an effect on employees’ productivity within organizations.”  

 

Article: “The Subjective Well-Being Political Paradox: Happy Welfare States and Unhappy Liberals,” Adam Okulicz-Kozaryn, PhD, and Oscar Holmes IV, PhD, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; Derek R. Avery, PhD, Temple University, online Aug. 25, 2014, Journal of Applied Psychology.

 

Adam Okulicz-Kozaryn can be contacted by email or by phone at (856) 225-6353.

The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. APA's membership includes nearly 130,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people's lives.

 

 

________________________________________________________________________

This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.