- teardrop
- Dec 20, 2004
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by Pragmatica
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I've noticed a couple of things about us SA folks: we skew liberal and gently caress this gay earth. I was reading the NYtimes opinion section, owning myself as I often do, and freed of yesterday's burden to be thankful I spotted an article with some relevant bullshit.
Our big lib brain makes us sad and pissed off at the status quo, probably full of dead weight like conscience and empathy. OR DOES IT? Maybe the difference in happiness is only us lacking the 4Fs, according to Harvard rear end in a top hat: Friends, Family, Faith, and a Fuckin decent job.
"Self-identified liberals are less likely than conservatives, on average, to be tied to family, faith and community."
So are you happy because of those? Happy despite lacking those? If they worked out for you, how did you stack up those sweet community ties??
Happy End-Of-Thanksgiving, everyone! Here is the article if anyone wants it lol
quote:
How Liberals Can Be Happier
nytimes.com/2021/11/25/opinion/liberals-happiness-thanksgiving.html
Brad Wilcox, Hal Boyd, Wendy WangNovember 25, 2021
For many of us, the holidays offer a time of reflection. We look back at the year that’s passed and ahead to the year to come. Some ask a simple question: Am I happy?
That appears to be a more difficult question for liberals than for conservatives. It’s a puzzling but well-established finding: Conservatives are more likely than liberals to report they are happy.
But why are conservatives more likely to say they’re happier? And how can liberals live happier lives?
Some scholars believe that the happiness gap between conservatives and liberals is driven by differences in how liberals and conservatives think about politics and inequality. For example, John Jost and Jaime Napier, two psychologists at New York University, have written that “the rationalization of inequality — a core component of conservative ideology — helps to explain why conservatives are, on average, happier than liberals.” In other words, happiness is a function of legitimating the world as it is. Conservatives are happy because they’re fine with the status quo; liberals are unhappy because they’re not.
The general hypothesis presented by Mr. Jost and Ms. Napier carries enormous intuitive appeal. If your politics are about social justice, change and progress, then it stands to reason that you might feel unhappy with life as it is.
But for liberals who want progress and personal happiness, thankfully this isn’t the only explanation. In our research and in that of others, another theory has emerged: Human connection lends meaning, direction and a sense of solidarity to our lives. In short, it helps make us happier.
Arthur Brooks of Harvard, for example, told us: “A lot of our happiness is out of our control, based on genetics and circumstances. But some of it we can control. It requires we invest in four things each day.” Those four things, he said, are “faith, family, friends and work in which we earn our success and serve others.”
The liberal-conservative happiness gap, then, may not be primarily about political ideology but rather connections to our country’s three core institutions. Self-identified liberals are less likely than conservatives, on average, to be tied to family, faith and community.
Our research supports that view. In a recent YouGov survey for the Institute for Family Studies and the Wheatley Institution, we found a 14-percentage-point difference between liberals and conservatives age 18 to 55 in the share who are married. A minority (41 percent) of liberals are married versus a majority (55 percent) of conservatives. And there’s a full 26-point difference in religious attendance between these two groups: 18 percent of liberals said they could be found in a church, temple, synagogue or mosque at least once a month, compared with 44 percent of conservatives.
This view garners further support from the research on happiness. A Pew Research study, for instance, ties the Republican attainment of happiness advantage over Democrats in part to more marriage, greater family satisfaction and higher levels of religious attendance.
In a separate study of the conservative-liberal happiness gap, the psychologists Barry R. Schlenker, John Chambers and Bonnie Le explore liberal disengagement from family and faith. They note, “Liberals have become less happy over the last several decades, but this decline is associated with increasingly secular attitudes and actions (e.g., less religiosity, less likelihood of being married, and perhaps lessened belief in personal agency).”
In our survey, we found a modest gap between conservatives and liberals age 18 to 55 in being “very happy” — with 22 percent of conservatives reporting they are “very happy” compared with 17 percent of liberals (conservatives are also a bit more likely to say they are “pretty happy”). This gap is not explained by socioeconomic differences in income, race, age and gender between the two groups. But once we control for marriage, parenthood, family satisfaction, religious attendance and community satisfaction, the ideological gap in happiness disappears.
On Thanksgiving, a holiday so many of us spend with our loved ones, we emphasize that of all these social factors, the biggest factor predicting overall happiness is satisfaction with family life. Certainly this doesn’t determine the direction of causation, but the findings advance the case that support and social connections — particularly at home — are important for happiness.
As part of our research, we spoke to a number of Americans about family. The case of Katie, a 38-year-old Virginia married mother of two, illustrates the point. This right-leaning woman has noticed a difference between her life before and after she married and had children. Although she has less time for herself, she much prefers her new status as a married mother. She’s less lonely and finds more “purpose and meaning in the mundane day-to-day life, as well as exciting times when my kids hit certain milestones.”
She reported a “fuller happiness now” as a wife and mother, in part because it is shared with her husband, children and extended family members — as well as friends who are also raising families with whom, she said, she often has “a common ground to talk about.”
The connection between social ties and happiness also applies to those on the left. Julie, a 46-year-old, self-described progressive mother of four in Salt Lake City, has been married for more than two decades and is engaged in community volunteering; she’s also active in her local church. She works full time and balances a dizzying array of responsibilities. It’s her home life, however, where she finds “the greatest joys” and “the greatest struggles.” But each commitment, she said, “brings an opportunity to connect with people around me.”
Her experience dovetails with the patterns in our survey. Liberal women who are married, parents, religiously active and happy with their family and community are all significantly more likely than other liberal women to report they are “very happy.” The same goes for men.
There are, of course, many other factors that influence reported levels of happiness in America. Poverty, exercise and what Mr. Brooks calls “earned success,” by which he means productive work, are just a few examples. But we have not seen any evidence that liberals work or exercise less, and our own analyses do not indicate that socioeconomic factors account for the ideological happiness gap.
Liberals seeking to improve their own lives might look to social institutions as resources that can help lift life satisfaction. This would be a challenge, given that support for marriage and faith has dropped more in recent years among liberals than conservatives, and secularization has been concentrated among more left-leaning Americans. In other words, the very institutions that might improve liberals’ happiness are increasingly viewed negatively by liberals.
Aristotle understood we are social animals. When liberals throw themselves into social institutions — from family to faith to local civic organizations — they have just as great a shot at happiness as people on the right. That doesn’t mean liberals will throw themselves into these institutions in the same way that conservatives do. And they don’t need to.
But they cannot lose sight of this paradox: Individual happiness is more likely to be found not by directly pursuing it but by embracing social institutions that call on us to focus first on the welfare of others.
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Nov 26, 2021 18:05
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- Adbot
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ADBOT LOVES YOU
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Apr 25, 2024 18:18
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- Dixville
- Nov 4, 2008
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I don't think!
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Ham Wrangler
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Ignorance is bliss
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Nov 26, 2021 18:08
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- Boner M
- Sep 21, 2021
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by Hand Knit
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I love how the easy option is just angry guy
"Liberals"
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Nov 26, 2021 18:10
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- hot cocoa on the couch
- Dec 8, 2009
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i wasn't even thankful last month when it was thanksgiving, why would i be on some arbitrary day either?
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Nov 26, 2021 18:16
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- kntfkr
- Feb 11, 2019
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GOOSE FUCKER
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i have the new york times blocked until they apologize
but their whole shtick is U CANT BLOCK US WE BLOCK U
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Nov 26, 2021 18:17
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- Cosmic Thing
- Sep 24, 2019
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by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
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you're right, OP. That Harvard guy is an rear end in a top hat.
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Nov 26, 2021 18:18
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- Mega64
- May 23, 2008
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I took the octopath less travelered,
And it made one-eighth the difference.
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but their whole shtick is U CANT BLOCK US WE BLOCK U
I thought that was the Platinum Games guy.
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Nov 26, 2021 18:27
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- teardrop
- Dec 20, 2004
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by Pragmatica
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I thought that was the Platinum Games guy.
If you quote him his blocked posts show up!
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Nov 26, 2021 18:34
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- Meme Poker Party
- Sep 1, 2006
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by Azathoth
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Am I supposed to believe there are people who takes articles like this seriously???
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Nov 26, 2021 19:43
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- Nooner
- Mar 26, 2011
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AN A+ OPSTER (:
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Tl;dr
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Nov 26, 2021 19:52
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- hot cocoa on the couch
- Dec 8, 2009
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libs are sad because they don't believe in god
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Nov 26, 2021 19:53
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- teardrop
- Dec 20, 2004
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by Pragmatica
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Am I supposed to believe there are people who takes articles like this seriously???
Yes it is me, the guy who read the NYTimes opinion writers. All the news that’s fit to print!
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Nov 26, 2021 20:18
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- Blurry Gray Thing
- Jun 3, 2009
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Yes it is me, the guy who read the NYTimes opinion writers. All the news that’s fit to print!
How much Jesus do you think you need to be happier?
A lot of Jesus, or just a little Jesus?
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Nov 26, 2021 20:27
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- teardrop
- Dec 20, 2004
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by Pragmatica
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How much Jesus do you think you need to be happier?
A lot of Jesus, or just a little Jesus?
I’ll need to defer to a Harvard trained Jesusologist on that one
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Nov 26, 2021 21:28
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- whose tuggin
- Nov 6, 2009
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by Hand Knit
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i've had covid 19 for 3 weeks and now every time I blow my nose its mostly blood
lol!
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Nov 26, 2021 21:37
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- Fleta Mcgurn
- Oct 5, 2003
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Porpoise noise continues.
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I hate Thanksgiving but I hate this thread even more.
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Nov 26, 2021 22:34
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- teardrop
- Dec 20, 2004
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by Pragmatica
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I hate Thanksgiving but I hate this thread even more.
Sounds like you are not too happy right now, how you doin on the 4 Fs
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Nov 26, 2021 23:24
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- Nyan Bread
- Mar 17, 2006
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Noo Yoyk Time POTY (Post of the Year): Eyy Ima a waakin heea!!
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Nov 26, 2021 23:26
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- Fleta Mcgurn
- Oct 5, 2003
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Porpoise noise continues.
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Sounds like you are not too happy right now, how you doin on the 4 Fs
Fuckin'
Fightin'
Fashion
F....paying respects
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Nov 27, 2021 23:15
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- DrPossum
- May 15, 2004
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i am not a surgeon
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Fuckin'
Fightin'
Fashion
F....paying respects
i dont have any of the those fs or the fs in the op and im just so mad all the time checks out
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Nov 27, 2021 23:21
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- Lil Swamp Booger Baby
- Aug 1, 1981
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I'm still thankful
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Nov 27, 2021 23:24
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- Lil Swamp Booger Baby
- Aug 1, 1981
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OP died
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Nov 27, 2021 23:29
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- Big Beef City
- Aug 15, 2013
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"I'm a stay at home mother of four who spends my life volunteering for my church in salt lake city Utah. I'm very liberal."
Big Beef City fucked around with this message at 23:31 on Nov 27, 2021
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Nov 27, 2021 23:29
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- runnypoops
- Mar 26, 2016
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been there. done that. prove yourself to me.
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I can’t read idiot
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Nov 27, 2021 23:32
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- Fleta Mcgurn
- Oct 5, 2003
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Porpoise noise continues.
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But you can write in it???
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Nov 27, 2021 23:35
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- Yaldabaoth
- Oct 9, 2012
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by Azathoth
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This article is basically saying that the idea of someone being unhappy because the world sucks is so preposterous that the real reason must be because the person themselves just doesn't live a "proper" conservative lifestyle as portrayed in TV's "Leave it to Beaver".
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Nov 27, 2021 23:37
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- runnypoops
- Mar 26, 2016
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been there. done that. prove yourself to me.
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But you can write in it???
Speech to text idiot
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Nov 27, 2021 23:38
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- Adbot
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ADBOT LOVES YOU
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Apr 25, 2024 18:18
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- Lil Swamp Booger Baby
- Aug 1, 1981
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OP's brain sounds like that lovely twang guitar in the Berserk intro
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Nov 27, 2021 23:39
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Nov 26, 2021 18:05
your dick
