Abstract
This paper investigates the influence of the economic, social, and cultural variables on life satisfaction in Asia and Europe. The second section sets a unifying theoretical framework for all three domains by defining life satisfaction as a function of aspirations and expectations which in turn are affected by micro- and macro-level variables. On the micro-level, economic capital is a resource for the actor. On the macro-level, societal economic capital improves the opportunity structure for the individual under certain conditions. Thus, economic capital on both levels positively affects the perceived chances of fulfilling aspirations. As long as the latter remain unchanged life satisfaction will increase. Social and cultural factors partially follow the same logic, as indicated by the terms social and cultural capital. Under a set of assumptions, the hypotheses derived are that personal and societal economic capital, national pride and national integration, religiosity, and societal religious integration, all positively affect the life satisfaction of the individual. A multi-level analysis of data from the European Values Study and the AsiaBarometer confirms the micro-level hypotheses. The economic macro-level indicators also display the theoretically expected positive effect on life satisfaction in the multivariate analysis of Asian and European data. By contrast, the direct cross-level effects of a society’s national integration and particularly of religion do not become significant in Europe, yet they are highly significant in Asia. This strong influence of the social and cultural context in Asia can be interpreted in two different ways.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Cf. Diener et al. (1999) for a short overview of the theoretical approaches.
The adoption of RD-concepts does not necessarily imply a relative concept of life satisfaction (cf. Veenhoven 1991). It becomes relative if people define their aspirations and expectations with reference to other persons and groups.
For their relevance cf. see MacLeod and Conway (2005).
Formally the hypotheses are partial derivatives.
Cf. Frey and Stutzer (2002, 78ff.) for a graphical illustration.
Investment in higher education, for instance, indicates the expectation of getting an adequate job after completion of the course of study. Later failure indicates a decline of expectations, which will produce dissatisfaction. Boudon (1982) presents a detailed, insightful analysis of this constellation.
This is partly a contrast group problem because singles are very heterogeneous. Furthermore, happy people may have a higher likelihood of getting married (Stutzer and Frey 2006).
The data does not allow for the estimation of the impact of different dimensions of religiosity such as beliefs and religious experience, or the impact of variables such as the closeness to God (cf. Pollner 1989).
The AsiaBarometer 2003 uses a different indicator of religiosity than the later surveys.
Greece has been excluded due to sampling problems.
Shin and Inoguchi (2009) have examined this variable more closely.
Where available, indices from 14 and 15 items can be compared. The latter index correlates marginally higher with national pride in a few countries, but is not superior to the 14-item index with regard to other variables. Satisfaction with democracy seems to contribute only marginally to the construct validity of overall life satisfaction.
The exclusion of people with a larger number of missing answers does not change the correlations substantially. Therefore a valid score is assigned to the index if at least two valid answers are given. Therefore, the dependent variable has almost no missing values.
The measure is only second best for Muslims. As Turkey is the only dominantly Islamic country in the dataset, the usually superior measure of religiosity is retained.
The R 2s for the HLM-models are approximations that can only be calculated for a model with fixed slopes.
They can be obtained from the author (jagodzinski@uni-koeln.de).
See, for instance, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_code_top-level_domain.
East and West Germany are treated as different regions because they still differ markedly in the level of religiosity.
Turkey appears less religious in Figure 3b than it actually is, because religious participation underestimates the religiosity of Muslim women.
Significance tests are useful even if countries are not randomly selected, and the assumptions of the hierarchical linear model therefore are not met. If we omit the tests, size and magnitude of the regression coefficients become the sole criteria for accepting or rejecting hypotheses. In particular, cross-level effects are often of impressive size. They will be interpreted as strong empirical evidence though, due to the small second-level N, they would not become significant in a test. If a set of randomly selected units does not confirm a hypothesis, then a set of non-randomly selected units cannot confirm it even more so. If this pragmatic rule is accepted, significance tests are a protection against drawing false conclusions too hastily.
For other system variables see Radcliff (2001).
For the distinction between nationalism and patriotism see Blank and Schmidt 2003.
It can be objected that the selection of countries has produced spurious effects. Furthermore, samples are typically drawn from the residential population, which excludes a large part of the underprivileged total population in poorer countries. This effect may have been further increased in countries where samples were drawn from the population of larger cities.
References
Argyle, M. (2001). The psychology of happiness. London: Routledge.
Berger, P., & Luckmann, T. (1967). The social construction of reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. New York: Random House.
Bjornskov, C., Dreher, A., & Fischer, J. A. V. (2007). Cross-country determinants of life satisfaction: Exploring different determinants across groups in society. Social Choice and Welfare, 30(1), 119–173.
Blank, T., & Schmidt, P. (2003). National identity in a United Germany: Nationalism or patriotism? An empirical test with representative data. Political Psychology, 24(2), 289–312.
Boudon, R. (1982). The unintended consequences of social action. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1986). The Forms of Capital. In J. G. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 241–258). New York: Greenwood Press.
Bourdieu, P. (2005). The social structures of the economy. Cambridge: Polity.
Campbell, A., Converse, P. E., & Rodgers, W. L. (1976). The quality of American life: Perceptions, evaluations, and satisfactions. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Diener, E., Suh, E. M., Lucas, R. E., & Smith, H. L. (1999). Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 276–302.
Easterlin, R. A. (1974). Does economic growth improve the human lot? In P. A. David & M. W. Reder (Eds.), Nations and households in economic growth: Essays in honor of Moses Abramowitz (pp. 89–125). New York: Academic Press.
Easterlin, R. A. (1995) Will raising the incomes of all increase the happiness of all? Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 27, 35–47.
Easterlin, R. A. (2001). Income and happiness: Towards a unified theory. The Economic Journal, 111, 465–484.
Ellison, C. G., Gay, D. A., & Glass, T. A. (1989). Does religious commitment contribute to individual life satisfaction? Social Forces, 68, 100–123.
Frey, B. S., & Stutzer, A. (2002). Happiness and economics. How the economy and institutions affect well-being. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Gurr, T. R. (Ed.). (1970). Why men Rebel. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Gurr, T. R. (Ed.). (1980). Handbook of political conflict. New York: The Free Press.
Headey, B. (2008). The set-point theory of well-being: Negative results and consequent revisions. Social Indicators Research, 85, 389–403.
Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s consequences (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Inglehart, R. (1990). Culture shift in advanced industrial society. Princeton: University Press.
Inglehart, R., & Welzel, C. (2005). Modernization, cultural change, and democracy. The Human development sequence. Cambridge: University Press.
Inoguchi, T. (2008). Human beliefs and values in incredible Asia: South and Central Asia in focus country profiles and thematic analyses based on the AsiaBarometer survey of 2005. Tokyo: Akashi Shoten.
Inoguchi, T., Basánez, M., Tanaka, A., & Dadabaev, T. (2005). Values and life styles in urban Asia. A Cross-cultural Analysis and sourcebook based on the Asia-barometer survey of 2003. (Tokyo: Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo).
Inoguchi, T., Tanaka, A., Sonoda, S., & Dadabaev, T. (2006). Human beliefs and values in striding Asia: East Asia in focus-country profiles, thematic analyses, and sourcebook based on the AsiaBarometer Survey of 2004. (Tokyo: Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo).
Jagodzinski, W. (2000). Religiöse Stagnation in den Neuen Bundesländern: Fehlt das Angebot oder fehlt die Nachfrage? In D. Pollack & G. Pickel (Eds.), Religiöser und kirchlicher Wandel in Ostdeutschland 1989–1999 (pp. 48–69). Opladen: Leske+Budrich.
Jagodzinski, W. (2005). Structure and measurement of life satisfaction in Asian countries: An exploratory analysis. Japanese Journal of Political Science, 6(3), 287–312.
Jagodzinski, W., & Greeley, A. (n. d.). The demand for religion: hardcore Atheism and ‚supply-side-theory’. Online publication: http://www.agreeley.com/articles/hardcore.html.
Kahneman, D., Diener, E., & Schwarz, N. (Eds.). (1999). Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
MacLeod, A. K., & Conway, C. (2005). Well-being and the anticipation of future positive experiences: The role of income, social networks, and planning ability. Cognition and Emotion, 19(3), 357–374.
Maltby, J., Lewis, C. A., & Day, L. (1999). Religious orientation and psychological well-being: The role of the frequency of personal prayer. British Journal of Health Psychology, 4, 363–378.
Michalos, A. C. (1980). Satisfaction and happiness. Social Indicators Research, 8, 385–422.
Michalos, A. C. (1985). Multiple discrepancies theory (MDT). Social Indicators Research, 16, 347–413.
Pollner, M. (1989). Divine relations, social relations, and well-being. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 30, 92–104.
Raaij, F. v. (2005). Money does provide happiness, but not to the extent that people think, or perhaps hope. In L. Halman, R. Luijkx, & M. v. Zundert (Eds.), Atlas of European values. Leiden, (p. 119). Tilburg: Brill.
Radcliff, B. (2001). Politics, markets, and life satisfaction: The political economy of human happiness. American Political Science Review, 95(4), 939–952.
Shin, D. C. & Inoguchi, T. (2009). Avowed Happiness in Confucian Asia: Ascertaining its Distribution, Patterns, and Sources. Social Indicators Research, 92, 405–427.
Stark, R., & Bainbridge, W. S. (1985). The future of religion. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Stutzer, A., & Frey, B. S. (2006). Does marriage make people happy, Or Do happy people get married? The Journal of Socio-Economics, 35(2), 326–347.
Uchida, Y., Norasakkunkit, V., & Kitayama, S. (2004). Cultural constructions of happiness: Theory and empirical evidence. Journal of Happiness Studies, 5, 223–239.
Veenhoven, R. (1991). Is happiness relative? Social Indicators Research, 24, 1–34.
Veenhoven, R. (1995). Satisfaction and social position: Within Nation differences, compared across nations. In W. E. Saris, R. Veenhoven, A. C. Scherpenzeel, & B. Bunting (Eds.), A comparative study of satisfaction with life in Europe (pp. 254–262). Budapest: Eötvös University Press.
Veenhoven, R. (2009). How do we assess how happy we are? Tenets, implications and tenability of three theories. In A. Dutt & B. Radcliff (Eds.), Happiness, economics, and politics: Towards a multi-disciplinary approach (pp. 45–69). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishers.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
I am indebted to an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments and Karoline Harzenetter for the collection and preparation of the macro data.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jagodzinski, W. Economic, Social, and Cultural Determinants of Life Satisfaction: Are there Differences Between Asia and Europe?. Soc Indic Res 97, 85–104 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-009-9555-1
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-009-9555-1