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| Searching for Happiness in Western Societies |
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By Salman Ahmed
salman.ahmed@newcivilisation.com | |
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Introduction
When British people travel for the first time to a developing country such as India or Indonesia, the experience highlights for many the differences between life in a developed country and that of a developing one. People previously accustomed to complaining about the state of the health service or other public services, sometimes gain a sense of appreciation about the strengths of their own civilisation - one that is a product of several hundred years of Western Capitalism. In Britain, as in the rest of Western Europe, there are not vast numbers of humanity begging or living rough on the streets; the roads do not get washed away when it rains; hospitals don’t forcibly eject individuals if they can’t pay for their treatment; schools and universities aren’t reserved only for the rich. Moreover, there has been a distribution of wealth across British society - though some would argue the inequalities have worsened - such that the majority of people in Britain now consider themselves as middle class. They possess disposable wealth that most people living in the developing world can only dream of; a degree of wealth that allows them to take foreign holidays, become home owners, and consume all manner of goods and services. The wealth, technologies and organisation of Western society mean that today we no longer face what John Maynard Keynes described as the permanent problem of the human race: the struggle for subsistence.
Given this situation, is it possible to conclude that as people become wealthier they become happier? For some this answer may seem obvious, but in my own experience and that of others, there are many anecdotal examples that suggest that there is not a simple correlation between wealth and happiness. Many of us will have friends or know people who have chosen to opt out of the “rat race”, the term that characterises modern working life, in order to improve their lifestyle or happiness. And if like me you have contact with people who live in the developing world - especially in the Muslim world or in other places where non-materialistic cultures still have influence, you will come across people who show contentment and happiness with their lives, despite living in a developing country and lacking wealth. It seems that for some their lack of wealth does not prevent their happiness.
The importance, to people living in the developed world, of the principle that the pursuit of wealth is good and that happiness will follow it should not be underestimated. For many it is a central criterion for the choices they make in their working lives, personal relationships and even how they spend their leisure time. These principles and those that are related to them, such as the importance of individual freedom and pursuit of self-interest, are the ideological pillars of Western Capitalism.
Happiness and the Enlightenment
The enlightenment thinkers of the 18th Century and their precursors considered that they were emerging from centuries of darkness and ignorance into a new age of reason and science. In the opinion of Empiricists such as Hume and Locke, man had an innate ability to observe his reality, discover its fundamental truths and hence improve his situation using this knowledge. Bernard Mandeville in his poem ‘The fable of the Bees’ promoted the theory that the pursuit of individual self-interest was of the greatest benefit to society. Adam Smith in his treatise on the Wealth of Nations argued that society benefited overall from the invisible hand of the market and the pursuit of self-interest of the individuals within it. Hobbes in his work Leviathan argued that individuals in a society need to give up some of their rights and freedoms to the government so that it could provide them safety and security, implying that the role of the government was to serve the general interest and happiness of the people.
The contribution of these writers, their followers and others who promoted humanism and secularism, was to propose a view of the world and of human purpose in which people pursued their self-interest throughout their lives; that in order to realize what was in their best interests, people needed a number of forms of liberty; that the role of the government was to promote the general interests and happiness of its people; that the pursuit of material wealth within a free market context was of benefit to everyone and was to be encouraged.
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