Does Happiness Differ Across Cultures?

Abstract

(from the chapter) This book deals with a classic question in the study of happiness: Is happiness similar for all humans, or is it something that varies across cultures? In the universalistic view, happiness is comparable to pain. All humans know what pain is, will experience pain when touching a hot stove, and tend to avoid pain. In the cultural view, happiness is more comparable to beauty, the idea of which varies across time and culture. This discussion links up with wider issues, among which is the longstanding debate about the merits of utilitarian moral philosophy first proposed by Jeremy Bentham in 1789. Its 'greatest happiness principle' assumes that happiness is something universal. If happiness is different in different cultures, it cannot serve for the comparative evaluation of cultures. If culturally variable, the definition of happiness can also change over time, and is then not a strong criterion for public choice within cultures. These arguments have been presented repeatedly in the literature, but few conclusions can be drawn from the discussions because of a lack of empirical evidence for either position. In this chapter, I inspect what present day knowledge about happiness can tell us about this old controversy. Has a decade of empirical research made us any wiser on this matter, or are we still as much in the dark as the 19th Century armchair philosophers who criticized utilitarianism on this ground?