Happiness Of Citizens Research Articles

From Social Trust and Happiness to Government Trust: The Moderating Role of Political Systems and Governance in the Philippines

There are frequent calls to enhance citizens' trust in government to pave the way towards a new paradigm of participatory governance and strong citizen support for government. In various realms, citizens may directly or indirectly engage with the government through various available mediums, even though, despite the availability of various policies and services provided by the government, citizens are generally passive and adamant in trusting the public sector. While many studies have explored a set of determinants that influence citizens' trust in government (i.e., central government, local government, parliament, and the legal system), few studies have ascertained the relationship and the role of social trust, happiness, governance, and political systems. These are critical factors that may influence trust in government. To address this gap, this study draws on the theoretical lens of social capital theory, proposing that cognitive social trust and citizen happiness—environment and performance—are the most likely predictors of citizen trust in government. This study assumes that citizens' perceptions of governance and political systems will moderate the effect of social trust and happiness on trust in government. Using data from the Asia Barometer Survey 2007, and focusing on data collected from the Philippines, this study tests a latent model employing the structural equation modelling technique. It finds that happiness negatively predicts trust in the central government and the legal system, while all other predictors do not have a significant effect. The findings also show that the political system moderates the impact of social trust and happiness on trust in government. Finally, this article points out its theoretical, empirical, and practical implications and provides directions for future research.

Finding the skeleton key to happiness: evaluating model invariance of subjective well-being in a comparison of large urban centres worldwide

How well we can we predict a citizen's happiness? Numerous antecedent factors - including higher creativity, optimism, longevity; and lower hostility and self-centredness - have been identified as important. The present study compared the antecedents that contribute to personal happiness from several large urban centres around the world, testing the hypothesis of model invariance that supposes any given model may be applied globally. Data from an archival dataset (Lee, 2006) included various elements of city life: economy, culture and education, income, safety, living conditions, city administration, health, city pride, and current level of happiness. Results showed each urban centre required a unique profile of antecedents, offering little evidence to support the invariance assumption. Overall, health was the most common predictor of happiness (especially for males), followed by city pride and household income. Lower explained variance was typical among the samples, suggesting that additional factors are required to capture the scope of urban quality of life. Future research directions are discussed.

The inclusion of happiness in multidimensional studies of the quality of life

The objective of the article is to present the complexity and diversity of methodical approaches to study the quality of life, including the category of happiness. An attempt was made to quantify the subjective quality of life based on Polish research, among others, Social Cohesion Research (BSS, conducted since 2011), European Survey of Living Conditions (EU-SILC, since 2005) and Social Diagnosis (DS, from 2000) and international research, among others Gross National Happiness (GNH, from 1972), European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS, since 2003), European Social Survey (ESS, since 2002) and Measurement of National Welfare, implemented by the Office for Nation-al Statistics in Great Britain (ONS, from 2010). The analyzes carried out show that the researchers did not accept one valid definition of happiness; there is also no one way to measure it. Common approaches to studying the problems of happiness include the conviction that the quality of life and the sense of happiness of citizens are the same priority as measurable economic problems.

Happy partisans and extreme political views: The impact of national versus local representation on well-being

The political party of elected officials can affect the happiness of the voting public through several different channels. Partisan voters will be happier whenever a member of their party controls political office regardless of the policies implemented. It is hypothesized that congruence between individual party identity and state politician affiliations should have a greater impact on citizen happiness than congruence with politicians at the national level due to results from the literature on Tiebout sorting. It is further hypothesized that individuals with extreme ideological views may report greater happiness as their ideology fulfills basic psychological needs for certainty and structure. Using data from the Generalized Social Survey the effect of party congruence of individuals with national and state politicians on happiness is estimated. The effect of extreme ideological political views on happiness is also estimated. Results find that congruence with presidential party affiliation has a much greater impact on happiness than congruence with national legislative affiliation, gubernatorial, or state legislative affiliation contradicting the hypothesis. Those who possess extreme political views are also found to report higher levels of happiness.

Happy Partisans and Ideologues: State Versus National

The political party of elected officials can affect the happiness of the voting public through several different channels. Partisan voters will be happier whenever a member of their party controls political office regardless of the policies implemented. It is hypothesized that congruence between individual party identity and state politician affiliations should have a greater impact on citizen happiness than congruence with politicians at the national level due to results from the literature on Tiebout sorting. It is further hypothesized that individuals with extreme ideological views may report greater happiness as their ideology fulfills basic psychological needs for certainty and structure. Using data from the Generalized Social Survey the effect of party congruence of individuals with national and state politicians on happiness is estimated. The effect of extreme ideological political views on happiness is also estimated. Results find that congruence with presidential party affiliation has a much greater impact on happiness than congruence with national legislative affiliation, gubernatorial, or state legislative affiliation contradicting the hypothesis. Those who possess extreme political views are also found to report higher levels of happiness.

Wybory młodych Europejczyków w pokryzysowej rzeczywistości - propozycja modelu decyzyjnego opartego na metodzie AHP

The paper proposes a decision-making model that would allow young Europeans to make conscious choices in early stage of their professional and private life. The motivation for such a study comes from lack of feeling of stability between young people, that can be perceived as one of repercussions of last global financial crisis. A decision-making model based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process method has been proposed. Decision-makers are young people at the verge of their adult lives. The subject of the decision-making is such a ranking of determinants of quality of life that would provide individuals with a possibly highest level of life satisfaction in the future. The analysis embodies material (quantitative) and non-material (qualitative) determinants of decision-making. After application of presented model young people could make more conscious choices, consonant with their hierarchy of values, needs and individual expectations. In result, the economy will obtain more motivated employees, whereas the society less frustrated and happier citizens.

Figuring the Happiness of Poor Communities in Malang City: Measuring the Outcome of Slum and Squatter Areas

Citizen happiness is one of the attributes to measure the quality of life. It is known that the government city development priority, one of them is offering the citizens all the required services and developing sustainable city program then achieve happiness standard. If government cannot afford it for the people, it can be counted as failures for them. The main goal of this research is to figure out the happiness condition in Malang City, which was focused on happiness of poor communities. Happiness conditions were depicted on index that carried from Gross National Happiness Index (GNHI) method. There are 6 variables that were considered based on the necessities of life aspects which were health, education, good governance, community vitality, environment, and living standard. From the results, it can be described that the highest value of happiness index of poor communities in Malang City is more than 0.77. Those values were figured from city center areas which include Klojen, Gadingkasri, Kasin, Ketawanggede, Kota Lama, and Sawojajar sub-district. Then the lowest value of happiness index is less than 0.55, covered fringe areas.

Özel Eğitim Okullarının Yönetimsel Sorunları/Administrative Problems of Special Education Schools

Özel Eğitim Okullarının Yönetimsel Sorunları/Administrative Problems of Special Education Schools

Autonomous Agencies, Happy Citizens? Challenging the Satisfaction Claim

Is the delegation of public services to semi‐autonomous agencies associated with increased citizen satisfaction? This article assesses three theoretical routes that might link the two: responsiveness, credible commitment, and blame deflection. The article draws on data from the European Social Survey and an expert survey about delegation of tax and police services to semi‐autonomous agencies in 15 countries. No supporting evidence was found for the responsiveness and credible commitment theories. Yet semi‐autonomous agencies sometimes can absorb or deflect blame for bad performance. In the tax case, dissatisfied service users blame the agency, rather than the government. The presence of an agency worked as a scapegoat for dissatisfied service users and resulted in less dissatisfaction with the government in countries where tax services were delegated.

English

The linkage between democracy and citizen happiness in developing countries is rarely examined. This study examines the link between democracy and citizen happiness in Indonesia, a new emerging democratic country in South East Asia. Data comes from the Indonesian Family Life Survey 2007 (Nindividual = 29.055; Nhousehold = 12.528; Ndistrict = 262) and the Indonesian Family Survey East 2012 (Nindividual = 5.910; Nhousehold = 2.546; Ndistrict = 55). Results from a three-level ordinary logit model show that democracy as measured by age of direct local democracy is not associated with citizen happiness. Instead of age of direct local democracy, district community social capital and spending public services give benefit for citizen happiness. The results are robust against individual and district characteristics related to happiness. The results highlight the importance of promoting community social capital and improving district capacity in delivering public service to improve citizen happiness in Indonesia. Keywords: democracy, happiness, three-level ordinary logit model, Indonesia

HoD Detector, a System to Create Indicators about the Happiness of Citizens in a Smart City: Case of Study—GDL Smart City

Happiness is the ultimate goal for every living human being, and this condition motivates people to stay active and want to be alive. Having this feeling also fosters the proactivity of citizens. The opposite is depression, a condition capable of significantly affecting a person’s behavior or perception. HoD Detector is a low-cost, easy to use application that aids in the diagnosis of a depressive disorder and motivates the user to seek professional help. The purpose of this study is to propose a way to measure happiness through the measurement of depression; to develop HoD Detector, evaluate the accuracy and usability of this application (with university students) for future enhancements of the system. The development of this application involved basic algorithms and the use of a database to successfully make a diagnosis and store the results of each user for further reference. The application is capable of giving a proper diagnosis with the time interval of 2 - 5 minutes. HoD Detector has the potential to become an extremely useful tool to diagnose depression and motivate users to seek professional help not only in Mexico, but also on an international scale for improving in people’s happiness condition.

Empirical Study of Citizen Happiness Based on Individual Characteristics and Life Indexes

validation research is carried out in this paper to find out whether happiness of citizens with different individual characteristics and life indexes is different, and what factors exert an influence on happiness. 271 urban residents were taken as the survey respondents, and stratified sampling was employed in this research to compare and analyze happiness of citizens with different individual characteristics and life indexes. Pearson's Correlation Coefficient was used to deter- mine the relationship among the three, and a standardized regression equation was established to construct the model in- fluence for citizen happiness. The research findings illustrate that the relationship of family and marriage, income, genera- tions and living environment can predict the happiness level of citizens, and that economic factor is still crucial to prefec- ture-level cities in the middle. Recommendations are countermeasures are presented as per the findings.

Happy City, Happy Citizens? The Private Good and the Common Good in Plato's Republic

Several times in the Republic, Socrates declares that he and his interlocutors are making a city that is happy as a whole, but he never defines what it means for a city to be happy as a whole. This statement has been interpreted in two basically competing ways: either the happiness of the city is ultimately reducible to the happiness of its citizens (reductionism), or else the city's happiness is other than and perhaps even independent of the happiness of its citizens (holism). In this paper, I argue that the text itself is ambiguous, but that all existing reductionist interpretations are inconsistent with the text. At the same time, there is reason to doubt that holism is a plausible alternative. I conclude that Socrates is deliberately ambiguous on this topic, and that the Republic exhibits a persistent and deliberately unbridged gap between the private good and the common good, even in the best regime. I also conclude that Socrates' ambiguity can only be recognized and accounted for if one reads the Republic as a dramatic dialogue where characterization matters, and not as a dramatized philosophical treatise (as the reductionists read it).

Happy Medium, Happy Citizens

Institutional and behavioral theories of democracy abound but rarely intersect. Do executive lawmaking power and prowess condition democratic regime support in presidential democracies? We develop theoretical expectations linking the lawmaking powers of the president and mass regime support and test them by analyzing survey data from eighteen Latin American countries over ten years. As hypothesized, results indicate that preference for, and satisfaction with, democracy is highest where presidents have moderate legislative powers and success and lowest where presidents either dominate policymaking or face gridlock. Hence, a “happy medium” of presidential power promotes the attitudinal foundations of democracy.

Decentralisation and Citizen Happiness: A Multilevel Analysis of Self-rated Happiness in Indonesia

The effect of decentralisation reform on citizen happiness in the context of a developing country remains under-investigated. We study this effect by examining the experience of Indonesia. Data comes from the Indonesian Family Life Survey 2007 which comprises face-to-face interviews with the adult population in Indonesia (Nindividuals = 29,024, Ndistricts = 262). Multilevel analysis is used to examine the effect of fiscal and political decentralisation on citizen happiness, and shows that fiscal decentralisation is significantly associated with citizen happiness, while political decentralisation is not; these are robust to the inclusion of individual and district variables related to happiness. The findings suggest that decentralisation increases the happiness of citizens through the improved capacity of districts to deliver public services, rather than through the improved opportunities of citizens to engage in direct political participation.

“What Can I Do to Get Out of It?”: How Self-Help Readers Make Use of the Language Game of Resilience

Resilience is, as a concept and as a discourse, a cultural resource that has experienced a growing importance over the last two decades, especially in the field of psychology. In September 2013, the most important database for scientific productions in psychology (www.psycinfo.org) contained more than 14,000 references concerning resilience. In French-speaking countries, for example, each new book by Boris Cyrulnik, the famous neuropsychiatrist who imported the notion of resilience into the psychological field, sells like hotcakes, with total sales of several million copies (see Marquis).

“Surfeiting, the appetite may sicken”: entrepreneurship and happiness

Do the presence and nature of entrepreneurship impact on national happiness, and are nations with happy citizens better for entrepreneurs to start new businesses? To provide tentative answers we survey the literature on entrepreneurship and subjective well-being and use various data sources to uncover the first evidence of the relationship between entrepreneurship and happiness at the country level. We find that opportunity-motivated entrepreneurship may contribute to a nation’s happiness but only to a certain point, at which the effects of happiness begin to decline. Moreover, our results suggest that a nation’s happiness affects early-stage opportunity-driven entrepreneurial activity.

Deconstructing social cohesion: towards an analytical framework for assessing social cohesion policies

Academics as well as policy-makers consider social cohesion as an important quality of cities. A high level of social cohesion is associated with a wide variety of positive characteristics of cities: for instance low crime rates, high economic growth, low unemployment and happy citizens. This has lead to a wide variety of policy initiatives explicitly or implicitly aimed at increasing social cohesion. The perceived importance remarkably contrasts with the lack of a clear definition and a widely agreed-upon analytical framework. The lack of conceptual consensus may be explained by the complexity of the concept. It has multiple dimensions and can be found on different institutional levels: from the level of states to the level of local neighbourhoods. In this article I develop an analytical framework that builds upon these multi-dimensional and multi-level characteristics and connect this with an attempt to classify policies aimed at increasing social cohesion.

Do Good Institutions Make Citizens Happy, or Do Happy Citizens Build Better Institutions?

Recent empirical investigations show that ‘good institutions’, in the form of democracy and economic freedom, are related to elevated scores of subjective well-being across countries. Most of these studies automatically assume that causality runs from formal institutions to happiness. None the less, an inverse relationship is also feasible and only a few authors have specifically analyzed this possibility. Furthermore, not much is known about the individual aspects of institutions that are valued by citizens, and how these preferences might change with the level of economic development. This paper contributes to closing these gaps, conducting ordinary least squares- and instrumental variable analysis as an empirical strategy. Results show that citizens in developing countries value the procedural aspects of democracy, access to sound money, and free trade, while citizens in developed countries only seem to value a comparatively well-functioning legal system and higher security of property rights. Findings indicate the existence of a causal channel from economic freedom to well-being, but can’t exclude a long run effect of intrinsic happiness on economic freedom through social capital.

Meat

The essay reflects on the anthropology of everyday life in the socialist system, with particular reference to Poland between 1945 and 1989, using the example of meat – its acquisition, preparation and symbolic function. The treatment of meat under socialism is similar to that under Nazi occupation: shortages in meat supply pose a threat to the health, life and happiness of citizens. What is new in socialism is women’s specialization in home meat processing. Also, socialism produces “meat folklore” – the supply system, illegal circulation, queues, ration coupons, shopping as “hunting”. On the other hand, the authorities punish unofficial trade severely, which reinforces the popular conviction that meat is especially important. The opposition between past and the present lies in the different approach to meat and its consumption. The “meatness” of the past epoch can be treated from a contemporary ecofeminist perspective as an aberration, as abjectness and addiction. The text uses the generic tradition of Virginia Woolf’s essay-writing, where literary, anthropological and historical knowledge function alongside autobiographical micro-narrations.