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Besides material well-being (19 percent), the things that are more likely to give Koreans meaning in life are health (17 percent), family (16 percent), general

Besides material well-being (19 percent), the things that are more likely to give Koreans meaning in life are health (17 percent), family (16 percent), general satisfaction (12 percent), society (8 percent), personal freedom (8 percent) and work (6 percent). But even then these higher levels of interest are far below the median, except in the category of general satisfaction, where Korea has the second-highest portion of respondents (12 percent) saying they are satisfied with life, after Germany at 17 percent (at the other end of the spectrum only two percent of Americans say they are satisfied with life, and one percent in Greece). If "material well-being" was at 19%, health 17%, and family 16%, that doesn't sound like an outlier in and of itself, and not entirely that alarming. Somewhat concerning to me is in the next statement, where it's stated that only 2% of Americans say they are satisfied with life, compared to 17% of Germans. As an American, that speaks volumes about our lifestyle and culture, and I find it disappointing. Satisfaction is contagious; I want to live among others who feel this way. Most of my friends work from home and are either alone most of the time, or have significant others but few friends whom they see on an active basis. Secondly, I wonder (not trying to cast doubt, genuinely wonder) how surveymakers level-set these questions to be linguistically neutral. How do they account for "material well-being" translating perfectly across most European and some Asian languages? Or even the expression "meaningful"? Just something I think about when it comes to large surveys.

rootusrootus 5y ago
> As an American, that speaks volumes about our lifestyle and culture, and I find it disappointing. I wonder if the dissatisfaction started the tribal political wars, or if the wars precipitated the dissatisfaction. In the end, I think that much of the problem lies with politics at this point, regardless of whether it was the chicken or the egg.
- pestaa 5y ago
  So in a way, does the current political atmosphere fulfill our need to feel dissatisfied?
  - nomorecommas 5y ago
    I think that's probably true for some. It's a kind of perverse power fantasy. Fills the void of knowing deep down that you've never done anything worthwhile, and never will.
  - rootusrootus 5y ago
    You may have a good point there. Life has been so peaceful over the last 50 years or so (at least in the grand scheme of things; by comparison the earlier part of the 20th century was all kinds of exciting). So we need things to complain about.
- dboat 5y ago
  The problem lies with all of the little ways a dysfunctional democracy fails to take care of it's people. I don't think it makes any sense to suggest dissatisfaction causes these policies. Politics is the culprit only in the sense that many otherwise straightforwardly practical issues have become politicized to the point that objectively poorer and often dangerously irresponsible choices are preferable to any choice that is associated with one's political opponents. Looking at it this way, it is clearly the political situation that is causing dissatisfaction.
rumblerock 5y ago
>* As an American, that speaks volumes about our lifestyle and culture, and I find it disappointing. Satisfaction is contagious; I want to live among others who feel this way. Most of my friends work from home and are either alone most of the time, or have significant others but few friends whom they see on an active basis.* This puts into words my motivation to enact policies that would free up time and resources for people to better optimize or remove unnecessary weight from their lives. Whether it be healthcare, childcare, rising rents, etc. – the time-suck nature or just constant level of financial stress created by some issues weighs on the individual psyche, and in turn the collective one. When you can't leave your job because of healthcare, need the money for childcare or to service debt or pay rising rents, of course personal life and overall outlook on life take a hit. I may not live in a cycle like that, but I don't want to walk down the street knowing how common it is among the people around me. Death by a thousand cuts, it seems like. And yes, much of this lives at the societal / cultural level as well, not purely the political. But in my opinion the collective burden of the problems that can be fixed by political means imposes an inertia on life that drags everything else down with it.
- throwaway2331 5y ago
  Very nuanced take; I agree. Unfortunately, it's impossible for the societal / cultural to progress at all without having the free time and tranquility-of-psyche to actually reflect on life. Concurrent is a severe lack of noblesse oblige in the U.S. The highest strata has forgotten its cultural roots, and lacks spiritual depth in this age. Take for example Beatrice Webb calling Andrew Carnegie a "reptile" -- a time-honored tradition. Now, there is a complete lack of self-policing within the betters, a la "Michael O. Church."
  - gretch 5y ago
    "Unfortunately, it's impossible for the societal / cultural to progress at all without having the free time and tranquility-of-psyche to actually reflect on life." I mean, this take isn't wrong, but it implies that society isn't the best it's ever been. People used to have to work themselves to the bone resisting death by nature. Some people have to work 2 jobs, maybe 60 or 70 hour weeks - that sucks, but it's still better than literally being a serf. "Concurrent is a severe lack of noblesse oblige in the U.S. The highest strata has forgotten its cultural roots, and lacks spiritual depth in this age." When has noblesse oblige ever been a main proponent of change? I don't think there was noblesse oblige during the french revolution. Did Webb's spatter with Carnegie _do_ anything? I feel like rich people have spatters all the time, none of it material to actual cultural change
chrischen 5y ago
We all get heavily sold the “American dream” which is a lie to keep the lower classes constantly working hard.
- missedthecue 5y ago
  A lie? Americans have the highest median disposable income in the OECD after adjusting for government transfers like healthcare and education and for purchasing power parity. And it's not even close. US is at $54k, second place is tiny Luxembourg with $49k, Germany is at $42k, United Kingdom and Sweden at $35k, and Korea at $27k. https://data.oecd.org/hha/household-disposable-income.htm https://data.oecd.org/hha/household-disposable-income.htm (change net to gross adjusted in the menu to view the data)
  - hashmush 5y ago
    But what are you gonna do with that income if you're constantly working?
    - missedthecue 5y ago
      Americans work only an hour more per week than the OECD average. https://data.oecd.org/emp/hours-worked.htm https://data.oecd.org/emp/hours-worked.htm Americans watch an average of 600 hours of Netflix per year. They aren't short on time. https://www.nexttv.com/news/analysis-americans-averaged-600-hours-of-netflix-in-2020 https://www.nexttv.com/news/analysis-americans-averaged-600-...
      - raffraffraff 5y ago
        > Americans watch an average of 600 hours of Netflix per year. Ah. So that's why they're dissatisfied.
    - hdjjhhvvhga 5y ago
      Given the American ethos, I bet the USA will be one of the last countries to introduce the 4-day work week.
jakeinspace 5y ago
That question which the article claims is asking whether respondents are generally happy with their lives was completely misinterpreted. I had a difficult time discerning the meaning of it without seeking out the actual appendix from the PEW study. But certainly more than 2% of americans are happy in life, we're not all that depressed and stressed out.
- bartart 5y ago
  Yeah, the actual pew summary for that question was "Germans more likely than those in other publics to say they are satisfied while offering few specifics". It seems like the takeaway is only two percent of Americans say vague positive things when talking about what gives them life satisfaction, with many more saying specific positive things
ralph84 5y ago
So 83-98% of people are unsatisfied with life regardless of what country they're in. Maybe humans have evolved to be unsatisfied because those who are unsatisfied have outcompeted those who are satisfied.
- thatguy0900 5y ago
  Or maybe "The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race."
  - TheGigaChad 5y ago
    Or maybe you are a retard?
titanomachy 5y ago
"it's stated that only 2% of Americans say they are satisfied with life, compared to 17% of Germans" This isn't actually what the original study says, it was quoted in a confusing way by this article. 2% is the number of Americans who "refrain from offering detailed responses, responding instead that they are satisfied with life, that they feel fulfilled, or something else broadly general but still positive." [0] So 17% of Germans find life fulfilling but don't particularly feel inclined to share their reasoning. The percentage of Americans who find meaning from some source is clearly much higher, although I'm having a hard time finding that number. [0] https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2021/11/18/general-rather-than-specific-satisfaction/ https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2021/11/18/general-rather...
- armchairhacker 5y ago
  Current statistics seem to suggest that around 82% of people in the US are satisfied with their lives [0]. I wouldn't be surprised if these numbers are inflated, but it's way more than 2%. Actually US mean satisfaction is higher than most places in Europe [2]. I don't doubt that social isolation and culture are a problem, but it's nothing compared to extreme poverty and not being safe. [1] https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/happiness-cantril-ladder https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/happiness-cantril-ladder [2] https://thehill.com/homenews/news/537118-americans-personal-satisfaction-drops-from-2020-record-gallup https://thehill.com/homenews/news/537118-americans-personal-...
- Imnimo 5y ago
  And yet look at how many comments in this thread are breathlessly accepting the idea that only 2% of Americans are satisfied with life, and drawing a variety of philosophical and political conclusions from that absurd statistic.
  - ffggvv 5y ago
    sounds like 90% of the political takes i see on twitter and cable news
  - jkhdigital 5y ago
    Imagine how many man-hours were expended in composing those comments
Camillo 5y ago
> Secondly, I wonder (not trying to cast doubt, genuinely wonder) how surveymakers level-set these questions to be linguistically neutral. How do they account for "material well-being" translating perfectly across most European and some Asian languages? Or even the expression "meaningful"? Just something I think about when it comes to large surveys. We're talking about survey professionals here. Experts. To suggest that they did not take care in aligning translations in an international survey is borderline insulting. On the other hand, the article says: > But in these four European countries many provide more than one answer to the question on what makes life meaningful so material well-being is pushed down to the position of the second- or third-most common answer. > (Interestingly, in Asian countries respondents were far more likely to mention only one source of meaning in life, with Koreans most likely to do so at 62 percent.) Which to me sounds like most Koreans might have not realized that they were expected to provide multiple answers. I can easily see that happening, given that European languages tend to have grammatical plural ("Please list the most important things that give meaning to your life"), while Korean doesn't, AFAIK. So yes, I guess it's entirely possible that they fucked up the basics of their international survey.
- rossitter 5y ago
  > "Please list the most important things that give meaning to your life" The actual English-language version[0]: > ...What about your life do you currently find meaningful, fulfilling or satisfying? What keeps you going and why? So respondents in English were not prompted to list more than one item. What is not marked for plurality. Unfortunately I've only been able to turn out the English-language prompts for this study. As far as Korean goes, it might not require speakers to mark (certain) nouns for plurality, but there are of course common ways to do so when desired. There is a particle (들), and there are various modifiers that could be translated to e.g. some, several, many, a few, one or more... The difference is that if you use these modifiers, you don't (as in English et al.) have to make the noun "agree" in number. Roughly speaking, one or more thing would be fine. [0]: https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2021/11/18/what-makes-life-meaningful-views-from-17-advanced-economies/ https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2021/11/18/what-makes-lif... (under "How we did this")
mlindner 5y ago
A society made up of large amounts of satisfied people is also a society that isn't advancing. New companies are born chiefly from strong frustrations with how things are going. If there aren't frustrated unsatisfied people then society stagnates.

rootusrootus 5y ago

> As an American, that speaks volumes about our lifestyle and culture, and I find it disappointing. I wonder if the dissatisfaction started the tribal political wars, or if the wars precipitated the dissatisfaction. In the end, I think that much of the problem lies with politics at this point, regardless of whether it was the chicken or the egg.

pestaa 5y ago
So in a way, does the current political atmosphere fulfill our need to feel dissatisfied?
- nomorecommas 5y ago
  I think that's probably true for some. It's a kind of perverse power fantasy. Fills the void of knowing deep down that you've never done anything worthwhile, and never will.
- rootusrootus 5y ago
  You may have a good point there. Life has been so peaceful over the last 50 years or so (at least in the grand scheme of things; by comparison the earlier part of the 20th century was all kinds of exciting). So we need things to complain about.
dboat 5y ago
The problem lies with all of the little ways a dysfunctional democracy fails to take care of it's people. I don't think it makes any sense to suggest dissatisfaction causes these policies. Politics is the culprit only in the sense that many otherwise straightforwardly practical issues have become politicized to the point that objectively poorer and often dangerously irresponsible choices are preferable to any choice that is associated with one's political opponents. Looking at it this way, it is clearly the political situation that is causing dissatisfaction.

rumblerock 5y ago

>* As an American, that speaks volumes about our lifestyle and culture, and I find it disappointing. Satisfaction is contagious; I want to live among others who feel this way. Most of my friends work from home and are either alone most of the time, or have significant others but few friends whom they see on an active basis.* This puts into words my motivation to enact policies that would free up time and resources for people to better optimize or remove unnecessary weight from their lives. Whether it be healthcare, childcare, rising rents, etc. – the time-suck nature or just constant level of financial stress created by some issues weighs on the individual psyche, and in turn the collective one. When you can't leave your job because of healthcare, need the money for childcare or to service debt or pay rising rents, of course personal life and overall outlook on life take a hit. I may not live in a cycle like that, but I don't want to walk down the street knowing how common it is among the people around me. Death by a thousand cuts, it seems like. And yes, much of this lives at the societal / cultural level as well, not purely the political. But in my opinion the collective burden of the problems that can be fixed by political means imposes an inertia on life that drags everything else down with it.

throwaway2331 5y ago
Very nuanced take; I agree. Unfortunately, it's impossible for the societal / cultural to progress at all without having the free time and tranquility-of-psyche to actually reflect on life. Concurrent is a severe lack of noblesse oblige in the U.S. The highest strata has forgotten its cultural roots, and lacks spiritual depth in this age. Take for example Beatrice Webb calling Andrew Carnegie a "reptile" -- a time-honored tradition. Now, there is a complete lack of self-policing within the betters, a la "Michael O. Church."
- gretch 5y ago
  "Unfortunately, it's impossible for the societal / cultural to progress at all without having the free time and tranquility-of-psyche to actually reflect on life." I mean, this take isn't wrong, but it implies that society isn't the best it's ever been. People used to have to work themselves to the bone resisting death by nature. Some people have to work 2 jobs, maybe 60 or 70 hour weeks - that sucks, but it's still better than literally being a serf. "Concurrent is a severe lack of noblesse oblige in the U.S. The highest strata has forgotten its cultural roots, and lacks spiritual depth in this age." When has noblesse oblige ever been a main proponent of change? I don't think there was noblesse oblige during the french revolution. Did Webb's spatter with Carnegie _do_ anything? I feel like rich people have spatters all the time, none of it material to actual cultural change

chrischen 5y ago

We all get heavily sold the “American dream” which is a lie to keep the lower classes constantly working hard.

missedthecue 5y ago
A lie? Americans have the highest median disposable income in the OECD after adjusting for government transfers like healthcare and education and for purchasing power parity. And it's not even close. US is at $54k, second place is tiny Luxembourg with $49k, Germany is at $42k, United Kingdom and Sweden at $35k, and Korea at $27k. https://data.oecd.org/hha/household-disposable-income.htm https://data.oecd.org/hha/household-disposable-income.htm (change net to gross adjusted in the menu to view the data)
- hashmush 5y ago
  But what are you gonna do with that income if you're constantly working?
  - missedthecue 5y ago
    Americans work only an hour more per week than the OECD average. https://data.oecd.org/emp/hours-worked.htm https://data.oecd.org/emp/hours-worked.htm Americans watch an average of 600 hours of Netflix per year. They aren't short on time. https://www.nexttv.com/news/analysis-americans-averaged-600-hours-of-netflix-in-2020 https://www.nexttv.com/news/analysis-americans-averaged-600-...
    - raffraffraff 5y ago
      > Americans watch an average of 600 hours of Netflix per year. Ah. So that's why they're dissatisfied.
  - hdjjhhvvhga 5y ago
    Given the American ethos, I bet the USA will be one of the last countries to introduce the 4-day work week.

jakeinspace 5y ago

That question which the article claims is asking whether respondents are generally happy with their lives was completely misinterpreted. I had a difficult time discerning the meaning of it without seeking out the actual appendix from the PEW study. But certainly more than 2% of americans are happy in life, we're not all that depressed and stressed out.

bartart 5y ago
Yeah, the actual pew summary for that question was "Germans more likely than those in other publics to say they are satisfied while offering few specifics". It seems like the takeaway is only two percent of Americans say vague positive things when talking about what gives them life satisfaction, with many more saying specific positive things

ralph84 5y ago

So 83-98% of people are unsatisfied with life regardless of what country they're in. Maybe humans have evolved to be unsatisfied because those who are unsatisfied have outcompeted those who are satisfied.

thatguy0900 5y ago
Or maybe "The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race."
- TheGigaChad 5y ago
  Or maybe you are a retard?

titanomachy 5y ago

"it's stated that only 2% of Americans say they are satisfied with life, compared to 17% of Germans" This isn't actually what the original study says, it was quoted in a confusing way by this article. 2% is the number of Americans who "refrain from offering detailed responses, responding instead that they are satisfied with life, that they feel fulfilled, or something else broadly general but still positive." [0] So 17% of Germans find life fulfilling but don't particularly feel inclined to share their reasoning. The percentage of Americans who find meaning from some source is clearly much higher, although I'm having a hard time finding that number. [0] https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2021/11/18/general-rather-than-specific-satisfaction/ https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2021/11/18/general-rather...

armchairhacker 5y ago
Current statistics seem to suggest that around 82% of people in the US are satisfied with their lives [0]. I wouldn't be surprised if these numbers are inflated, but it's way more than 2%. Actually US mean satisfaction is higher than most places in Europe [2]. I don't doubt that social isolation and culture are a problem, but it's nothing compared to extreme poverty and not being safe. [1] https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/happiness-cantril-ladder https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/happiness-cantril-ladder [2] https://thehill.com/homenews/news/537118-americans-personal-satisfaction-drops-from-2020-record-gallup https://thehill.com/homenews/news/537118-americans-personal-...
Imnimo 5y ago
And yet look at how many comments in this thread are breathlessly accepting the idea that only 2% of Americans are satisfied with life, and drawing a variety of philosophical and political conclusions from that absurd statistic.
- ffggvv 5y ago
  sounds like 90% of the political takes i see on twitter and cable news
- jkhdigital 5y ago
  Imagine how many man-hours were expended in composing those comments

Camillo 5y ago

> Secondly, I wonder (not trying to cast doubt, genuinely wonder) how surveymakers level-set these questions to be linguistically neutral. How do they account for "material well-being" translating perfectly across most European and some Asian languages? Or even the expression "meaningful"? Just something I think about when it comes to large surveys. We're talking about survey professionals here. Experts. To suggest that they did not take care in aligning translations in an international survey is borderline insulting. On the other hand, the article says: > But in these four European countries many provide more than one answer to the question on what makes life meaningful so material well-being is pushed down to the position of the second- or third-most common answer. > (Interestingly, in Asian countries respondents were far more likely to mention only one source of meaning in life, with Koreans most likely to do so at 62 percent.) Which to me sounds like most Koreans might have not realized that they were expected to provide multiple answers. I can easily see that happening, given that European languages tend to have grammatical plural ("Please list the most important things that give meaning to your life"), while Korean doesn't, AFAIK. So yes, I guess it's entirely possible that they fucked up the basics of their international survey.

rossitter 5y ago
> "Please list the most important things that give meaning to your life" The actual English-language version[0]: > ...What about your life do you currently find meaningful, fulfilling or satisfying? What keeps you going and why? So respondents in English were not prompted to list more than one item. What is not marked for plurality. Unfortunately I've only been able to turn out the English-language prompts for this study. As far as Korean goes, it might not require speakers to mark (certain) nouns for plurality, but there are of course common ways to do so when desired. There is a particle (들), and there are various modifiers that could be translated to e.g. some, several, many, a few, one or more... The difference is that if you use these modifiers, you don't (as in English et al.) have to make the noun "agree" in number. Roughly speaking, one or more thing would be fine. [0]: https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2021/11/18/what-makes-life-meaningful-views-from-17-advanced-economies/ https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2021/11/18/what-makes-lif... (under "How we did this")

mlindner 5y ago

A society made up of large amounts of satisfied people is also a society that isn't advancing. New companies are born chiefly from strong frustrations with how things are going. If there aren't frustrated unsatisfied people then society stagnates.