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Being German and having left Germany I have a suspicion why: they enjoy complaining too much. However that also raises an important question that is only brushe
by chfritz 3y ago
Being German and having left Germany I have a suspicion why: they enjoy complaining too much. However that also raises an important question that is only brushed on in the Context: how do you control for a "cultural bias to complain". In a culture where negativity and complaining is frowned upon, you'd imaging you'd get higher scores -- even though the people don't actually feel any different from the ones that like to complain.
- dexwiz 3y agoI'm not German, but don't the Dutch also complain a lot? They are even more honest than Germans in my experience. But the Netherlands are much happier in this index, so I am not sure this argument holds.
- Mo3 3y agoAs a German living in NL: Same level of complaining, just much more attention to socialisation in general. It's more of a we mentality, in Germany you can live next to your neighbors for 10 years without ever having talked to them and the workplace can be a completely impersonal space. In NL everybody knows each other, private matters are shared freely even in the work environment, transparency, group responsibility and team building are highly valued.
- dexwiz 3y agoSocialization is highly correlated with happiness. So maybe complaining is orthogonal here.
- wkjagt 3y agoI am Dutch, and I agree the Dutch complain a lot. For example, when travelling, and looking for the right gate at the airport for the flight back home, it’s often easiest to look for the area where people look like they’re discussing the stern letter they’ll be sending the hotel management when they get home. Generally though, I think the Dutch are pretty happy, although I’m unsure how recent political developments will impact that.
- ilrwbwrkhv 3y agoComplaining while staying moderately satisfied is a uniquely British thing. But gosh, they also complain so much about everything.
- stuaxo 3y agoWe enjoy it, it's cathartic.
- gumby 3y agoHardly uniquely British; the French are always up for a good moan.
- ilrwbwrkhv 3y agoThe french are more passionate though and their food and wine make up for it. The British moan without hope but they have a lower limit of how much despair they get into. It's strange.
- lambdas 3y agoGiven the way things are going round here, I think we have much to complain about. We don’t put that complaining into action though. A nation of boiling frogs.
- mensetmanusman 3y agoI don't believe there is a reason to control for the fact that some cultures have more of a negative feedback loop than others. With NK and Saudi Arabia existing, certainly it is okay to point out that some facets of culture are objectively better or worse than others on a variety of metrics.
- usr1106 3y agoAs a German living abroad I use to say: Jammern auf hohem Niveau (complaining from high level) Often the things they are complaining about are still better than in many other places, take healthcare as an example.
- coffeeblack 3y agoIt's a positive and a negative. It makes people less happy, sure. But it's also the reason why German machinery has the good reputation it has. Because even if it works pretty great already, somebody will find a detail to "complain" about and improve it.
- est31 3y agoThere is a tiler who lives in a region that houses engineers of companies like Audi and Siemens. Apparently these folks take their habit of being so extremely strict, the same habit that is the base for Germany's economic success and that creates high quality cars and other products, to their homes too. It ends up in requirements are so unrealistic that this tiler ended up not accepting requests from the employees of these two companies. German source: https://www.donaukurier.de/archiv/audi-ingenieure-unerwuenscht-2817342 https://www.donaukurier.de/archiv/audi-ingenieure-unerwuensc...
- bratbag 3y agoDoes it make them less happy, or just appear to be less happy when compared to people who keep the same irritations inside?
- Log_out_ 3y agoIt's also the neurotic ratchett driving quality improvements and optimization .
- coffeeblack 3y agoOr, to quote grandpa Simpson: "You only think you're happy, but you're not!"
- clnq 3y agoWhich country has an anti-complaining bias? I’m guessing it would be somewhere people are empowered to solve their problems. High purchasing power countries? The US and UK used to both be kinda stiff upper lip countries in the 90s but now are full of complaining. Does anyone have experience moving somewhere and noticing it was much less complainey?
- fy20 3y agoI'm from the UK and currently living in Lithuania, and I'd say it somewhat has an anti-complaining bias. In the UK people get upset and make a big deal about even the tiniest things. I read an article yesterday about someone who moved to a new area and got upset that a farmer kept their bins opposite their driveway (at the entrance to the farmer's land). They ended up in a court battle - which they lost - and had to sell the house to pay the legal fees. Here in Lithuania there is an attitude of 'that's just the way things are, and there's nothing you can do'. So people don't bother complaining, as it's a waste of mental energy. I guess this comes from Soviet times, as with younger people it does appear to be changing.
- supermatt 3y agoAlso from UK and live in LT. Totally agree!
- tetris11 3y agoI had a colleague from Lithuania who worked in the UK for a bit and was always impressed by the NHS here, mostly because she didn't have to bribe the receptionist with gifts and then the doctor with actual money, just to be seen.
- WentFullRetard 3y ago[dead]
- boppo1 3y agoI can't really even imagine this. What kind of doctor would be so?
- dagurp 3y agoI live in Iceland which has often topped the list of the happiest countries in earth, yet pople moan about everything over here.
- eYrKEC2 3y agoCulture is just social technology. Common patterns and routines for behaving in certain situations or ways to interact with people. It can be good. It can be bad. It can be useful. It can be deleterious. If a specific piece of social technology is not serving you well, don't make that social technology (culture) your identity -- reject it and try to adopt different social technology.
- didntknowya 3y agoeveryone complains. it's not shown to be a major causation of unhappiness unlike social cohesion.
- nitwit005 3y ago> how do you control for a "cultural bias to complain" You can't. It's fairly likely these surveys are measuring things like that instead of actual happiness. There's also likely variance in the rate at which people lie on polls: https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-29206289 https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-29206289
- danielfoster 3y agoI'm sure there was some bias here. Interestingly, Poland scored much higher despite also having a relatively negative mindset in its culture as well.
- pjmlp 3y agoAs Portuguese, I feel right at home in Germany in regards to the complaining part. :)
- Log_out_ 3y agoObligadorisch Nicht in Ordnung..
- odiroot 3y agoInteresting because us Poles tend to complain all the time and about everything. I even heard this perspective from my German associates who are used to working with Poles.