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People were most satisfied with their personal relationships and mental well -being, which hadthe highest mean scores – both scored at 8.3 out of ten. Also of concern to policymakers will bethe answer given to the question “Overall, how anxious did you feel yesterday?” More th an aquarter rated this five out of ten, where ten was feeling “completely anxious”.Lord Layard, the LSE Economics Professor, said it was likely that life satisfaction would fall asthe recession hit. “We know from other European countries that this is sensitive to businesscycles and in recessions life satisfaction drops.” Layard, who founded the Action for Happinessmovement to promote well-being, said policymakers could use the data to ameliorate the pain ofrecession. But they would first need to identify how to measure happiness, then work out whatmakes people “miserable or happy” and lastly quantify how much happiness one can create byspending taxpayers’ cash. “That can be on supporting chil dcare, parenting or help for mentalhealth”.Layard argued against expending too much political energy on reducing inequalities. “Although Ibelieve that one pound to a poor person means more than to a rich person and more equalsocieties are happier, I don’t think redistribution of income is by any means the thing that willproduce a happier populace.”The science of well-being has become fashionable, with the Himalayan Buddhist kingdom ofBhutan cited by Cameron as pioneering the idea of “gross national happiness” and France’sPresident Sarkozy asking the Nobel laureates Joe Stiglitz and Amartya Sen how to measure it.In fact, happiness has a long academic heritage – beginning in Western thought with the Greekphilosopher Aristotle. “Aristotle … said there was more to life than how we feel, than justpleasure and pain. It was about how we develop our potential and work with our communities,”Felicia Huppert at Cambridge University’s Centre of Well-being said, pointing out the ONSquestion was asking about the “things in life that were worthwhile”.Huppert said that “probably the most important work recently was that of Jonathan Haidt(Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia) who looked at a moral theory and talkedabout the importance of relationships.” Haidt identified five values in societies – care, fairness,loyalty, respect and purity – and suggested US liberals privileged the first two over the lastthree. Huppert, Professor of Psychology, said: “A lot of young people think that wealth andcelebrity will make you happy. In fact, the data shows it is about relationships and engagementand feeling that you contribute.”Paul Allen of the ONS said another big factor in happiness was health. “We see that peopleresponded that when their health was bad they would report anxiety. What we are trying to buildup is a picture of how people rate happiness.”One of the most revealing aspects of the emerging science around happiness is aboutlanguage. Britons associated happiness with being “calm, relaxed and peaceful” rather than“energized and excited”. Allen said this could be seen in the placards held up by strikers onrecent demonstrations. “They held up signs saying: ‘We are not happy about this.’ It was veryBritish.”6
Comprehension Questions(50% of the written examination grade)Please circle ONE answer ONLY. Select the BEST answer. Your answers mustbe based on the information in the text.1. The author of the text reports 'signs of stress seeping through British society' because:a) economists have forecast that the recession will be deep and long.b) people have been affected in an emotional sense by the looming crisis.c) people indicated a comparatively low level of satisfaction to both work-relatedand financial matters.d) people worry more now than they did in 2002, even though these concerns areunfounded.2. Research carried out before the ONS survey has shown that:a) in Europe life expectancy is linked to business cycles.b) in Britain life satisfaction declines in times of economic downturn.c) during an economic slump people are less content with their life.d) in times of economic decline people tend to place more emphasis on personalrelationships and family.3. According to Layard:a) the information from the study will not help to reduce the effects of therecession without further research.b) policymakers need to invest in childcare, parenting and mental health.c) the information from the survey shows how hard the recession will hit thepopulation.d) it will be necessary to see exactly how pleased people will be about the factthat they are receiving back some of their hard-earned money.4. Which of the following statements is NOT true?a) Layard does not recommend a strategy which would focus on closing the gapbetween the social classes.b) Layard is of the opinion that taking from the rich and giving to the poor won’tincrease overall life satisfaction.c) According to Layard, to be happy, a society must be equal.d) Layard acknowledges that even a small increase in income makes a significantdifference to the poor.7
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