Transcript Quality Of Life In The 20 Most Affluent Societies The

Ron Anderson ,
University of Minnesota, USA
& Foundation for Compassionate Politics
[email protected]
Presentation at the International Society for Quality of Life Studies
Florence, Italy, July 21, 2009
Ron Anderson – [email protected]
1
“Spirituality is the ability not to worry about spirituality”
---from Peace, Love, and Chocolate – Spiritual Humor
Spirituality is contemplating ultimate
human concerns, including suffering
 Compassion is the desire to alleviate
this suffering
 Generosity is acting on this
compassion
 Generosity thus becomes the practice
of spirituality

July 18, 2015
Ron Anderson – [email protected]
2

Sociology of Caring & Compassion, the
conceptual starting point

Oliners’ sociology of caring
Wuthrow’s theory of compassion & individualism
Bellah’s sociology of commitment

Etzioni’s “Spirit of Community”



Ecological economics, a guidepost

July 18, 2015
Suggesting that we ask what are the elements
needed for sustainability of social organizations?
Ron Anderson – [email protected]
3
Empathy
Loving-
Forgiveness
Kindness
Generosity
Self-
Compassion
Wisdom
Peace
Integrity
Responsibility
= intersection that defines a truly sustainable community or
society
July 18, 2015
Ron Anderson – [email protected]
4
Compassion Action Index
Nine Components (& Sample Indicators)
Socio-Economic Well-Being (Income Inequality)
Child Well-Being (Often eating with parents)
Human Life (Few homicides)
Health (Low infant Mortality)
Non-Violence (Low arms exports)
Integrity & Social Justice (Human rights protections)
Civil Society (Low television viewing)
Environment (Low carbon emissions)
Generosity (Volunteering for social service work)
July 18, 2015
Ron Anderson – [email protected]
5

Forty-two social Indicators were selected that
reflected



the degree of suffering in a society
or whether the people were acting to reduce suffering
either now or in the future.
These 42 indicators fall into the 9
components
July 18, 2015
Ron Anderson – [email protected]
6
Countries in the Compassion Action
Index, 2009
The Twenty Most Affluent* Countries
Australia
Germany
Portugal
Austria
Ireland
Spain
Belgium
Italy
Sweden
Canada
Japan
Switzerland
Denmark
Netherlands
United Kingdom
Finland
New Zealand
United States
France
Norway
*Rich countries with tiny populations were not included.
July 18, 2015
Ron Anderson – [email protected]
7
Calculation
of the Compassion Action Index
Steps
1.
Locate the statistic (e.g., % or mean) for each country for any
given indicator
2.
Calculate standard scores (z-scores) by subtracting each county
statistic, x, from the mean of all countries, and dividing the
result by the standard deviation of all countries
3.
Re-standardize each z-score to give each set of scores a mean of
100 and a standard deviation of 15, just like an intelligence test
score
4.
After this is done for all the indicators in a component set, e.g.,
health, then the mean of all non-missing scores is calculated for
each country, to produce the component index score.
5.
The Compassion Action Index is the mean for each country of all
nine component scores.
July 18, 2015
Ron Anderson – [email protected]
8
A Glimpse at the Scores for 20 countries & 9 Components
Does the Compassion Action Index Relate to
External Religiosity (Church Attendance)?
July 18, 2015
Ron Anderson – [email protected]
11
Does the Compassion Action Index Relate to
the importance of one’s belief in God?
Note: The WVS question was “How important is God in your life?”
July 18, 2015
12
Does the Compassion Action Index relate to
happiness as measured by yesterday’s feelings?
July 18, 2015
13
1.
14 self-report questions, each coded 1 for yes and 0 for no
Did you experience the following feelings during A LOT OF THE DAY yesterday? How about..
A enjoyment?
B physical pain
C worry
D sadness
E stress
F anger
G depression
H love
Now please think about YESTERDAY, from the morning untill the end of the day. Think of
where you were, what you were doing and how you felt.
I Did you feel well rested yesterday?
J Did you smile or laugh a lot yesterday?
K Did you learn or do something interesting yesterday?
L Would you like to have more days just like yesterday?
M Were you proud of something you did yesterday?
N Were you treated with respect all day yesterday
2.
Computation:
- Average % positive affect = (A+H+I+J+K+L+M+N)/8
- Average % negative affect = (B+C+D+E+F+G)/6
- Affect Balance = Average % positive affect - Average % negative affect
July 18, 2015
Ron Anderson – [email protected]
14
Does the Compassion Action Index relate to
happiness as measured* by satisfaction with life?
*Question in WVS: “How satisfied are you with your life these days?”
July 18, 2015
15
1.
2.
Religious and spiritual approaches to social well-being argue
that being generous or giving compassionate love are
essential elements of quality lives. Yet we find that
religiosity negatively correlates with compassion-based
quality of life indicators, i.e., Compassion Action Index. Could
it be that compassion is more prevelant in societies where
the basis of morality and virtue are not grounded in beliefs
about the supernatual? That is, situating compassion in
community rather than dogma may be more effective.
The sociology of caring argues for generosity as the social
fabric for communities and societies (Oliner ). The
Compassion Action Index provides a beginning for empirical
compassion studies across nations.
July 18, 2015
Ron Anderson – [email protected]
16
3. The fact that the Compassion Action Index is
correlated with major indicators of happiness confirms
one type of external validty and suggests that further
research in this direction should be encouraged.
4. Measures of generous behavior tend to be neglected in
studies of the quality of life. This suggests giving this
higher priority in future research, not just among
affluent societies.
July 18, 2015
Ron Anderson – [email protected]
17
CompassionatePoliitcs.org
Ron Anderson – [email protected]
18
To promote deep caring for all human
beings at all levels (personal,
community, nation, and global)
 To educate and thus shape public
policy toward greater compassion
 To be an intersection of ideas and
people via a social network tool
 Release relevant data and reports on
quality of life studies

July 18, 2015
Ron Anderson – [email protected]
19
In September, 2009, look for
CompassionatePoliitcs.org
CompassionatePolitics.org
will feature:
• International Advisory Board
•
•
•
•
•
Technical details on Index 2009
Articles by various authors
Forum & blog for open dialog
Polls and surveys
News and newsletters
Slides and charts from this presentation can be found at:
http://www.soc.umn.edu/~rea/
July 18, 2015
CONTACT: Ron Anderson – [email protected]
20