The pandemic and the associated constraints are changing the value system of people. According to a survey conducted by the Mile Group, making wishes for 2021, 79% of Russians dreamed of health for themselves and their loved ones. This is 9 pp more than in 2019. Another 58% really want happiness – and this is also 9 pp higher compared to the results of the last survey. The top three most cherished desires are closed by money: 36% dreamed of them – 6 pp more than a year earlier.
The number of those who wish themselves and their loved ones satisfaction of basic human needs has increased simply because in covid conditions people are trying to answer questions about the meaning of life in a new way, the authors of the study say. “Over the past year, the perception of many people has changed under the influence of fear,” comments the results of the founder of the Mile Group, Doctor of Sociology Andrei Milekhin. – Fear for one’s own life and the lives of loved ones, news about the number of sick and dead, information fakes, etc. – all this could not pass without a trace. In this situation, the number of respondents who wish themselves and their loved ones happiness and health has increased. Money is also perceived as a guarantee of stability. For some, it’s just a matter of survival. For others, it is a reason to think about how to spend money more meaningfully, maybe even helping others. ”
What is happiness
If everything is more or less unambiguous with health and money, then the question of what is happiness is not so unambiguous. The annual ranking of the World Happiness Report, published by the UN since 2012, assesses the level of happiness of the inhabitants of a country according to six parameters: GDP per capita, level of social support, life expectancy, freedom (i.e. the ability of citizens to independently take vital decisions), generosity and attitude towards corruption. However, many researchers believe that this universal approach gives a distorted picture, because it does not take into account the cultural differences, due to which people from different countries understand happiness differently.
93%
Chinese residents are happy, while in the United States there are significantly fewer – 70%. This may be due to the fact that in the East, family relationships, social ties are more significant.
“The vast majority of studies measure happiness in terms of Western societies, but this is not entirely true,” said Gwendoline Gardiner of the University of California, Riverside, project manager for the International Situations Project and lead author of the Happiness around the World report. “If in Western culture happiness is seen as a strong emotion of an individual, conditioned exclusively by personal circumstances, then in Eastern cultures it is more often associated with harmonious relationships with others and society.” Mila Novichenkova, Marketing and Communications Director of the international research company Ipsos in Russia, shares this point of view: “According to the results of our Global Happiness 2020 study, we see that 93% of residents are happy in China, while in the United States it is significantly less – 70%. This may be due to the fact that in the East, family relationships, social ties are more significant: if society takes care of a person, he feels happier regardless of income level. There there is an understanding that every person is good when everyone is good, while in the West, where individual values are priority, the model [счастья] more complex and everyone has to build it himself, which is not always easy. “
Who is happier
But here’s what is interesting: now, in covid conditions, all over the world, including in the Western community, relationships with loved ones have also turned out to be one of the main conditions for happiness. “Compared to a survey conducted before the pandemic, among the main conditions for happiness, respondents around the world more often cite relationships with loved ones, health and safety,” says the Global Happiness 2020 report. , Mexico, India, USA, Australia, Canada, Spain – became “more miserable” compared to last year’s survey. However, there are countries in which, despite the pandemic, the level of happiness, on the contrary, has increased. These are China, Russia, Malaysia and Argentina.
She is inclined to see the reason for Novichenkova in a covid revaluation of values. “The information for this study was collected after people got out of isolation, and I associate the surge in happiness in 2020 compared with 2019 with this,” she says. – Previously, we did not always find time for communication, meetings with loved ones, and when we lost this, it became clear how important it was. Interestingly, in our latest study, Ipsos Stories: New Year and New Year’s Gifts, in all the discussion blocks where Russian respondents talked about happiness, it is mentioned exclusively in conjunction with the well-being of the family, loved ones, their health, with a feeling of home warmth, comfort, with an atmosphere that reproduces their childhood memories of happiness. ”
However, the forced “return to the family” during the isolation was not painless for everyone. “The pandemic has disrupted the usual patterns of behavior. People had to adapt to a new mode of work, a new type of relationship with colleagues, subordinates and bosses, ”says Marina Melia, a psychologist and professor at the Higher School of Economics. – We began to spend more time with loved ones – as a result, relations between husbands and wives, parents and children have become strained. That which was hidden has been exposed. ” Fortunately, this state of affairs is not a verdict. “As for the problems that we have realized as a result of the crisis, we need to analyze them according to the scheme“ I want – I can – I must, ”Melia advises. – Often people do not cope with this and immediately stop trying at the start: what “I want”, if I have a mortgage, I need to feed my children and support my parents? So, we still need to ask ourselves these questions – when we begin to clearly understand what we want, we quickly develop an understanding of how to achieve this. It is important to take control of your life. To feel normal, we need to feel that we ourselves are in control, even if there is very little room for maneuver. “
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