Progress and Happiness
by Rosa Alegria

paper submitted in 2002 to the University of Houston - Studies of the Future and updated in July 2004

If we relate progress to  general features such as wealth, knowledge, life expectancy and health, we can see that the state of humanity has clearly  improved in the last centuries, mainly in the 20th century. The idea of progress has been deeply studied by postmodernist thinkers like Bury (The Idea of Progress) and the Durants (Is Progress Real?) in which the relativity of progress is emphasized.  According to them, the modern Western way of life is not objectively superior to the way of life of the Middle Ages

When  we look at statistics which measure the development of these factors over time, we find that on average they all have undergone substantial increases during the two last centuries, and they will probably continue to increase. For example, life expectancy is still going up, depending on the country in which you live. In 2000 the Brazilian population was living 2,6 years more than  in 1991, according to the Brazilian Statistics Institute. The life expectancy of the population has grown from 66 in 91 to 68,6 in 2000. Will and Ariel Durant might question why  live longer, as longevity means the prolongation of illness.  I would not be so pessimist but I still have some concerns about the limitations of  these determinants of progress, which do not reflect real  happiness at all.

As an example,  the index of HDI (Human Development Index) created in 1990 for the UNDP  by the economists Mahbub ul Haq and Amartya Sem, both Nobel Prize winners, has a more complete measurement which includes education level and longevity indexes, besides the traditional per capita GNP.

Even with this evolution, there are serious limitations in these progress measurements. In fact, the term “progress” is normally associated with technical and scientific advancement, or anything which enhances the comforts of life.

However, considering human nature and all its complex aspects,  we should not dismiss the complexity of the meaning of progress.  It should be an output of  a condition in which people feel happy.  This concept is similar to what the sociologist Ruut Veenhoven has developed in an extensive study on happiness called "World Database of Happiness".  This study collects the data from hundreds of polls and questionnaires in which people were asked how satisfied they are with their lives. Data for different countries include many other variables that go beyond material indicators like  GNP, education level, and longevity index.  For people to feel good living in a society there must  be freedom of expression, racial democracy, gender equity, access to information, political and individual freedom, safety, social equality,  promotion of diversity and an optimistic culture. All these components lead do life satisfaction which does not necessarily is computed in the progress indicators.

Taking this new approach into consideration as to measure progress, we cannot say that developed countries have more progress than others.  In what aspect do extremely competitive societies make people happy? Is a high index of GNP an indicator of a good quality of life? Are developed countries  offering people opportunities to be happy, by having something to seek for or to struggle for as they can find meaning in life? Is physical comfort the condition of a developed society? Isn´t life satisfaction an inner process that is not easily measured? How can we explain the high rates of suicides in  Sweden or Japan? Why does Brazil, one of the first social gap examples in the world,  present one of the  happiest cultures?

This does not mean that progress as traditionally conceived does not promote happiness.  But it is quite uneasy to accept that the developmental aspect of progress can only be  seen under objective crteria. For the world state of reality progress must be also subjective and result from a state of collective happiness.

The desirability of happiness is beyond question.  The collective desire lies on the achievement of happiness, in a happy existence.  But to define happiness is somewhat difficult as it deals with inner desires not normally well expressed and not normally measured.

As an example of the signs of evolutionary times, we can consider the whole redefinition of progress and prosperity presented during the first ICONS conference www.sustentabilidade.org.br  held in 2003 in Curitiba, Brazil. Over 700 statisticians, policymakers, government officials and business leaders gathered to see revolutionary indicators such as the GNH -  Gross National Happiness, applied in Buthan and developed by Sander Tideman to attend the King of Buthan request.

www.grossinternationalhappiness.org

One year later, GNH was deepened as the central theme of  a conference held in Buthan, attended by some 400 people. Compassion, happiness, well being are important aspects of human life that start being considered in the old econmic paradigms. As I said, signs of evolutionary times.

To speak about transformational  change in the economic paradigms we must look at the culture which creates our reality

Special emphasis must be put on the important role that  media plays to create a new culture and promote a happy society.  The enormous publicity given to negative events and developments, such as pollution, global warming, resource exhaustion, violence,  war and terrorism has created a generally pessimistic mood, where people expect things to get worse and worse. The repetition of images of disaster and death gives the impression that there is no hope, that the world is in a state of permanent tragedy. With these conditions created by the media, progress seems impossible, any improvement doubtful, any constructive effort doomed to failure, any attempt at reconciliation is vain, leading  society to believe that our ancestors  of the pre-agricultural age had in fact a much better life than the computer users of the present.

It is time to create a new story for a better society, in which the reality is more positive than the one created by the communications means.  There are some signs showing certain exhaustion of the populations towards the media. I belong to a Movement called Media for Peace www.midiadapaz.org that promotes new values for the proliferation of news. There is also an international effort called Images and Voices of Hope www.ivofhope.org  that discusses the importance of the media in the creation of a better world.

We believe that the question of whether progress really exists can be approached through the inclusion of subjective elements, involving the development of a collective consciousness for the betterment of the whole society.

By applying our talents and competencies day by day, in our professional activities, do we normally work for the evolution of the society or we are restricted to the walls of  a more competitive organization?

Moreover, to measure progress we should compare the overall well-being, quality of life of past and present generations. There must be effective methods to quantify subjective concepts like these.

To understand progress in the 21st century, happiness should not be suppressed in its overall concept.   It would be a new paradigm, such as many others that have been raised in  the creation of wider and new realities that may explain why the world is not so good as it should be after a long way  that humanity has gone through.

References and Bibliography

Bury, J.B. The idea of Progress:  an Inquiry into its origin and growth. Beard. New York: Dover, 1932. 1-36, 351-352

Durant, Will, and Ariel Durant. “Is Progress Real?”  The Lessons of History. New York: MJF, 1968. 95-102

World Database of Happiness- Continuous register of scientific research on subjective appreciation of life - directed by Ruut Veenhoven, Erasmus University Rotterdam - http://www.eur.nl/fsw/research/happiness/

Provissional Report on Gross National Happiness, February 18-20, 2004 , Buthan  www.grossinternationalhappiness.org

2000 Censo – IBGE - Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics 

HDI – Human Development Index www.undp.sk/download/NatHDR00/english/HDIrank.pdf

Media for Peace Movement –The media creating a new world - www.midiadapaz.org

Images and Voices Hope – www.ivofhope.org

About the author
ROSA ALEGRIA
Rosa Alegria  is an independent consultant,  futurist, lecturer, media activist and  communications strategist. Specialist on alternative media, branding, gender issues and consumer relations. Research Director of the Brazilian Futures Studies Centre at the Sao Paulo Catholic University, co-chair of the Brazilian Node of the Millennium Project,  BA in English, Portuguese and Brazilian language and literature, completing her MS in Studies of the Future, University of Houston, Clear Lake,  founder of the Movement Media for Peace www.midiadapaz.com.br and of the Society of Feminine Knowledge www.ssf3.org  Member of the editorial board of the Ethical Marketplace TV Series created by hazel Henderson and teaches at several Brazilian schools for business and social responsibilty.