Thursday, March 28, 2013

Reaction Chapter 8


     This chapter is about happiness of people. The author explains that even though technology has developed rapidly, the happiness of humans decreased rapidly from 20th to 21th century. The article describes two types of society: indulgent and restraint. The former values the happiness of the individual. On the other hand, the latter values social norms, which makes people face a dilemma between their happiness and rules of the society. I mostly agreed with the idea of the author. How the society was formed strongly affects the perception of the happiness of humans.

     This article reminds me of “Bhutan fever”, which happened during the stay of the king and the queen of Bhutan in Japan. Japanese media claimed many times that we should learn from Bhutan, which is known for the happiest countries in the world, to be happier, not sticking to the wealth very much.

     I think it is not easy to change the perception toward happiness because the society gives a large impact on it. However, it is important to learn good points from both restraint and indulgent society.

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