Money and Happiness - Essay Example

Money and Happiness The Easterlin Paradox asserts that high income is often associated with increased happiness. However, a progressive increase in income does not always lead to prolonged happiness (Easterlin, 1973). The paradox of money and happiness goes against common thoughts. The material needs of people are typically insatiable; this explains why people will always work hard even after acquiring considerable wealth. However, material goods influence the state of happiness of an individual. Philosophically, happiness is viewed differently. For instance, Democritus alluded that happiness is not under the influence of fate or external factors but the ability of a person to control and conquer one’s own mindset (Kesebir & Diener, 2008). However, in this case, material wealth influences happiness. This depends on the ability of such materials to satisfy the needs of an individual. The fact that more money gives one the freedom of acquiring material property implies that it can directly make one happier. Motivation psychologically helps define individuals. People have varied motivations in life, which in turn influences their definition of happiness. This explains the misconception that there is a relationship between earning more money and being happier in life. Happiness and satisfaction arise from achieving personal goals and ambitions. Money is most often a motivation in many people’s lives; people work hard in order to earn more money, thus making their lives comfortable. Money contributes to happiness but only as a motivation since people achieve some of their life aspirations through money earned. Whenever an individual achieves his or her objectives in life by earning more money or by setting up a successful business, the success contributes to their happiness. However, the process of earning more money is likely to present more challenges and possibly lead to conflicts. This is the situation which affirms that money will not necessarily lead to happiness. Happiness is an emotional or mental state of feeling good about one’s self. This is normally characterized by joy, contentment, and pleasant emotions, among other similar psychological states. It is, therefore, a fundamental human attribute that influences physical and psychological wellbeing. The definition of happiness and the factors that lead to it are varied. This leads to the social discussion of the relationship between money and happiness. Financial stability is an equally important factor that influences psychological stability, which in turn results in happiness. However, such social phrases as “money cannot buy happiness” portray a unique view of the concept of happiness as a psychological state. Despite such social and cultural manifestations, money contributes to happiness albeit in specific circumstances as portrayed in the discussion below. Financial wealth does not often result in increased happiness in a society. For instance, richer countries do not necessarily have a higher happiness index than developing countries. This implies that happiness arises from other social and cultural attributes besides money. However, money contributes to freedom. The rich enjoy the freedom of choice since they can afford to purchase whatever they want from the market. Money is a motivator, which is likely to result in both comfort and happiness. However, its relation to happiness relies on other social features such as family security and social stability. As social beings, humans value their relationship with other people. Any social or cultural feature that hinders the cordial relationship among people in the society deters the realization of happiness. Just as the definition of the term portrays, happiness is a relative concept that has different interpretations depending on the person. This validates the claim that money cannot buy happiness because some of the things and success that may result in happiness are not always necessarily related to money. However, money contributes to the satisfaction and comfort of individuals by making it possible for people to afford some of the best things in life. This way, money makes life comfortable thus leads to happiness (Easterlin, 1973). While the poor always think that earning more money would make them happier, the experiences of the rich and the wealthy disapprove such claims. Happiness is innate and immeasurable. For the rich, it might not be necessarily be from money. For the poor, money making them happy might be an illusion. This explains that people have varied motivations in life thus defining their happiness based on the things they lack. Humans are social beings. This implies that despite the modern day hurdles, people always want to stay with their families and interact with friends and the extended family. However, in the quest for money, socialization becomes even challenging. This is because one has to concentrate on money making businesses more. Besides, the rich and wealthy spend most of their time caring for both their money and their lives. As such, they intensify their security and often seclude themselves in gated communities owing to the fact that they face numerous security threats. Such lives are boring and less indulging. Living in seclusion often contributes to depression and anti-social behaviors that in most cases deter such people from staying happy unlike the poor who spend time in informal groupings engaging in varied social discussions. Money facilitates comfortable life by making it possible for people to purchase the best products and services in life. However, the fact that the rich also have social problems, most of which arise from their lifestyles, shows a unique relationship between money and happiness (Lane, 1993). Life aspirations in the society differ depending on the nature of the society and the experiences of individual members of the society. Self-actualization is a stage in life in which people begin appreciating their lives. The poor remain poor and appreciate their impoverished states while the rich on the other hand also appreciate their lives. At such a state, aspirations often do not matter anymore since the people have lived their productive lives and made the best out of such. Determining the relationship between happiness and money at this stage thus provides accurate results since at self-actualization, the two groups aspire for similar things, which often are to have family friends and peace in their old age. Comparing the two groups reveals disparities in lifestyles thus happiness. The rich often care for the motivation of their children. In most cases, their children are equally wealthy, have their own homes, and may not therefore work hard in life to raise mortgages, as is the case with the poor families. In most cases, he parents make most of the money thereby creating comfortable lives for their children. In such cases, the children are beneficiaries of the fathers’ hard work and may not therefore work to retain the wealth within the family. In most cases, the children engage in conflicts as they inherit the wealth. Inheritance is often a difficult process that requires effective control of the families by their parents. In cases where the parents are aged, the children may force their parents to develop hurried wills in order to settle the differences among the children. Such family feuds often deny the aged parents their desired happiness thus instigating age related illnesses. The discussion above portrays that the rich are often more likely to become destitute in their old age. As discussed earlier, humans are social beings who glorify in the presence of friends and family. The desire for the companion of friends and family increases in old age, such are fundamental social demands that money may not buy just as he age-old statement postulates. Money can buy companionship but it may never buy a family. This implies that the basic definition of happiness in the society arises from innate social features most of which define humanity. The rich often enjoy numerous freedoms such as spatial freedom, temporal freedom and physiological freedom. Such people can do whatever they please since they can afford anything. However, their behavior is limited to the laws of the society besides the dilemma on how to spend their times. In most cases, people spend their time working in offices a feature that expands their social lives as they spend their active time productively often solving problems while socializing with others. Having more than twenty five million dollars, makes that one is wealthy and can therefore live without working and still enjoy the freedom of doing anything, this raises fundamental motivational concerns most of which contribute to individual happiness. The greatest source of happiness is when people realize their aspirations. Making such an amount typifies success. The endless possibilities and choices thus overwhelm the individuals a feature that limits heir freedoms. The fact that they begin caring for their security and safety is likely to raise more conflicts besides compounding their lives. Furthermore, some social features prove that money has no relationship whatsoever to happiness. As stated earlier, family is a paramount social institution that everyone aspires to have, however problems often begin whenever one can mot develop a family either naturally or artificially. Having children is a major source of happiness to most people, whenever a couple cannot have their own children happiness becomes minimal in such families. While the rich may adopt children thus obtaining the gratification of having a family, most people always want their own children in order to foster their lineages. Such is a state of the mind that despite the influence of western civilization remains influential in the nature of modern families. In retrospect, happiness is a fundamental psychological feature that refers to a state of the mind. Any personal, social, and cultural feature that therefore affects the mind definitely affects personal and societal happiness a feature that validates the claim that money affects the happiness of an individual. However, the influence of money is relative and not necessarily definite. Money contributes to increase comfort. However, the increase of money may not necessarily result in an increase in the happiness of an individual thus the society. References Easterlin, R. A. (1973). Does money buy happiness? Public Interest, 3–10. Kesebir, P., & Diener, E. (2008). In pursuit of happiness: Empirical answers to philosophical questions. Perspectives on Philosophical Science, 3, 117–123. Lane, R. E. (1993). Does money buy happiness? Public Interest, 56–65. Read More