Wealth & Happiness

Surveys have indicated that although citizens of the United Kingdom earn double the income they earned forty years ago, they find themselves less happy. There is no shortage of fables that support this story -- from Ebenezer Scrooge to Willy Loman the pursuit of wealth in modern society has often led to unhappiness in one form or another. Yet the myth that connections wealth to happiness remains powerful in our society. If one considers Maslow's hierarchy of needs, wealth certainly can aid in bringing happiness by meeting basic needs. In our society -- beginning with 19th century industrialization -- the pursuit of wealth beyond those basic needs has become a hallmark. Yet Maslow identifies as higher order needs not the creation of more wealth but the cultivation of self-actualization. This paper will examine the connection that wealth has with happiness, in an attempt to explain why the...
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