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Changing British Communities

Changing British Communities Picture

Hopes and aspirations in comtemporary Britain

This project  is looking at how individuals and communities have changed their expectations about life, in twenty-first century Britain.

Are we happy?

Posted by Silvia Guglielmi at 12:16pm on Friday, 4th July 2008
Recently, there has been much talk of happiness. Media coverage of "happiness", or lack of it, has exponentially grown in recent months with an daily array of articles on the topic. With the exception of some, most articles may be categorized into:
  • those correlating happiness to "x" amount of monetary wealth (usually surprising readers by the humble amount "x" is);
Why are readers confounded in the first instance and quite indifferent in the second? If twenty-first century Britain has thrived economically, notwithstanding the recent squeeze, why are people less happy?  Why are citizens surprised that £13,400 a year should fuel happiness, and hunting for bonuses will not?  Has the social fabric of this country been so bruised that citizens feel isolated and lonely?  Or, is the population actually more satisfied and content than the media suggests?

Demos is currently undertaking research to answer these precise questions.  By conducting case studies around the UK, we hope to unearth these fundamental themes.

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