'Arthur C. Brooks deserves credit for pointing out that we now know a lot about what makes people happy. Unfortunately, when Mr. Brooks says that about 40 percent of happiness stems from things that happen to us in life, both the peaks and the troughs, he greatly overestimates their importance. What is quite important is how we interpret or construe the things that happen to us.
'Second, Mr. Brooks’s embrace of the free market as the best tool we have for promoting happiness is off the mark. He identifies faith, family, friendship and work as key determinants of happiness, much more important than wealth, as long as people are above subsistence. So let us ask just how the market contributes to faith, family, friendship and work.
'On faith, the real “war on Christmas” is not the prohibition of religious icons and acts in the public square; it is the turning of almost all religious occasions into unbroken opportunities to shop. Score one strike against the market.
'Second, family and friendships suffer amid long work hours, low wages and inadequate child care. Strike two against the market.
'Finally, the joy of work comes largely from its meaning, not from its bottom line. So when people in all walks of life are under tremendous pressure to be more productive and efficient, the joy of work is threatened. That is strike three.
'So yes, by all means, let us foster the aspects of life that really contribute to happiness. But let us at the same time acknowledge that market fundamentalism is probably the biggest threat to human happiness that we face.'
Letter To the Editor:
Re “A Formula for Happiness”
New York Times Sunday Review, Dec. 15
Barry Schwartz,
professor of psychology at Swarthmore College
and the author of “The Paradox of Choice.”
Swarthmore, Pa.
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