More than simply positive mood, happiness is a state of well-being that encompasses living a good life—that is, with a sense of meaning and deep satisfaction.  Psychology Today

Factors that contribute to happiness include:

  • Sense of control
  • Purpose
  • Predictable environment
  • Progress on important goals
  • Social ties
  • Valued social position

Ideally, governments seek to create conditions conducive to the pursuit of happiness. These would be conditions that foster the individual's sense of control and purpose, especially in the quest for social connection and status. That means the government needs to be transparent, responsive, accountable, and efficient. It also means minimizing things that decrease the sense of control and purpose, like poverty, ill-health, corruption and crime.

You'll notice that factors contributing to happiness are of two types: motivation enhancers and social aspirations.  A motivation enhancer is whatever boosts confidence in one's ability to achieve goals. And some of the most meaningful goals are social in nature: to belong, to be loved, to give, to be valued, and to impress.

Does inequality undermine conditions conducive to the pursuit of happiness?  In other words, does inequality decrease confidence in one's ability to achieve a good life - that is, a life with a sense of meaning and deep satisfaction? Assuming that much of what makes life meaningful and deeply satisfying is social in nature, I will refine the question even more: does inequality interfere with our ability to live purposeful lives as valued members of a community? 

What does it mean to live a purposeful life? A life with goals, plans, and a sense that progress is possible.

Next: What communities serve as reference groups for self-comparison?  How is inequality connected to social comparison? Social mobility as a motivation enhancer.

References:

Argyleand, M. & Martin, M. (1991) The psychological causes of happiness. Chapter 5 in Subjective well-being: an interdisciplinary perspective Fritz Strack, Michael Argyle, Norbert Schwarz (Eds.) Oxford: Pergamon Press,  77-100.

Diener, E. & Suh, E. (1997). Measuring quality of life: Economic, social, and subjective indicators. Social Indicators Research, 40, 189–216.