Institut français de recherche sur le Japon à la Maison franco-japonaise (Umifre 19, MEAE-CNRS)

Lunch Seminar on Japanese Economy and Society

GNH instead of GNP:
Is happiness measureable?

[ Séminaire ]

en anglais sans traduction

Profil : Florian COULMAS is director of the German Institute for Japanese Studies, Tokyo. He is directing two research programmes, one, "The demographic challenge," dealing with social, economic, and political consequences of ageing and population decline; and the other an interdisciplinary approach to subjective well-being and quality of life in Japan entitled, "Happiness in Japan." His most recent books are Imploding Populations in Japan and Germany (with Ralph Lützeler), Leiden (2011) and Fukushima. Vom Erdbeben zur atomaren Katastrophe (with Judith Stalpers), Munich (2011). More information : http://www.dijtokyo.org/about_us/director Résumé : Ever since the defeat in World War II, nothing seemed more important in Japan than how the GNP developed. However, after two so-called lost decades doubts have arisen as to whether GNP figures should be the only benchmark of social progress. Orientation is being sought elsewhere. Happiness is much en vogue. Why is it that in the complex population-economy-environment-culture system that forms our life governments of many advanced and some developing countries have lately taken an interest in happiness? What do they mean by 'happiness' and how do they measure it? This seminar offers some answers to these questions, with regard to Japan and more generally. It traces the beginnings of the happiness boom, looks at new indices to measure happiness, and tries to make sense of the observation that high rankings on important objective parameters such as life expectancy, wealth, and education do not necessarily add up to a high degree of happiness. Discussant : Hélène LE BAIL (UMIFRE 19, MFJ) Organisation : Bureau français de la MFJ Co-organisation : CCIFJ 2013-04-24_LS_Coulmas_HLB.pdf

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