Sociological study suggests residents in wine-growing regions happier with their lives
New results in a Czech sociological study (part of a larger long-term European project measuring values across European countries) have suggested that an overwhelming number of Czechs – 86 percent - are happy with their lives. The study covered aspects contributing to perceived wellbeing, and looked into how values in the country had shifted over the years. For example, back in 1991, 61 percent of Czechs were concerned with individual freedom, whereas in 2008, that number dropped to just 46 percent. Over the same period, Czechs also shifted from emphasising competition to desiring greater social equality. But on the whole, values have remained largely consistent.
Earlier, Jan Velinger spoke to the dean of the Faculty of Social Studies at Masaryk University in Brno, Ladislav Rabušic.
“In general, values haven’t changed that much. I would paraphrase a famous statement by the British sociologist Ralf Dahrendorf who warned the new democracies that you can change politics in six weeks, the economy in six years, but the social system – and social values – only after 60 years, in other words, only after several generations. There hasn’t been a ‘huge’ change in values in the Czech Republic over the last 20 years but of course we did register some important developments. When we asked people whether they were happy, we learned that 86 percent are. When we asked if they were satisfied with their lives, we found that 53 percent were. Only 7 percent were totally dissatisfied, which means that the famous stereotype of Czechs being in a ‘bad mood’ over the last years (as expressed by former president Václav Havel) isn’t supported by the empirical data.”
It’s true that conventional wisdom would expect people to be much harsher when rating the quality of their lives. Whenever they are asked about politics, for example, they respond they are not happy, and they complain about conditions…“Exactly. But those are two different things. People are subjectively quite happy, because if take into consider macro-economic data, we have had a relatively low unemployment rate over the years. We also have quite a generous social policy. And we haven’t been that hard hit yet by the economic crisis. On the other hand, yes, we did record that people are dissatisfied with politics and they do not actually regard politics as important in their lives as in earlier years. They are dissatisfied with politics but have no need for politics in their lives.”
One of the results of the study, a fascinating one, is about areas where parts of the country where Czechs or Moravians are happier. Could I ask you about those?
“It was a sort of coincidence because I was asking whether there are various differences between various regions in Bohemia and Moravia and we really did find out that in parts of Moravia – especially southern Moravia – people showed better scores in aspects of wellbeing than parts of north or even central Bohemia. Which means that there must be something in parts of Moravia that make people happier than other parts of the country.”
“Well yes, that could be a factor but whether it is the wine itself, we cannot say because we didn’t measure whether the people drank wine. On the other hand, wine production creates a special culture; there is also the fact that in those areas people have deep social roots, another reason they are happier than others.”
