What is happiness? As defined by Merriam-Webster it is the
state of being happy or an experience that makes your happy. This is really a
broad definition so really there is no set definition for the word
happiness. I believe that this concept
varies from country to country, races, religions, towns, families and to
individuals themselves. Though what
makes us happy as individuals varies but it is apparent that, as humans, we
have the capability to feel ‘happy’. So
what does make different people happy?
Harriet Martineau
had the idea of looking at populations regarding their happiness. We talked in
class about Bhutan and how they, for years, have based their government of one
concept; gross national happiness. If
you broke this down to the simplest of terms, it seems like a great idea to try
to develop your country around the happiness of your people. You would think if your people are all happy then
everything is running smoothly. Well I
have heard this in terms of politics or coaching that you only have to please
fifty one percent of the people and really it is true. When we vote for president there isn’t a rule
stating that they need at least seventy percent of the votes, rather they just
need to win by the majority i.e fifty one percent. So with this there are arguments on Martineau’s
ideas on happiness saying she was too broad, but no one really thought of the successfulness
of society in the terms of people’s happiness.
Martineau was
an abstract thinker in the sense of coming up with views not just from the male
perspective but the female view. There
is no doubt what Martineau was able to achieve in the Victorian era is
astonishing and the fact that she was a well-respected author in her time and
today. Needless of people saying that
she wasn’t specific enough on her definition of happiness she had the ability
to look at the scope of society through different facets that hadn’t been used
before. She really helped give society a
better outlook on the undermining of women in society.
No comments:
Post a Comment