Gaël Brulé1 and Ruut Veenhoven, Erasmus University of Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Chapter 12 in: Canevacci, M. (Ed.) Polyphonic Antropology: Theoretical and empirical cross-cultural field work.
InTech Open Access Publishers, Reijka, Croatia, ISBN 978-953-51-0418-6
ABSTRACT
Happiness in the North European is substantially higher than in the South European nations. Only part of that difference can be explained by economic prosperity. This paper explores the effect of social hierarchy. A comparison of contemporary survey findings show that power distance is more pronounced in the South than in the North of Eurpe. Macro‐sociological theory is used to provide an historical account of this difference and it can be used to explain why happiness is ower in hierarchical societies.