Running head: DOES MONEY MAKE HUMANS HAPPIER?

Does Money make Humans Happier?

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In modern society, it has become known that money is everything. People believe that

money can get you whatever you want and hence equate money with happiness. This is from the

pictures and videos they see on their TVs, internet and social media of millionaires with their

yachts and luxury homes “enjoying life” with no limits and assume that such people are fully

happy in their lives and that there is no way that they have any problems since they believe that

money can solve any human problem. People also associate money with their wellbeing and

assume that having more money means that you will be healthier and hence happier. However,

this is not true. This conclusion is from a research done by Daniel Kahneman who found out that

that even though people who earn more money are more likely to say that they are happier than

others who do not earn as much, this difference virtually vanishes when they make a moment-to-

moment assessment of how happy they really are. This report therefore argues that money does

not make people happy in which we will use two ideologies; socialism and anarchism to support

this argument.

The idea that money makes people happier seems rather far-fetched. If this is the case,

why have we had several cases of rich people committing suicide? When people are asked

whether rich people are happier than those who are not, they always tend to focus on financial

status as the primary root of happiness. The idea that money is the source of happiness brings on

the consumerism theory which is the idea that increased buying and consumption of goods and

services is a desired goal and an individual’s happiness and wellbeing depends primarily on

obtaining consumer goods and other material possessions. Due to the idea that money brings

happiness, consumerism has become a major determinant of people’s contentment with their

lives and their overall happiness.

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Socialism is the idea of an economic and political system where the means of production,

distribution, and exchange are owned or regulated by the community as a whole. Socialists

believe that all legal decisions in production and distribution are made by the government, and

people depend on the state to provide everything, from food to healthcare. Socialists believe that

resource ownership is shared and central planning exists in a society, a more equitable society is

formed from the equal distribution of goods and services (Heywood, 2017). Having more money

does not apply in a socialist system since resources are evenly distributed and hence there is no

competitive buying and selling in the market; and there is free access to goods and services. In

modern society, people depend on their finances to meet their daily needs. Therefore, the need to

have and spend more money puts pressure on people’s pockets which leads to negative effect on

their wellbeing financially (Goodwin et al 2008). One may experience distress and anxiety from

the lack of enough money to meet these consumerism needs. The socialism ideology eliminates

this pressure since people do not have to have more money to meet their needs. Therefore,

socialism supports the idea that human beings do not need money to be happier.

Anarchism is a belief system or a doctrine that advocates for the abolition of government

authority and all other unequal systems of power. This ideology is that belief that the government

is unnecessary and to some extent, harmful (Heywood, 2017). This ideology is somehow similar

to the socialism ideology as since advocates of this ideology believe that political authority and

resources should be shared equally by every individual in a community. Therefore, individual

wealth does not matter in such a system since social anarchists believe that resources should be

equally distributed and shared. The idea of one having more wealth than the other person is

therefore not accepted in such a community. Therefore, consumerism is not part of this system.

This eliminates the need to acquire more money and resources which consequently takes off the
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pressure that comes with consumerism. Consumerism makes people feel like there are in

competition with each other, making them less interested in interacting with each other which

leads to less social interactions and connections, which has its underlying mental and

psychological effects (Passini, 2013). The emphasis of group cooperation and the needs of the

group rather than the individual fosters more community interaction which is a source of

happiness.

From what we have seen, people do not need money to be happy since money is not the

only source of happiness. In both socialist and anarchist systems, there is no separation of people

into different classes determined by the amount of wealth that one has and hence people can

freely interact and share resources with each other which leads to overall happiness within a

society.
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References

Goodwin, N., Nelson, J. A., Ackerman, F., & Weisskopf, T. (2008). Consumption and the

consumer society. Global Development and Environment Institute, 1-26.

Heywood, A. (2017). Political ideologies: An introduction. Macmillan International Higher

Education.

Passini, S. (2013). A binge-consuming culture: The effect of consumerism on social interactions

in western societies. Culture & Psychology, 19(3), 369-390.