Spirituality Practice, Generosity and Religiosity in Affluent Societies

Ron Anderson , University of Minnesota, USA

& Foundation for Compassionate Politics

[email protected] Presentation at the International Society for Quality of Life Studies

Florence, Italy, July 21, 2009

1Ron Anderson – [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Spirituality is contemplating ultimate human concerns, including suffering

Compassion is the desire to alleviate this suffering

Generosity is acting on this compassionGenerosity thus becomes the practice

of spirituality

April 22, 2023 Ron Anderson – [email protected] 2

“Spirituality is the ability not to worry about spirituality”---from Peace, Love, and Chocolate – Spiritual Humor

Sociology of Caring & Compassion, the conceptual starting point Oliners’ sociology of caring Wuthrow’s theory of compassion & individualism Bellah’s sociology of commitment Etzioni’s “Spirit of Community”

Ecological economics, a guidepost Suggesting that we ask what are the elements

needed for sustainability of social organizations?



Responsibility

Peace

= intersection that defines a truly sustainable community or society

Nine Components (& Sample Indicators)

Socio-Economic Well-Being (Income Inequality)Child Well-Being (Often eating with parents)Human Life (Few homicides)Health (Low infant Mortality)Non-Violence (Low arms exports)Integrity & Social Justice (Human rights protections)Civil Society (Low television viewing)Environment (Low carbon emissions)Generosity (Volunteering for social service work)

5Ron Anderson – [email protected] 22, 2023

Forty-two social Indicators were selected that reflected the degree of suffering in a society or whether the people were acting to reduce suffering

either now or in the future. These 42 indicators fall into the 9

components



*Rich countries with tiny populations were not included.

The Twenty Most Affluent* Countries

Australia Germany Portugal

Austria Ireland Spain

Belgium Italy Sweden

Canada Japan Switzerland

Denmark Netherlands United Kingdom

Finland New Zealand United States

France Norway

Steps1. Locate the statistic (e.g., % or mean) for each country for any

given indicator2. Calculate standard scores (z-scores) by subtracting each county

statistic, x, from the mean of all countries, and dividing the result by the standard deviation of all countries

3. Re-standardize each z-score to give each set of scores a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, just like an intelligence test score

4. After this is done for all the indicators in a component set, e.g., health, then the mean of all non-missing scores is calculated for each country, to produce the component index score.

5. The Compassion Action Index is the mean for each country of all nine component scores.


A Glimpse at the Scores for 20 countries & 9 Components


April 22, 2023 12Note: The WVS question was “How important is God in your life?”

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1. 14 self-report questions, each coded 1 for yes and 0 for no

Did you experience the following feelings during A LOT OF THE DAY yesterday? How about..A enjoyment?B physical painC worryD sadnessE stressF angerG depressionH love

Now please think about YESTERDAY, from the morning untill the end of the day. Think of where you were, what you were doing and how you felt.I Did you feel well rested yesterday?J Did you smile or laugh a lot yesterday?K Did you learn or do something interesting yesterday?L Would you like to have more days just like yesterday?M Were you proud of something you did yesterday?N Were you treated with respect all day yesterday

2. Computation: - Average % positive affect = (A+H+I+J+K+L+M+N)/8- Average % negative affect = (B+C+D+E+F+G)/6- Affect Balance = Average % positive affect - Average % negative affect


April 22, 2023 15*Question in WVS: “How satisfied are you with your life these days?”

1. Religious and spiritual approaches to social well-being argue that being generous or giving compassionate love are essential elements of quality lives. Yet we find that religiosity negatively correlates with compassion-based quality of life indicators, i.e., Compassion Action Index. Could it be that compassion is more prevelant in societies where the basis of morality and virtue are not grounded in beliefs about the supernatual? That is, situating compassion in community rather than dogma may be more effective.

2. The sociology of caring argues for generosity as the social fabric for communities and societies (Oliner ). The Compassion Action Index provides a beginning for empirical compassion studies across nations.


3. The fact that the Compassion Action Index is correlated with major indicators of happiness confirms one type of external validty and suggests that further research in this direction should be encouraged.

4. Measures of generous behavior tend to be neglected in studies of the quality of life. This suggests giving this higher priority in future research, not just among affluent societies.


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To promote deep caring for all human beings at all levels (personal, community, nation, and global)

To educate and thus shape public policy toward greater compassion

To be an intersection of ideas and people via a social network tool

Release relevant data and reports on quality of life studies


April 22, 2023CONTACT: Ron Anderson – [email protected]

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CompassionatePolitics.org will feature:• International Advisory Board• Technical details on Index 2009• Articles by various authors• Forum & blog for open dialog• Polls and surveys• News and newsletters

Slides and charts from this presentation can be found at:http://www.soc.umn.edu/~rea/

http://www.soc.umn.edu/~rea/

Spirituality Practice, Generosity and Religiosity in Affluent Societies

Documents

societyron anderson

component scores

social indicators

nonmissing scores

rich countries

component set

standard deviation

component index score