Culture and National Well-Being: Should Societies Emphasize Freedom or Constraint?
Throughout history and within numerous disciplines, there exists a perennial debate about how societies should best be organized. Should they emphasize individual freedom and autonomy or security and constraint? Contrary to proponents who tout the benefits of one over the other, we demonstrate acros...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2015-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0127173 |
| _version_ | 1818588772199038976 |
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| author | Jesse R Harrington Pawel Boski Michele J Gelfand |
| author_facet | Jesse R Harrington Pawel Boski Michele J Gelfand |
| author_sort | Jesse R Harrington |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Throughout history and within numerous disciplines, there exists a perennial debate about how societies should best be organized. Should they emphasize individual freedom and autonomy or security and constraint? Contrary to proponents who tout the benefits of one over the other, we demonstrate across 32 nations that both freedom and constraint exhibit a curvilinear relationship with many indicators of societal well-being. Relative to moderate nations, very permissive and very constrained nations exhibit worse psychosocial outcomes (lower happiness, greater dysthymia, higher suicide rates), worse health outcomes (lower life expectancy, greater mortality rates from cardiovascular disease and diabetes) and poorer economic and political outcomes (lower gross domestic product per capita, greater risk for political instability). This supports the notion that a balance between freedom and constraint results in the best national outcomes. Accordingly, it is time to shift the debate away from either constraint or freedom and focus on both in moderation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-16T09:30:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-45da52729def4f699ba366ad756623f0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-16T09:30:04Z |
| publishDate | 2015-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-45da52729def4f699ba366ad756623f02022-12-21T22:36:33ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032015-01-01106e012717310.1371/journal.pone.0127173Culture and National Well-Being: Should Societies Emphasize Freedom or Constraint?Jesse R HarringtonPawel BoskiMichele J GelfandThroughout history and within numerous disciplines, there exists a perennial debate about how societies should best be organized. Should they emphasize individual freedom and autonomy or security and constraint? Contrary to proponents who tout the benefits of one over the other, we demonstrate across 32 nations that both freedom and constraint exhibit a curvilinear relationship with many indicators of societal well-being. Relative to moderate nations, very permissive and very constrained nations exhibit worse psychosocial outcomes (lower happiness, greater dysthymia, higher suicide rates), worse health outcomes (lower life expectancy, greater mortality rates from cardiovascular disease and diabetes) and poorer economic and political outcomes (lower gross domestic product per capita, greater risk for political instability). This supports the notion that a balance between freedom and constraint results in the best national outcomes. Accordingly, it is time to shift the debate away from either constraint or freedom and focus on both in moderation.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0127173 |
| spellingShingle | Jesse R Harrington Pawel Boski Michele J Gelfand Culture and National Well-Being: Should Societies Emphasize Freedom or Constraint? PLoS ONE |
| title | Culture and National Well-Being: Should Societies Emphasize Freedom or Constraint? |
| title_full | Culture and National Well-Being: Should Societies Emphasize Freedom or Constraint? |
| title_fullStr | Culture and National Well-Being: Should Societies Emphasize Freedom or Constraint? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Culture and National Well-Being: Should Societies Emphasize Freedom or Constraint? |
| title_short | Culture and National Well-Being: Should Societies Emphasize Freedom or Constraint? |
| title_sort | culture and national well being should societies emphasize freedom or constraint |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0127173 |
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