What Drives Meaning?
Some good Pew data here on what makes life meaningful, including the image above. This is from a study of 19,000 adults across 17 industrialized nations, and it does make you wonder who in the USA was being surveyed, because “Occupation” in the four-slot does not sound like the USA’s work-until-it-breaks-you culture. Here’s kinda the “nut” or summary graph:
From analyzing people’s answers, it is clear that one source of meaning is predominant: family. In 14 of the 17 advanced economies surveyed, more mention their family as a source of meaning in their lives than any other factor. Highlighting their relationships with parents, siblings, children and grandchildren, people frequently mention quality time spent with their kinfolk, the pride they get from the accomplishments of their relatives and even the desire to live a life that leaves an improved world for their offspring. In Australia, New Zealand, Greece and the United States, around half or more say their family is something that makes their lives fulfilling.
This is also somewhat interesting, in light of the whole “Religion is in the toilet” discourse in America:
The topic of faith, religion and spirituality is also one where some societies notably differ. Outside of the U.S., religion is never one of the top 10 sources of meaning cited — and no more than 5% of any non-American public mention it. In the U.S., however, 15% mention religion or God as a source of meaning, making it the fifth most mentioned topic.
Now think about polarization for a second, and realize how ridiculous it is that we fight about dumb political shit — and over-politicize everything — when in reality, our goals and sources of meaning are pretty similar.
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In most respects, men and women are quite similar with regard to what gives them meaning. But women are somewhat more likely to mention family as a source of satisfaction in their lives than are men in most places surveyed. Women are also somewhat more likely to emphasize their health than are men.
I’ve heard this described as the “7 percent” problem, meaning we basically agree on 93% of life and what should be happening within it, but it’s the other 7% that causes all the flare-ups. This is why concepts like “latitude of acceptance” are important.
Then if you get down into “finding meaning in others,” they start to insult dogs, and I just can’t have that. I’m GHOST. I love my doggy.
I think in general, if someone called or emailed me with this survey, I’d go:
To have work even in the top-5 makes me cringe, but eh. It needs to be there, I suppose.
What would your list be?