{"id":184258,"date":"2022-04-18T06:55:52","date_gmt":"2022-04-18T10:55:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=184258"},"modified":"2023-06-27T12:35:33","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T16:35:33","slug":"psychological-tips-arent-enough-policies-need-to-address-structural-inequities-so-everyone-can-flourish-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2022\/04\/psychological-tips-arent-enough-policies-need-to-address-structural-inequities-so-everyone-can-flourish-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Psychological Tips Aren\u2019t Enough \u2013 Policies Need to Address Structural Inequities so Everyone Can Flourish"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cLanguishing<\/a>\u201d is the in-vogue term for today\u2019s widely shared sense of pandemic malaise. According to\u00a0some psychologists<\/a>, you can stop languishing with\u00a0simple steps<\/a>: Savor the small stuff. Do five good deeds. Find activities that let you \u201cflow<\/a>.\u201d Change how you think and what you do, and today\u2019s languishing can become tomorrow\u2019s\u00a0flourishing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But in an unjust world burdened by concurrent threats \u2013 war, a pandemic, the slow burn of climate change \u2013 does this argument ring true? Can\u00a0simple activities<\/a>\u00a0like these really help us \u2013 all of us \u2013 flourish?<\/p>\n

As social scientists who study\u00a0flourishing and health<\/a>, we have watched this psychological approach capture\u00a0attention<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 and\u00a0massive investment<\/a>. Most of this work is rooted in\u00a0positive psychology<\/a>, a fast-growing field that sees individuals as largely responsible for their own flourishing. This new research, most of it survey-based,\u00a0aims to revamp health and social policy<\/a>, nationally and globally. It may well succeed at this \u2014 which has us concerned.<\/p>\n

What could be wrong with a worldwide effort to help people flourish?\u00a0Our concern<\/a>\u00a0is that a narrowly psychological approach overestimates individuals\u2019 control over their own\u00a0well-being<\/a>, while underestimating the role of systemic inequities, including those that\u00a0well-designed laws and policies can help address<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here’s What People Told Us Affected Flourishing<\/strong><\/p>\n

As researchers who combine surveys with interviews, we know that thousands of data points can tell us many things \u2013 but not the stuff you learn from sitting down with people to talk, and listen.<\/p>\n

In a\u00a0new paper<\/a>\u00a0based on our\u00a0collaborative research<\/a>, we asked open-ended questions that surveys cannot answer. Not just, \u201cAre you flourishing?,\u201d but also: \u201cWhy, or why not? What helps you flourish? What gets in the way?\u201d<\/p>\n

We took our questions to public libraries and private boardrooms, coffee shops and kitchen tables throughout Greater Cleveland, Ohio, speaking with 170 people from different backgrounds: men and women, rich and poor, liberal and conservative, Black, white and Latino. Would their answers align, we wondered? Would they mesh with the experts\u2019?<\/p>\n

In one area, our interviewees\u2019 perspectives line up with leading survey research: For over 70%, social connections had a powerful impact on whether they felt they were flourishing. But other topics people raised are\u00a0ignored in most leading studies of flourishing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For instance, a full 70% mentioned a stable income. Nearly as many flagged what public health professionals call the\u00a0social determinants of health<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 reliable access to things like healthy food, transportation, education and a safe place to live. Some also cited discrimination, unequal treatment by the police, and other factors described as\u00a0structural determinants of health<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Poverty, Inequity, and Racism Get in the Way<\/strong><\/p>\n

For people who face inequity in their own lives, the links between adversity and flourishing were crystal clear.<\/p>\n

Over half of interviewees described themselves as flourishing. But less than half of those earning $30,000 or less annually were flourishing, compared to almost 90% of those with household incomes over $100,000. More than two-thirds of white interviewees were flourishing versus less than half of Black interviewees. And nearly three-quarters of people with a bachelor\u2019s degree were flourishing, compared to just over half of those without.<\/p>\n

A Latina woman we interviewed explained how poverty and other forms of\u00a0structural vulnerability<\/a>\u00a0can impair flourishing: \u201cIf you have a home that\u2019s infested with roaches, and mold, and lead, and water, then after you\u2019ve worked so hard, you come home and just want to rest. And then you\u2019re like oh, I don\u2019t have food, and you didn\u2019t want to cook \u2026 then you\u2019re eating unhealthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

She described how all these factors affect relationships too: \u201cYou\u2019re not being a good mom because you\u2019re angry. \u2026 You cannot give 100% at home. \u2026 You cannot give 100% to work, and you cannot give 100% to social life, and you have no friends because you\u2019re so angry nobody wants to talk to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Other interviewees told us how entrenched racism obstructs flourishing. One Black woman described racism\u2019s grinding toll as \u201cexhausting\u201d and \u201csuch a heavy lift every day.\u201d She compared it to a game of chess requiring \u201cstrategies all day long.\u201d The constant vigilance and pressure she described fit\u00a0what health researchers call weathering<\/a>, or premature deterioration in health.<\/p>\n

Under circumstances like these, would savoring the small things and doing good deeds really help?<\/p>\n

To us, the answer is clear: Without the conditions that enable flourishing, psychological exercises will inevitably fall short. More importantly, they risk leaving behind those already facing adversity and injustice.<\/p>\n

Collective Flourishing Requires Structural Change<\/strong><\/p>\n

The path to flourishing is no simple issue of mind over matter. It also depends on society\u2019s systems and structures:\u00a0Safe, affordable housing<\/a>. A\u00a0living wage<\/a>.\u00a0Solutions to systemic racism<\/a>. Affordable,\u00a0quality food<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0health care<\/a>, including\u00a0mental health care<\/a>. As\u00a0decades of public health research have shown<\/a>, factors like these deeply affect health and\u00a0well-being<\/a>. We contend that flourishing research and policy need to consider these factors as well.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing wrong with taking concrete steps to cultivate kindness, gratitude and connections with others. To the contrary, these are great ways to improve mental health and strengthen social solidarity. But tips like these are probably most helpful to people whose lives and livelihoods are already secure. For those who struggle to meet their basic needs and those of their loved ones, it will take a lot more than simple activities to flourish. It will take structural change.<\/p>\n

\u201cHostile environments thwart flourishing; congenial environments promote it,\u201d as disability justice scholar\u00a0Rosemary Garland-Thomson<\/a>\u00a0puts it. Unless political leaders are willing to tackle the\u00a0root causes<\/a>\u00a0of social inequities, chances of flourishing inevitably will be unequal.<\/p>\n

Positive psychologists<\/a>\u00a0tend to see flourishing as a psychological matter, separate from social and political conditions. Our interviewees tell a different story. Policy proposals that ignore real-world perspectives like theirs risk leading policymakers astray.<\/p>\n

Ancient views of flourishing may help forge a path forward. For Aristotle,\u00a0flourishing is not just about happiness or satisfaction<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 it involves achieving your potential. In his view, this responsibility lies in one\u2019s own hands. But modern\u00a0public health research shows<\/a>\u00a0that the ability to achieve your potential depends heavily on the circumstances in which you are born, grow and live.<\/p>\n

In hostile environments \u2013 of exclusion and oppression, scarcity and risk, war and forcible displacement \u2013 no one can flourish. Unless all of us \u2013 citizens, policymakers and researchers alike \u2013 are prepared to confront the\u00a0root causes of today\u2019s hostile environments<\/a>, efforts to promote flourishing will inevitably miss the mark.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Originally published in The Conversation.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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