Good Societies & Compassion In a World of Wealth

7/29/2019 Good Societies & Compassion In a World of Wealth

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Good SocietiesRon Anderson, Professor Emeritus, Univ. of Minn.

([email protected])

Twelve Components* (&Sample Indicators)

1 Economic Sustainability (Income, inequality)

2 Child Well-Being (Often eating with parents)

3 Safety (Few homicides)

4 Health (Self-reported health, incidence of AIDS)

5 Non-Violence (Low arms exports)

6 Integrity & Social Justice (Corruption-free organizations)

7 Civil Society (Freedom of the Press)

8 Compassion (Caregiving time, also hosting refugees)

9 Environmental Sustainability (Emissions, renewables)

10 Education (Reading, graduation rates)

11 Social Sustainability (Subjective well-being, migration)

12 Social Cohesion (Trust, tolerance, union membership)

Good Societies Index, Sub-Indexes

Full slide presentation is available at

http://www.compassionatesocieties.org/

index.php/social-well-being/good-societies

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Good Societies Index, 2012

List of Good Society Index, 2012 Indicators and Sub-Indexes

No. Indicator Name Index Concepts1a Inequality-Adjusted Income Economic Sustainability

1b Low adult poverty Economic Sustainability

1c Employment Economic Sustainability

1d Technology Innovation Policy Economic Sustainability

2a Low child poverty Child Well-Being

2b Low percent living in single-parent families Child Well-Being

2c Percent often eating evening meal with parent(s) Child Well-Being

2e Low Adolescent Fertility Child Well-Being

3a Low homicide rate Safety

3b National Security Index Safety

3c Life expectancy Safety

3d Low road fatalities Safety

4a Self-reported good health Health4b Low incidence of AIDS Health

4c Low obesity Health

4d Low Avoidable Hospital Admissions Health

5a Contributions to peace Non-Violence

5b Low Armed forces per capita Non-Violence

5c Low military spending per person Non-Violence

5d Low arms exports Non-Violence

6a Corruption-free organizations Integrity & Social Justice

6b Index of Corporate Social Responsibility Integrity & Social Justice

6e Protection of citizens from surveillance Integrity & Social Justice

6d Low prison populations Integrity & Social Justice

7a Democracy Index Civil Society

7b Turnout in national elections Civil Society

7d Freedom of the press Civil Society

7e Percent of Women Members of Congress/Parliament Civil Society

8a Kindness & helpfulness of peers Compassion8b Refugees hosted per citizen Compassion

8c Index of aid to developing countries Compassion

8d Caregiving Minutes per day Compassion

9a Low Carbon Dioxide Emissions Environmental Sustainability

9b Environmental Performance Index Environmental Sustainability

9c Low Municipal Waste Environmental Sustainability

9d Renewables as share of energy used Environmental Sustainability

10a Upper Secondary School Graduation Rates Education

10b Adult Education Participation Rates Education

10c Reading Competencies of 15-year olds Education

10d Teacher Salary Levels Education

11a Subjective Well-being Social Sustainability

11b Public Confidence in Social Institutions Social Sustainability

11c Economists Quality of Life Index Social Sustainability

11d Migration In-flow Social Sustainability

12aTrust Social Cohesion12b Tolerance of community Social Cohesion

12c Union membership Social Cohesion

12d Families Social Cohesion

Conceptual Roots:

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& Compassion

GoodSo

cietyInd

ex

(AllCo

mponent

s)

1.Ec

onomic

Sustain

ability

Index

i2.Child

Well

-bein

gInd

ex

3.SafetyInd

ex

4.He

alth

&Health

-careInd

ex

5.No

n-Vi

olence

Index

6.Integrity

and

SocialJ

ustic

eIndex

7.CivilS

ociet

yInd

ex

8.Co

mpa

ssion

Index

9.En

vironm

entalS

ustain

ability

10.Edu

catio

n

11.Social

Sustain

-abilit

yInd

ex

12SocialC

ohesionIn

dex

Overall(avera

ge)G

oodS

ociet

yIn

dex

Australia 96 98 104 100 93 97 105 98 81 98 111 102 98

Austria 106 101 97 99 111 96 101 1 07 107 94 99 96 101

Belgium 96 110 95 105 103 101 104 98 92 97 86 103 99

Canada 100 95 103 106 103 110 100 107 96 99 103 107 102

Denmark 117 106 97 104 103 109 115 103 95 94 109 107 105

Finland 107 106 96 98 109 114 110 99 106 114 105 117 106

France 103 97 100 98 92 92 84 90 104 89 91 85 93

Germany 100 92 101 97 102 92 103 104 97 104 90 96 98

Ireland 85 100 98 106 103 96 96 104 88 92 107 97 97

Italy 84 109 105 96 103 99 85 90 101 97 88 96 96

Japan 97 111 110 102 112 91 87 100 102 112 90 89 100

Ne therlands 109 109 105 105 95 106 114 110 91 101 104 108 104

New Zealand 99 86 105 100 102 106 108 1 10 113 108 100 98 102

Norway 115 106 109 108 102 108 115 1 14 106 100 109 111 108

Portugal 93 99 94 89 117 97 89 97 109 99 75 86 95

Spain 92 102 97 97 109 96 97 86 96 88 94 98 96

Sweden 106 104 107 102 93 108 118 1 18 119 95 108 118 107

Switzerland 109 109 108 110 102 111 97 96 111 110 120 94 106

UK 95 86 98 101 81 91 87 94 98 101 93 94 93

United States 82 72 80 70 68 73 78 91 79 90 101 92 85

Good Society Index Scores and its 12 Sub-

Indexes for each of the 20 Richest Countries

over Three Million Population

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Indicator Data Used Source

Kindness & helpfulness of peersPercent of children age 11, 13, 15, who

reported kind peers

Health Behavior of School age Children

study, 2001

Refugees hosted per citizenRefugees hosted per 1,000 citizens UM Refugee Agency Statistical Yearbook,

2008

Government aid to developing countries Index of Aid to Developing Countries, 2009Center for Global Development, Commit. To

Development Index

Caregiving minutes per day Government social expenditures in 2005 OECD (2011), Society at a Glance 2011

Compassion Index Indicators

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Hypothesis: Compassion is a core attribute of good

societies because such people take social responsibilities.

.

Outcome: True. Countries with greater levels of

compassion are high on the Good Society Index.

Surprise: Americans, compared to other rich countries,rank both low in compassion and low on the good society

index.

In a World of

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Hypothesis: Religious commitment leads to

greater compassion.

Outcome: False. The correlation by country isbetween lower religious commitment and

compassion.

Surprise: The people of the United States,

compared to other rich countries, are both quitereligious and among those low in compassion.

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Hypothesis: More compassionate societies tend to accept

higher tax burdens because of their concern for others.

Outcome: True. Countries with greater levels of

compassion have the highest tax burdens.

Surprise: The people of the United States, compared toother rich countries, are both low in compassion and have

the lowest tax burden of the 20 wealthiest countries.

Wealth

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Hypothesis: Compassion and gender inequality are

unrelated.

Outcome: False. The correlation is not strong but countries

with higher gender inequality tend to be low incompassion.

Surprise: The United States is the most gender unequal of

rich countries due to relatively few women in congress,

high adolescent reproduction, and high deaths in

childbirth.

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Notes on Video of Growth in Gender Equality &

Human Development (UN Human Dev. Index, 2011)

Bubble Chart Video starts in 1995

Bubble Chart Video Midway in 2002

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Notes on Video of Growth in Gender Equality &

Human Development (UN Human Dev. Index, 2011

Bubble Chart Video Ends in 2011

CONCLUSIONS1. Remarkable social change over the past 15 years:

2. Most countries moved toward greater development

and gender equality.

3. Kuwait and United Arab Emirates made great strides

in gender equality. (Watch them stream horizontally

to the left across the chart.)

4. China moves erratically upward and sideways.

5. Sweden stands out as the most gender equal and the

highest in human development, which is defined

here as the geometric mean of GDP, life expectancy,

and average years of schooling.6. Gender equality in the USA declined slightly.

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Conclusions1. Quality of life differences among

affluent societies obviously can notbe explained by economics (wealthor income) alone.

2. How people view their compassion-related social responsibilitiesshapes the distribution of well-being in societies.

3. Consistent with numerouscomparative analysts (such asLindert (2004), Pontusso (2005), andKenworthy (2004)) the Nordiccountries topped the Good

Societies Index.4. These results confirm that it is not

necessary for an affluent society tobe an individualistic, anti-government society.

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Conclusions (cont.)

5. The USA is not just a step behind other nations. On

prison rates, obesity, murders, and defense spending,

the USA is not just higher, but two to three times

higher than the next highest nation.

6. While critics might argue for selection of differentindicators, these results shown here give cause to

pause and reflect on how countries like the USA, at the

low end of the Good Society Index, could change

course and improve the well-being of all its citizens

7. Most of the 20 most affluent countries clustered

around the middle range of the continuum of

indicators for the Good Society. The fact that few of

the countries scored at extremely high points on the

indicators suggests how challenging it is for a rich

society to become or remain a Good Society.

8. We who enjoy the comfort of living in these rich

societies should not forget about the many millions

who live with us but struggle daily from homelessness,

discrimination, and even hunger. 12

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Good Societies & Compassion In a World of Wealth