Abstract
This chapter focuses upon the US as the paradigmatic case of a materially driven, success-oriented society. Since the 1950s, a steady increase in living standards has not made US–Americans any happier. On the contrary, obesity, anxiety, depression and other symptoms of ill-being are on the rise. This chapter identifies the root cause of these negative trends as a mismatch between evolved human behaviors and the novel habitat of material affluence. In consequence the US has become symptomatic of a society out of balance, with many citizens pursuing a self-destructive, competitive lifestyle—working too much and sleeping too little. The chapter closes by asking: is the US exceptional or is its cultural experience the bellwether of a globalizing, consumptive greed that is fed by enticements of our own manufacture?
They (Americans) find prosperity almost everywhere, but not happiness. For them desire for well-being has become a restless, burning passion which increases with satisfaction.
(Alexis de Tocqueville 1835, Democracy in America, vol. I)
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2011) Overweight and obesity: data and statistics. National obesity trends, 1985 to 2010. Available at: www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html. Accessed on 1 Dec 2011
Chain of fools: Hard evidence that securitisation encouraged lax mortgage lending in America. (2008) The Economist, 9 Feb, 84
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) (2011) Trends in the distribution of household income between 1979 and 2007. Available at: www.cbo.gov/publications/42729. Accessed on 1 Dec 2011
De Tocqueville A (1835) Democracy in America. Anchor Books, New York
Hayek F (1988) The fatal conceit: the errors of socialism. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Kessler RC, Berglund PA, Demler O, Jin R, Merikangas KR, Walters EE (2005) Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of DSM-IV disorders in the national comorbidity survey replication (NCS-R). Arch Gen Psychiatry 6:593–602
Komlos J, Brabec M (2010) The trend of mean BMI values of US adult birth cohorts 1882–1986 indicates that the obesity epidemic began earlier than hitherto thought. Am J Hum Biol 22(5):631–638
Lemay L, Zall PM (eds) (1986) Benjamin Franklin: autobiography. WW Norton Critical Editions, New York
Meritocracy in America (2005) The Economist, 1 Jan, 22–24
Offer A, Pechey R, Ulijaszek S (2010) Obesity under affluence varies by welfare regimes: the effect of fast food, insecurity and inequality. Econ Hum Biol 8(3):297–308
Pear R (2011) Top earners doubled share of nation’s income, study shows. New York Times, 25 Oct
Smith A (1776) An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations. Methuen & Co, London
Upper bound: Social mobility and inequality (2010) The Economist, 15 Apr, 37–38
von Bertalanffy L (1969) General systems theory. George Braziller Inc., New York
Whybrow PC (2006) American mania: when more is not enough. WW Norton and Company, New York
Whybrow PC (2009) Dangerously addictive: why we are biologically ill-suited to the riches of modern America. The Chronicle of Higher Education
Whybrow PC (2011) Time urgency, sleep loss and obesity. Proc Br Acad 174:129–140
Wills G (1978) Inventing America: Jefferson’s declaration of independence. Doubleday and Co, New York
World Health Organization (WHO) (2000) Obesity: preventing and managing the global epidemic. WHO Obesity Technical Report Series, 894. World Health Organization, Geneva
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Whybrow, P.C. (2013). Is More Always Better? The American Experiment. In: Brockmann, H., Delhey, J. (eds) Human Happiness and the Pursuit of Maximization. Happiness Studies Book Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6609-9_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6609-9_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-6608-2
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6609-9
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)