56:824:721 Community & WellBeing (Happiness and Place)
http:theaok.github.io/swb
(56:834:650 special problems in pub pol and adm)
Spring 2022 Mon 6.00-8.50pm BSB-134
Till jan31 (inclusive) online! zoom (pwd if needed: eF7h0q) https://rutgers.zoom.us/j/8892839953?pwd=dFhiTE1BZVlnMXdWSWN6d3N3MXI0QT09
instructor
Adam Okulicz-Kozaryn adam.okulicz.kozaryn@gmail.com
office: 321 Cooper St, room 302; office hours: Mon 4-5, and by
appointment, typically I am at my office most of Mon and Thu this semester
prerequisites
None
course description
Happiness, in addition to or even as opposed to income, is being
recognized as an end goal and a key measure of development. Happiness,
or to use a more scholarly term, Subjective Wellbeing (SWB) is increasingly being studied across social science fields--this class focuses on geographic dimension of it:
community, location, and urbanicity.
Much of the class will be devoted to urban-rural SWB.
Happiness can also be used to
address social problems--it provides a measure (a yardstick) of how
social problems affect human flourishing.
Two key and related social problems will
be considered: poverty and inequality. Two related remedies will be considered
as well: redistribution and welfare. Another key social problem to be
considered is consumerism / conspicuous consumption.
The class is mostly about theory, classic and key findings, but a substantial
part of the course will be devoted to data and quantitative findings.
The main outcome is
self-reported, subjective assessment of one's life satisfaction (SWB), but other
related outcomes will be considered as well, for instance, some
objective social indicators, such as urban quality of life. Therefore,
the class is little broader than just SWB, and fits under umbrella of
social indicators research. Eg, a great soc ind to study is trust/social capital.
Social indicators field is so broad that
it fits just about into any research agenda across all social science:
in this class you'll be able to use happiness (or other social
indicators such as quality of life) to explore your existing research interests.
To some degree, the class will be customized to student
interests. The goal is ambitious: the key product of class attendance is publishable paper
[Don't worry if you are not quant! I can help you or indeed do the
quant part for you if you can do other parts]. Realistically, in
many cases, won't be able to send it to a journal by the end of the
class, but I volunteer my time after the semester ends (ideally
should wrap it up within the following semster)--so yes that's the
requirement for an A to submit to a journal publishable article by
the end of the class OR have it almost publishable and submit within
the next semester..
learning objectives/outcomes
learn the theory of subjective wellbeing (SWB) field
become familiar with social indicators field
become familiar with wealth of data available in the field
analyze the data
write a publishable paper
become happier (really!)
required textbook
Campbell A et al "The Quality of American Life: Perceptions, Evaluations, and
Satisfactions," just $7! http://a.co/5ZExiLC
[also few hardcopies at ru libraries]
recommended books
Diener E et al "Well-Being for Public Policy" amzn pricey $25+,
so just read
online
(or this link)
Okulicz-Kozaryn A "Happiness and Place: Why Life is Better
Outside of the City." I will give you a copy of a draft of the
second edition
Rhonda Phillips and Cecilia Wong Editors "Handbook of Community Well-Being Research"
recommended datasets
Again, publish or perish! In this class we will write a publishable
paper (you won't get an A unless your paper is good enough to be
submitted to a decent journal (SIR, ARIQ, JOHS) and you submit it at the end of the
class!).
These are easy to use and very helpful with the paper. But if you
want neighb/community level, do
see http://robertdputnam.com/bowling-alone/research/,
and later class on community: a handful of papers about
neighb lev swb in toronto (free data), oslo, cali, etc
Campbell
A free dataset accompanying
the book: can calculate and study everything from the book
yourself AND use these data for you final project! https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/3508
and followup dataset from 1978: https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/7762
TODO: post 2 rudimentary dofiles for raw, and cleaned up: lookfor, des, sum, table, graphs, reg
The website has full annual files and best is cumulative 1972-2020.
I cleaned it up and just retained a bunch of key vars
To find variables, just ctrl-f in cumulative codebook from GSS website
for a string you are interested in, say for happiness/life satisfaction do "happ" to
pick up both "happiness" and "happy" and for satisfaction "satis" to
pick up "satisfied" and "satisfaction." Or in stata "lookfor," eg
"lookfor inc" to find income variables.
gss72.do
TODO: post 2 rudimentary dofiles for raw, and cleaned up: lookfor, des, sum, table, graphs, reg
I also highly recommend buying a book about GSS: "Social Trends in
American Life: Findings from the General Social Survey since 1972"
edited by Peter V. Marsden. Used version just \$5 http://a.co/d/ewznUY4
Covers 80 counties, 7 waves of data for many countries going back to
80s, a wonderful dataset to explore happiness internationally, and as
the name idicated the data is about values across the world. The above
website includes the data and codebooks, and again, probably most of
time want a cumulative dataset
TODO: post 2 rudimentary dofiles for raw, and cleaned up: lookfor, des, sum, table, graphs, reg
https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/pages/ICPSR/ssvd/
replication materials
cars and happiness paper: replicateLsCar.zip
work and happiness paper: REPLICATION.tar.bz2
requirements/advice
2 keys to success: start early AND ask often many questions
There are 5 problem sets (ps) due the following week after being
posted (unless indicated otherwise). You may
work in groups (<=3), but indicate who you worked with,
and the more people in the group, the better the ps must be. The
group must submit only one ps. All ps are stepping stones to the final paper: outline, drafts, presentation(s).
You will write a paper: either theory, literature review, or
empirical investigation. A typical paper will be 5 to 25
double spaced pages. Important!: To receive full credit, your paper
must be "publishable" and submitted to a peer-reviewed journal at
the end of the course. Publish or perish!
grading
problem sets 50% (5ps x 10%)
paper 50%
calendar
when printing handouts you can print multiple slides per sheet (i
like 6) http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/332/332720.html#main_Print multiple
jan24 introduction
zoom vid; pwd: F=dvEg1K
Overview of the class material and policies. Overview of data
sources and discussion of your research interests: so that you can start working on paper from day 1.
ps0.pdf
ps1.pdf
ps2.pdf
shortIntroData.pdf
diveIntoSWB.pdf cover as much as
possible, say throught 'history and philosphy'
Skim through doing literature review: you must be doing it in
this class in addition to assigned stuff, shoot for 50+ great refs asap: http://theaok.github.io/generic/howToGoogSch.html
campbell ch1, *(diener ch1, okulicz-kozaryn sec1.2)
final_project.pdf: 'inline response'
and TOC only for others
we flip the class and start working on ps0, discussion of YOUR
research interest as they relate to this class
if time: discuss campbell, diener, and my book
history, philosophy, validity, the 5 theories, classics
[old vid]
[old vid]
What is, what is the field about?
diveIntoSWB.pdf
validity: just skim through: campbell ch2,4, Diener at al "Theory and validity of life satisfaction scales"
[*] diener ch 2,5 [useful, important]
[*] diener ch 3-4
[*] Happiness in human history: McMahon D "Happiness: A history"
[*] Philosophers on happiness: Aristotle, Bentham and others.
[in person! no more zoom!] feb7 the 5 SWB theories and
the classics
[old vid]
vid
We start with discussion of your projects, and see if you can
form collaborations on data, literature etc: seems that several
people will be using GSS data for instance. We will elaborate on the
theories introduced last week and discuss them in depth, please do read the following:
Veenhoven's livability theory
Brickman's adaptation: lottery winners and paraplegics
Carvers happiness as motivator
campbell ch5-6 *(diener ch6, okulicz-kozaryn sec1.2.4)
[*] look at other readings cited in the slides, especially those interesting/relevant to you
public policy and community development
pubPol.pdf
ps overall quick discussion: hows projects?? lets skim through
replication materials towards the begining of the sylabus
Kahneman et al: how happy a person is during various activities: note commute and social capital
AOK Happiness Research for Public Policy and Administration
Sen
and Stiglitz "Report by the commission on the measurement of economic performance and social progress": just skim through
[*] The science of happiness for policymakers: An overview. By Weijers, Dan
[*] Diener all chapters
[*] Hagerty MR et al "Quality of life indexes for national policy: Review and agenda for research."
feb21 the new science of SWB and community development
vid
[old vid]
ps3.pdf
need to get going on ps2!! email me viable proposal by tomorrow for immediate 2pts of extCre!!
ps1 presentations 10min +10min disscussion
com.pdf
comSwb.pdf:
campbell ch7,ch12-14
feb28 q and a; flip the class work on ps3
vid
[old vid]
do read at home (as always do ask q if anything
unclear) https://theaok.github.io/generic/howToPaper.html
continue last week presentations: ebshoy, giovi, yanyan
spend substantial portion of the class on how to move your
research forward into a publishable paper, may also discuss final_project.pdf
if time: look at replication of my papers
mar7 ps3 presentations (7min sharp (ill cut you off): focus on
new stuff, esp results and findings (skip background)(+10min comments,discussion)
vid
[old vid]
[old vid]
ps4.pdf
[if time: review and wrap-up of what we did so far, especially the happiness theories and key points in public policy]
mar14 sp break
mar21 sp22: we got behind: do community development from
feb21
vid
michael: seligman 'flourish'
andrea: bok book
yanyan: Making Democracy Work by Putnam
happinessAndPlace.pdf
Okulicz-Kozaryn A "Happiness and Place..." all chapters, discuss my book
[sp22: no time:] focus mostly on your projects and discuss/brainstorm them
L Wirth: Urbanism as a Way of Life
AOK, Mazelis: Urbanism and happiness: A test of Wirths theory of urban life
apr4 ps4 presentations (8min sharp (ill cut you off): focus on
new stuff, esp results and findings (skip background)(+10min
comments,discussion)
vid
ps5.pdf
apr11 materialism, consumerism, conspicuous consumption
vid
first flip the class and work on papers, discuss my comments;
QandA; general ps comments in con.pdf
con.pdf
my paper, read it, or at list skim through: https://theaok.github.io/junk/gssLonnieRubia-lg-nov11.pdf
[*] Veblen T "Conspicuous consumption" and "The theory of the leisure class; an economic study of institutions"
[*] Leonard A "The story of stuff: How our obsession with stuff is trashing the planet, our communities, and our health-and a vision for change"
[*] Kasser T et al "A dark side of the American dream: correlates of financial success as a central life aspiration."
[*] Kasser T "The high price of materialism"
[*] Frank RH "The Darwin economy: Liberty, competition, and the common good"
remember ps2/book presentations are 15min sharp! more like
main talking points, key bottom line, no more than 15slides! idally 3-10slides (and 25min discussion)
Ebshoy livability
Giovi Happier Now: How to Stop Chasing Perfection and Embrace Everyday Moments (Even the Difficult Ones)
Tricia Laziness Does Not Exist
Doug Compass of Pleasure
discuss Andreas results
vote whether go out for the last/next class (see next class)
brian: freud civilization and its discontents
wrap up everything we did so far, especially
revisit diveIntoSWB.pdf
disscuss your projects: anyone mini-presentation?
final_project.pdf
if time: my research in pictures
check out my paper on happiness and pop growth across us
counties: pdf
and colab
may2 meet at Hilton, bring laptop and/or printouts so that
we can discuss your study and have mini/roundtable presentations of
ps5
again: publishing is critical: publish or perish: if we didnt
manage to submit this to a journal, lets not have our time
wasted, and continue working after the class
final paper due sp22: may12 6pm
rules
do not share or link to class videos!
These videocasts and podcasts are the exclusive copyrighted property of Rutgers University and the Professor teaching the course. Rutgers University and the Professor grant you a license only to replay them for your own personal use during the course. Sharing them with others (including other students), reproducing, distributing, or posting any part of them elsewhere -- including but not limited to any internet site -- will be treated as a copyright violation and an offense against the honesty provisions of the Code of Student Conduct. Furthermore, for Law Students, this will be reported by the Law School to the licensing authorities in any jurisdiction in which you may apply to the bar.
attendance
Attendance is recommended. Be advised that you are
responsible for any material covered in the class, whether or not it was in the readings or
lecture notes. You are also responsible for any announcements made in class. For most
students, attendance is simply essential to learning the material. If you do need to miss a
class, be sure to consult with a fellow student to learn what transpired.
incompletes: Generally speaking, the material in this course is best learned as a single unit. I
will grant incompletes only in cases where a substantial change in life circumstances occurs that
is beyond the control of the student, and only with appropriate
documentation.
study groups. You are encouraged to form a regular study group. Many students over the years
have found the study groups to be very helpful. Study groups are permitted and encouraged to
work on the problem sets together. However, each individual student should write up his or her
own answer to hand in, based on his or her own understanding of the material. Do not hand in a
copy of another person’s problem set, even a member of your own group. Writing up your own
answer helps you to internalize the group discussions and is a crucial step in the learning process.
Academic Integrity. I am very serious about this. Make no
mistake--I may appear accommodating and informal--but I am extremely
strict about academic integrity. Violations of academic integrity include cheating on tests or handing in
assignments that do not reflect your own work and/or the work of a study group in which you
actively participated. Handing in your own work that was performed not
for this class (e.g. other class, any other project) is cheating,
too. I have a policy of zero tolerance for cheating. Violations will be referred
to the appropriate university authorities.
For more information see http://fas.camden.rutgers.edu/student-experience/academic-integrity-policy
Accommodating Students with Disabilities.
Any student with a disability affecting performance in the class
should contact the disability office ASAP: http://learn.camden.rutgers.edu/disability/disabilities.html