>“The Subjective Well-being of the Homeless, and Lessons for Happiness” by Robert Biswas-Diener and Ed Diener

“The Subjective Well-being of the Homeless, and Lessons for Happiness” by Robert Biswas-Diener and Ed Diener, Social Indicators Research 78(2): 185-205.

This article taught me a lot about what it means to have well being and how well being and happiness can be attained even in harsh situations. This article investigated homeless people in Calcutta, India, California (USA) and Oregon (USA) and compared them based on factors that would reflect how they felt about their station in life and whether they were happy people. I thought this was an interesting topic because I think (especially in the West) we assume that people who are destitute are completely miserable people. In fact, I think if we looked around out society, some of the most discontented people are the ones who seem to have everything…but that is for another blog!

The most interesting thing that I read in this article was about how part of the reason that the research shows that homeless people in India may have a better sense of well being than those in the US is because there is not such a negative stigma attached to homelessness in India the way there is in the US. For instance, in the US, homeless people are often thought to have “brought it upon themselves” or have some detestable quality that caused them to be homeless, such as alcoholism, drug addiction, or laziness. However, the article says that in India, homelessness is caused by more macroeconomic factors like fierce job competition. Thus, people who are homeless are not thought of as bad people so they do not have such an overbearing social stigma attached to their social position, which the authors say could be a factor in their better sense of self and well being. (This is reflected in a very practical way by the Diener’s research showing that 72% of the homeless surveyed in Calcutta were married as compared to 41% in Oregon—no results were reported from California.)

Another interesting point is that the Indian homeless may also have more happiness because they have a greater sense of community. The homeless in Calcutta tend to group together in certain areas—so they are without a home, but not without community. Now, if you live in the US, what is your stereotypical image of a homeless person? I know for me it is that lone man standing on the interstate ramp, or sitting in the park. So, because in the US, the homeless (on average) to have less of a sense of community, their self and life-satisfaction is less than those in India who have a sort of social network.

A connection that I made in this reading to my reading for last week was that this article also mentioned railway stations as a place that many homeless people are. This was also the case with the street children from last week’s reading. I enjoy being able to find connections like this in my reading because it makes me feel validated that what I am reading, while it is largely interpretation and specific to the location, also may have some overarching truth about it.

Finally, I also found it interesting how the researchers used food satisfaction as a gauge for life quality and happiness. This makes sense, because we always have the thought of homeless people being hungry. It is interesting that the homeless in Calcutta had a significantly higher food satisfaction than the respondents from the US. The authors offer a couple explanations for this: expectations for food are so low that any food received is held in much higher regard, or they are so hungry that they enjoy their food much more, or possibly more food is available to them through social service organizations they visit or charity they receive. I would venture to suggest another reason, though. Could it not be that homeless people in the US see people indulging in great amounts of food all the time and see the results in overweight people constantly so they feel that the food they get is nothing compared to what may be available if people were more generous. However, in India perhaps the homeless population does not have the idea that everyone else gorges themselves all the time, so they could be satisfied with a smaller amount of food. I do not know if that is at all the case, but it is a possibility that crossed my mind.