Omitted Variables in the Geographical Treatment of Well-Being and Happiness

Abstract EN

This paper provides a critical engagement with state-of-the-art research from positive psychology and behavioral genetics that directly challenges social geographers’ working hypothesis that people’s well-being and happiness can dramatically be improved by suitably modifying unjust social arrangements and exploitative economic relations.

It is intended to generate interest in this neglected body of work in general and awareness of its politically regressive implications in particular.