The Sociological Theory of Reward Redistribution in the Body and the Easterlin Paradox in Well-Being Measures in the U.S.

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Abstract

In 1974, the economist Richard Easterlin noted that despite decades of major economic growth after WWII, general well-being measures did not increase across the U.S. population. The same is true for the period between the 1970's and the present. Indeed, economic gains in the last years have been associated with a modest decline in well-being measures, both in the U.S. and across the OECD. Most explanations of this pattern focus on the impact of the diminishing marginal utility of economic gains when the average GDP per capita is already at high levels. However, there are several problems with this analysis. The sociological theory of reward redirection in the body takes a different perspective. It proposes that while there are still rewarding benefits from economic growth, these gains are offset by the increased costs in the pursuit of other rewards in other areas of individual life. The result of this trade-off is that even as economic growth continues decade after decade, well-being measures show only minimal gains, or flatten out, or even show modest declines. The reward redirection model is useful here because it is important to better understand the trajectory in the relationship of economic growth to general well-being in modern economies.

Author

• Michael Hammond, University of Toronto