Spirituality Practice, Generosity and Religiosity in Affluent Societies

1. Spirituality Practice, Generosity and Religiosity in Affluent Societies Ron Anderson , University of Minnesota, USA & Foundation for Compassionate Politics rea@umn.edu Presentation at the International Society for Quality of Life Studies Florence, Italy, July 21, 2009 Ron Anderson – rea@umn.edu

2. Spirituality Perspective “Spirituality is the ability not to worry about spirituality” ---from Peace, Love, and Chocolate – Spiritual Humor • Spirituality is contemplating ultimate human concerns, including suffering • Compassion is the desire to alleviate this suffering • Generosity is acting on this compassion • Generosity thus becomes the practice of spirituality Ron Anderson – rea@umn.edu

3. Conceptual framework • Sociology of Caring & Compassion, the conceptual starting point • Oliners’ sociology of caring • Wuthrow’s theory of compassion & individualism • Bellah’s sociology of commitment • Etzioni’s “Spirit of Community” • Ecological economics, a guidepost • Suggesting that we ask what are the elements needed for sustainability of social organizations? Ron Anderson – rea@umn.edu

4. Ingredients of Compassion Peace Responsibility = intersection that defines a truly sustainable community or society Ron Anderson – rea@umn.edu

5. Compassion Action Index Ron Anderson – rea@umn.edu

6. Criteria for Selecting Indicators for the Compassion Action Index • Forty-two social Indicators were selected that reflected • the degree of suffering in a society • or whether the people were acting to reduce suffering either now or in the future. • These 42 indicators fall into the 9 components Ron Anderson – rea@umn.edu

7. Countries in the Compassion Action Index, 2009 *Rich countries with tiny populations were not included. Ron Anderson – rea@umn.edu

8. Calculation of the Compassion Action Index Ron Anderson – rea@umn.edu

9. A Glimpse at the Scores for 20 countries & 9 Components

11. Does the Compassion Action Index Relate to External Religiosity (Church Attendance)? Ron Anderson – rea@umn.edu

12. Does the Compassion Action Index Relate to the importance of one’s belief in God? Note: The WVS question was “How important is God in your life?”

13. Does the Compassion Action Index relate to happiness as measured by yesterday’s feelings?

14. Yesterday’s Affect Scale • 14 self-report questions, each coded 1 for yes and 0 for noDid you experience the following feelings during A LOT OF THE DAY yesterday? How about..A enjoyment?B physical painC worryD sadnessE stressF angerG depressionH loveNow please think about YESTERDAY, from the morning untill the end of the day. Think of where you were, what you were doing and how you felt.I Did you feel well rested yesterday?J Did you smile or laugh a lot yesterday?K Did you learn or do something interesting yesterday?L Would you like to have more days just like yesterday?M Were you proud of something you did yesterday?N Were you treated with respect all day yesterday • Computation: - Average % positive affect = (A+H+I+J+K+L+M+N)/8- Average % negative affect = (B+C+D+E+F+G)/6- Affect Balance = Average % positive affect - Average % negative affect Ron Anderson – rea@umn.edu

15. Does the Compassion Action Index relate to happiness as measured* by satisfaction with life? *Question in WVS: “How satisfied are you with your life these days?”

16. Four Conclusions • Religious and spiritual approaches to social well-being argue that being generous or giving compassionate love are essential elements of quality lives. Yet we find that religiosity negatively correlates with compassion-based quality of life indicators, i.e., Compassion Action Index. Could it be that compassion is more prevelant in societies where the basis of morality and virtue are not grounded in beliefs about the supernatual? That is, situating compassion in community rather than dogma may be more effective. • The sociology of caring argues for generosity as the social fabric for communities and societies (Oliner ). The Compassion Action Index provides a beginning for empirical compassion studies across nations. Ron Anderson – rea@umn.edu

17. Conclusions 3. The fact that the Compassion Action Index is correlated with major indicators of happiness confirms one type of external validty and suggests that further research in this direction should be encouraged. 4. Measures of generous behavior tend to be neglected in studies of the quality of life. This suggests giving this higher priority in future research, not just among affluent societies. Ron Anderson – rea@umn.edu

18. CompassionatePoliitcs.org Ron Anderson – rea@umn.edu

19. Why www.CompassionatePolitics.org? • To promote deep caring for all human beings at all levels (personal, community, nation, and global) • To educate and thus shape public policy toward greater compassion • To be an intersection of ideas and people via a social network tool • Release relevant data and reports on quality of life studies Ron Anderson – rea@umn.edu

20. In September, 2009, look for CompassionatePoliitcs.org • CompassionatePolitics.org will feature: • International Advisory Board • Technical details on Index 2009 • Articles by various authors • Forum & blog for open dialog • Polls and surveys • News and newsletters Slides and charts from this presentation can be found at: http://www.soc.umn.edu/~rea/ CONTACT: Ron Anderson – rea@umn.edu