My research
We live in rich countries and that has allowed us to resolve many problems. We have freed ourselves of mass poverty, we have access to consumer goods, to education, health care, we live longer and better etc. Despite this, many of us live in a state of uneasiness and malaise. Our social and interpersonal relationships also seem to suffer increasing difficulties and our natural environment is subject to growing threats. We are faced with three crises of sustainability, that of well-being, that of relationships and that of environment. Furthermore, we have no time: We live in a hurry amongst people in a hurry. The promise of economic growth to free us from the fatigue of work seems largely to have been a betrayal. Work continues to take up the majority of people’s vital energy and working experience from westerners is often describe by words like, stress, time pressure, time squeeze, time poverty. Why? To become richer economically do we necessarily have to become poorer in our relationships, well-being, time and environment? And above all; is there another way?
These are the questions around which my scientific activity has developed. In recent years, these issues have become very topical. They have been at the center of a vast debate and have fueled much research in all social sciences. We can now extract some clear answers out of this enormous amount of contributions by others and I. They indicate that an alternative path does exist. My articles and books outline it.
Research interests: Social capital, Happiness, Growth, Development, Environmental resources, Labor, Health