Does political participation make people happy?

Bühlmann, Marc (2016). Does political participation make people happy? In: Ehrler, Franziska; Bühlmann, Felix; Farago, Peter; Höpflinger, François; Joye, Dominique; Perrig-Chiello, Pasqualina; Suter, Christian (eds.) Swiss Social Report 2016: Wellbeing. Swiss Social Report: Vol. 2016 (pp. 210-228). Zürich: Seismo

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Does political participation make people happy? As convincing as the arguments may appear to be, it is equally remarkable that until now the relationship between participation and happiness has scarcely been the subject of empirical investigation. On the one hand, this has to do with the fact that the concepts “political participation” and “happiness” encompass very complex constructs. On the other hand, the idea that there is a positive correlation between participation and happiness is certainly not without controversy: Why should an activity lead to happiness, when it does not necessarily achieve its intended objective? Is the time-consuming process of participating in a ballot vote not rather a frustrating one if the outcome of the vote or election does not correspond to one’s own preferences?

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