Quality of Life vs. Standard of Living

[TheDudeAbides]

I was having a discussion with a friend from the Netherlands who brought up an interesting point. He said that while North Americans (generally) have a higher standard of living, Europeans have a higher quality of life. He pointed to examples like the size of our (by our I mean North Americans) houses, cars, toys, etc, and the cleanliness of our hotels, restaurants, etc. But he said that while these things may be missing in Europe, he felt that overall they enjoy life more than we do. Thoughts? I don't think the two are necessarily mutually exclusive - but I do see his point.

[ChipWrecked]

KneelB4Zod has done a couple of good posts on this; maybe he'll swing by.

[samsdmf]

Im in the process of dreaming up a conspicuous consumption thread, interesting to see how this develops.
In the UN quality of life survey http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0778562.html USA is ranked pretty high, the survey takes into account a pretty broad spectrum of variables- IIRC even things such as amount of time people spend with their family are used

[75s]

$0.02:
QoL F(SoL, utility derived from each “unit” of living standard)

Having more time to enjoy your SoL units should increase their utility, thereby increasing QoL

[Sniper]

In general, people in the US or Europe are pretty happy, with QoL and SoL high compared to many parts of the world. Beyond that, this tends to be a very individual thing. Don't you think?

[samsdmf]

[ QUOTE ]
In general, people in the US or Europe are pretty happy, with QoL and SoL high compared to many parts of the world. Beyond that, this tends to be a very individual thing. Don't you think?

[/ QUOTE ]

Interesting points come up when you discuss the happiness and quality of the 'bottom class' of people, in comparison to people who are more financially comfortable.
What parts of the world do you feel the poorest citizens have the best quality of life?
Aspects that could be taken into consideration:
Quality of public services, education, healthcare
Minimum wage
Recreation
Quality of housing

[Blarg]

With globalization coming about, and countries changing their character so vastly due to generations of immigration, I think it's hard to think of countries in the sort of unified way you used to be able to. I mean, class has always been a division, but you add a lot more to the mix when you add in generally desperately poor immigrants, and then again when they start to move up, and then again when they start to move up and discover there may still be prejudices against them, or merely unrealistic expectations and prejudices of their own that a little bit of money didn't help.

I tend to think of Europe more in the sense of the move toward socialism of much of western Europe after WW2. For them, after some prosperity got established, I'd say the western European quality of life was far better. In places like Germany and France, for instance, you could go to college for free no matter how poor you are, and get health care, which is absolutely gigantic and something America doesn't have. It's near impossible to overstate the effect of being able to go to school in modern times, and to come out debt-free is gigantic. For the lower middle class in America, funding school can be extremely tough, especially with no help from the folks, and the debt can have lasting effects not just in itself but because handling it can determine in advance what one feels it is possible to study in college and/or make one's life work. Throw an 18 year old out on the street with the clothes on his back in America and it's not a pretty picture. Do the same in Germany or France and the kid will not just be thrown into a high-stakes rapid-fire Darwinian equation.

Also, in working life, many western europeans get ridiculous amounts of vacation, and not after working for the same place for ten years, either -- a possibility less and less likely in these times. The difference between 1 or 2 and six weeks vacation is enormous and a big factor in the qaulity of life.

And, as old people, places like France have a very early retirement age, and other WE countries have very generous benefits, including stays at nice spas, etc., for little things like "stress" and the like, which we as Americans just swallow down with our ventral fibrillations and hope they don't matter or have a long-term effect as we get back to work.

And, health benefits at any age is enormous. Health problems are the leading cause of individual bankruptcy in America. Nice way to wind up one's life, eh?

So, WE citizens have a much more secure, easy life than we have. I see it as you're more like to get rich in the States, but you're more likely to enjoy life even if you're not rich in Western Europe. Globalization and immigration are changing our societies and theirs, though, so our lifestyles are all kind of washing into the same slurry now, unless you're at the top or near it. In which case it doesn't matter nearly so much where you live.