Money and Happiness: The Link Between Income Disparity and Wellbeing

By Vien Chan

'Money doesn't buy happiness.'

What about, ‘Money deters happiness?’ Or specifically, mental wellbeing? An element of health helping us cope with stress and operate optimally, whether it be psychologically, emotionally or socially, mental wellbeing is a crucial aspect that indicates our quality of life. And while it’s no news that a variety of contributing factors, such as school pressure, overwhelming workloads and major life events pose a threat to our fragile state of mental stability, we often overlook one issue tightly woven in today’s society: income disparity.

Social Tension

It’s no surprise that income disparity goes hand in hand with fostering uneven levels of footing between citizens of different financial statuses. People of different backgrounds and lifestyles mingling together often serve to brew conflict and comparison. When these interactions get out of hand, those who are at the end of the ladder suffer more by comparison, dealing with the aftertaste of social tension and discrimination.

Social capital is defined as the network of relationships between citizens of an existing society, enabling them to communicate and function effectively. As social capital theory (Putnam) suggests, social capital often predicts a spread of positive social economic outcomes. However, when income disparity comes into play, this base framework for positive social interactions is at risk of failing. Social disparities discourage opposite sides from trying to understand and empathise with one another.

Illustration by Erin Chan

Apathy is a trigger point for crime and violence to occur.

Combined with the lack of trust, it is statistically proven that communities with higher levels of income inequality reported trends in higher crime rates- contributing further to the already increased suspicion, heightening levels of anxiety, and lack of security in their lives.

Such disagreements are also often reflected in the bodies of the community- poorer people segregated in specific neighbourhoods, with their wealthier counterparts in gated communities. After all, nobody wants to feel ‘different’. As a result, social cohesion is reduced. This furthers unhealthy competition for resources in the community, lowering generalised trust with members of the society.This collective withdrawal from civic life leads the disadvantaged to become more isolated from their communities, in turn forfeiting the sense of belonging and social collectivism that comes with it.

Furthermore, discontentedness with the ideals of a ‘divided society’ and feelings of unfairness project negatively on one’s view of the world, developing the onset of a negative mindset When we feel that we’ve lost the protection, support and purpose that comes from our peers, it's harder for us to maintain a healthy mental state and cope with difficulties.

Feelings of Insecurity

As humans, self-comparisons are inevitable - and we often use these relative measurements to determine our self-worth and personal improvement Comparisons are a normal part of human cognition, giving us that small push to do better.

But when we start to draw comparisons about unchangeable and unreasonable things, the line between self-improvement and self-destruction becomes blurred. In a society with a disproportionately large wealth gap, the differences between both parties becomes too large to ignore, and comparisons often get out of hand.

Concerningly, these behaviours often stem from early childhood experiences. When all your peers come to school in flashy, new backpacks, you probably can’t help but notice how your dirt-soiled backpack sticks out like a sore thumb.

Illustration by Erin Chan

Needless to say, any child would feel flustered and inferior to their classmates As these scenarios inevitably occur in their life, so does the familiarity of these feelings, until they know it all too well.

Associating material wealth with success, people with lower incomes generally become less confident in their abilities and personal attainment, and engage more frequently in self-loathing behaviours One study reports that citizens in poverty often demonstrated characteristics of ‘negative self stereotyping’, where they believed themselves to be low in competence relative to others Furthermore, research suggests these effects are long-term A longitudinal study done in the United States found those with a lower income predicted greater levels of negative self regard, even after 10 years.

Stigma and discrimination

Following up on the backpack scenario- do you really think it’s possible for the kid to escape unscathed? A likelier scenario would throw in a few snarky comments of ‘Poor kid!’ or ‘Is your home as dirty as this?’, furthering their feelings of embarrassment and shame.

As stated above, income disparity breeds social tension, making it harder for both sides of the spectrum to understand one another. Nobody questions the outdated idea that poorer people are lazy and irresponsible, or that they’re unable to meet the expectations that their peers can.

Consequently, the bullying and harassment people from low-income backgrounds receive have disconcertingly higher rates than their counterparts One study revealed that low-income backgrounds correlated significantly with victimisation, denoting that almost half of the respondents (45 7%) experienced bullying for being poor in the past Stigma can take place in various other forms, though. Research from the Institute for Education suggests that the influence of stigma can seep through classroom walls and fall in the hands of a teacher. Finding significant differences between teacher’s expectations and student performances, researchers found a trend in how children from more disadvantaged backgrounds were often perceived as less able than their peers. Coming from a person of authority, children may feel obliged to accept and internalise these beliefs, developing a fixed mindset on ability, potentially depressing their long term trajectory

Added pressure in context

Moreover, we have to realise that stigma is culturally rooted- different for every community alike their distinctive cultural characteristics and values they uphold Unfortunately for us, the weight of our own Chinese beliefs and cultural norms in Hong Kong only digs these roots deeper.

It’s no secret that our community values hard work and quality of education more than anything- in fact, education and work is deeply rooted in Confucian values. The expectation that education and hard work will unquestionably pave the way to becoming self-sufficient in the future is omnipresent in our society- as a child, I’ve had aunties push me to study countless times, with the infamous phrase: “Study more! You don’t want to end up like that cleaner over there, do you?” Sure, at that time, it seemed like a harmless way to encourage me to study, but when this becomes a repeated incident for thousands of households across the community, it certainly does more harm than good, adding even more shame and insecurity to lower-income families.

Additionally, this dominant social value deters families from receiving social assistance they require solely due to the irrational belief that this meant they intentionally chose to put in less effort in working than their peers. In China, Dibao (Social assistance programme) recipients have been shown to live significantly more isolated and detached lives from the community compared to their nonrecipient peers. Similarly in Hong Kong, negative attribution has also discouraged eligible households from becoming recipients of CSSA (Comprehensive Social Security Assistance), for reasons such as believing recipients would become ‘lazy’ and ‘a burden to society’. The act of receiving help from the government is highly stigmatised, associating recipients with shame and unhappiness.

Tending to marketisation reforms, Chinese culture consistently boosts the Chinese value mian, while undermining the value lian. Prioritising social status and success over unbiased respect irrespective of background from others makes it harder for those with a lower social status to be considered as virtuous and respectable, let alone morally neutral Unsurprisingly, the exceptionally high majority (58%) of Chinese citizens reported how they believed poverty to be caused by ‘laziness and lack of will-power’. Similarly, citizens from rural villages in China have also reported to be shunned by their community for having poverty and therefore, low suzhi- human quality. In an achievement-oriented society like Hong Kong, the expectation to be employed in a high-income job, to signify competence, is aligned with such ideals.

It also doesn’t help that cultural stigma surrounding mental illnesses make access for therapy, necessary medical advice and informational awareness harder for those suffering from the blunt of low income stigma. 41% of respondents in a survey conducted by Mind HK considered ‘lack of self-discipline and willpower’ a cause of mental illness, while 55% of respondents said they had received social stigma against mental health issues, contributing to the staggering 74% of mental health sufferers who do not receive any form of professional health. This leaves these low income families, particularly vulnerable to falling victim to social stigma, at an even further disadvantage.

Conclusion

While it is true that those at poorer income levels are often predisposed to lower levels of mental wellbeing, this doesn’t necessarily mean they have to be.

Of course, one way to alleviate the implications of their circumstances is to address the root problem- income disparity and poverty. Experts suggest that government intervention to increase wages and support for the unemployed are critical to bridging the wealth gap.

However, what we can we do, as of right now, to address the decline in mental wellbeing? Stigma, discrimination and insecurity all have one thing in common- they are usually rooted in misconceptions and lack of understanding, so education is vital to bridging the gap between our perceptive differences.