Original
Leveraging an Unhappiness Lens for Smarter Policies
Abstract
ABSTRACT Traditional policy research has largely focused on enhancing happiness or well‐being, privileging positive outcomes as the primary metric of success. We argue that a systematic focus on the drivers of unhappiness—rather than solely on happiness—offers a complementary analytical framework that can uncover hidden societal deficits and broaden the repertoire of policy interventions. By foregrounding unhappiness, scholars and practitioners can identify latent demand, structural inequities, and unintended negative side effects that are often obscured in happiness‐centric analyses. We first articulate why a shift away from predominantly happiness‐driven policies is conceptually necessary, demonstrating that unhappiness signals distinct causal pathways and policy levers. Second, we explain how adopting an unhappiness lens can lead to different—and potentially better—policy outcomes. By integrating unhappiness into the policy toolkit, this paper expands the analytical horizon of scholars and offers policymakers actionable insights for more resilient, equitable, and responsive governance. We introduce several novel theoretical issues that provide a strong foundation for a research agenda on unhappiness and its policy implications. We also caution that misusing unhappiness‐based arguments poses ethical risks and could exacerbate the very problems such arguments aim to address.
中文
以不幸福感为视角：迈向更明智的政策
摘要
传统政策研究主要关注提升幸福感或福祉，将积极结果作为衡量成功的主要指标。我们认为，系统性地关注不幸福感的驱动因素——而非仅仅关注幸福感——提供了一种互补的分析框架，能够揭示隐藏的社会赤字并拓展政策干预的工具库。通过将不幸福感置于前台，学者和实践者可以识别潜在需求、结构性不平等以及常被以幸福为中心的分析所遮蔽的意外负面副作用。我们首先阐明为何从以幸福为主导的政策转向在概念上是必要的，表明不幸福感标志着不同的因果路径和政策杠杆。其次，我们解释采用不幸福感视角如何能够带来不同——且可能更好——的政策结果。通过将不幸福感纳入政策工具包，本文拓展了学者的分析视野，并为政策制定者提供了可操作洞见，以促进更具韧性、公平性和回应性的治理。我们提出若干新的理论议题，为关于不幸福感及其政策影响的研究议程奠定坚实基础。我们也提醒，误用基于不幸福感的论证会带来伦理风险，并可能加剧此类论证旨在解决的问题。
关键词
不幸福感、政策设计、公共政策、幸福感、治理、结构性不平等、政策干预、研究议程