Date: 15 December 2020 (Tuesday)
Time: 10 am – 11:30 am
Language: Mandarin
Registration: https://forms.gle/dYbu4qMMLn6A8Bqu5
*This seminar will take place via Zoom
Topic:
Identity Politics and the Evolution of Happiness in Taiwan, 1999-2019
Introduction:
This paper conceptualizes socio-political movements demanding for recognition in Taiwan a politicized collective identity. The formation of collective identity over decades is an ongoing process of raising consciousness, adversarial attribution, and triangulated power struggle. Politicization of collective identity fosters and intensities self-stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. We examine the impact of identity politics on happiness and compare the effect with the presumed effects of economic conditions using data from the Taiwan Social Image Surveys, 1999-2019, merging with external contextual data on Taiwanese identity, pro-independence and status quo maintenance, economic growth, earning growth, and income inequality. Economic growth, among others, plays a crucial role in accounting for the evolution of happiness. A booming economy makes people happy. Nonetheless, if people do not share the fruit of a booming economy or do not share the fruit evenly, the happiness-enhancing effect would be undermined. The effects of identity politics on happiness serve to buffer that of under-performed economy. The impacts of politics and economy appear to vary substantially across ruling parties.
Speaker:
Professor Ly-yun Chang [Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica (Taiwan)]
Professor Ly-yun Chang is an Adjunct Research Fellow to the Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica (Taiwan). With uninterrupted funding for thirty years from the National Science Council and Academia Sinica, she applies both quantitative and qualitative approaches to study the organization of health care, hospital industry, social determinants of health disparities, trust, and happiness. She has published refereed journal articles, book chapters, two textbooks, and edited or co-edited books. She has led several large-scale research projects in Taiwan, including “Taiwan Education Panel Study” and “Taiwan Social Change Survey”. She won a Distinguished Research Award of the National Science Council, Harvard-Yenching Fellowship, and Fulbright Fellowship.
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