Doctoral Dissertation Research: New Markets for Motivation: Exploring Varieties of Success and Well-Being in Mauritius

为了应对人口快速增长的现实压力和跟上全球现代化趋势的社会压力，毛里求斯在20世纪60年代末制定了一项大规模计划，以使其单一作物经济多样化。这项计划的目的是为更多的人提供更多的就业机会，并最终增加国家的财富和经济生产率。毛里求斯在这一尝试中取得了成功，在过去的40年里，毛里求斯的国内生产总值、生活质量和流动机会大幅增加。然而，尽管新民主化的毛里求斯有经济和社会平等的语言，但该国殖民主义、奴隶制和契约奴役历史遗留下来的阶级差异继续使社会群体的富裕、乐观和雄心水平复杂化。这项研究探索了不同社会地位的人在感知机会、抱负和对地位的比较评估方面的差异如何影响压力、焦虑和抑郁的水平。该项目结合了访谈和调查方法，以找出个人如何评估自己以及与文化理想化生活方式相关的成就，以及这些积极或消极的自我评估如何对他们的健康产生重大影响。这项研究验证了一种假设，即人们倾向于调整他们对成功的渴望，不仅根据他们认为在现实限制下可行的东西，而且根据他们对毛里求斯和世界其他地区其他群体的社会认同，特别是那些在大众媒体上代表的群体。假设个人在当地、国家和/或国际层面上能与他们认同的那些人的富裕水平相匹配，这会影响他们的幸福和福祉。这项研究的更广泛的影响包括对社会经济阶层之间广泛记录的幸福感差异的合理解释，以及对经济增长和现代化对个人的影响的理解，以用于未来的公共卫生研究和政策制定。

In response to the practical pressures of a fast-growing population and the social pressures to keep up with global trends of modernization, Mauritius instituted a large-scale program in the late 1960s to diversify its mono-crop economy. The purpose of this plan was to provide more jobs for more people, and to ultimately increase the nation's wealth and economic productivity. The country has been successful in this attempt, and over the past forty years, GDP, quality of life, and opportunities for mobility in Mauritius have substantially increased. However, despite the language of economic and social equality in newly democratized Mauritius, class differences left over from the nation's history of colonialism, slavery, and indentured servitude continue to complicate levels of affluence, optimism, and ambition across social groups. This research explores how differences in perceived opportunity, ambition, and comparative appraisals of status affect levels of stress, anxiety, and depression across individuals of different social standing. The project incorporates interviewing and survey methods to find out how individuals appraise themselves and their achievements in relation to a culturally idealized lifestyle, and how these positive or negative self-appraisals have significant consequences on their health. The study tests a hypothesis that people tend to adjust their aspirations for success not only according to what they perceive to be feasible given practical constraints, but also according to their social identifications with other groups of people in Mauritius and the rest of the world, particularly those represented in the mass media. How well individuals can match the levels of affluence of those people with whom they identify at the local, national, and/or international level is hypothesized to affect their happiness and well-being. The broader impacts of this study include a tenable explanation for the widely-documented differences in well-being across socioeconomic strata, and an understanding of the effects of economic growth and modernization on individuals for future public health research and policy development.