Hey, I actually am from Albania. I was born in 1980, so my first 10 years were under comunism. People were poor, but there was more equality. So, when you saw around you how everybody was doing about the same, then you didn't feel that bad.
The lack of general resources, made people and families to be much more connected, as you had to rely more on your family (not just the inner circile, but everybody, from uncles, aunts, third cousins, etc).
When comunism fell, some people started making more money, getting new cars, houses on the beach, while some were left with less, which obviously made them unhapier. They might be slightly better off than in comunism, but they were much worse than their peers.
Well, accoding to Kant's principles, is the extra hapinness gained by those that made it well, worth equal or more than the happiness lost by those that are faring less well? It is a very hard thing to quantify.
But even in the 80s, we could watch Italian TV, so we kinda new that the rest of the world was doing much better, (and eventually overthru our comunist goverment), BUT everybody around us was doing about the same.
My mom told me a while ago; well we are doing much better economically (as a family), and have a lot more now, BUT we seemed to be a lot happier back than.
When comunism fell, some people started making more money, getting new cars, houses on the beach, while some were left with less, which obviously made them unhapier. They might be slightly better off than in comunism, but they were much worse than their peers.
Well, accoding to Kant's principles, is the extra hapinness gained by those that made it well, worth equal or more than the happiness lost by those that are faring less well? It is a very hard thing to quantify.
But even in the 80s, we could watch Italian TV, so we kinda new that the rest of the world was doing much better, (and eventually overthru our comunist goverment), BUT everybody around us was doing about the same.
My mom told me a while ago; well we are doing much better economically (as a family), and have a lot more now, BUT we seemed to be a lot happier back than.