Today, large parts of the European Union—especially the German-speaking and Scandinavian countries—boast a higher quality of life, greater measurable happiness, more most-liveable cities, and higher metrics of human development, gender equality, economic competitiveness, and environmental sustainability than any other region in the world, including the United States. This course will ask whether Europeans really live better than Americans do, and what we can learn from them. We begin by critically examining how scholars attempt to measure happiness and the quality of life across entire countries. When then turn to a finer-grained analysis using European case studies. Drawing on political science, economics, sociology, history, literature, philosophy, social criticism, design, and popular culture, we examine what it takes to live well: family and community, work and leisure, health and education, and peace and security.
Course Description