Migration Pessimism and the Subjective Well‐Being of Migrant Households in Mexico

A new migration pessimism argues that the economic benefits of international labour migration for migrant households may not justify the social costs. This article provides a test of this argument based on the author's survey of 304 households in Jerez municipio (municipality), Zacatecas, Mexico, in 2009. The results indicate that active households (those with at least one migrant abroad) perceived their economic situation to have improved more, but both their social cohesion and their happiness to be less than those of non‐active households. Social cohesion (family unity and maintenance of values) is shown to be pivotal in the happiness differential enjoyed by the non‐active households.     

The Will to Consume: Schopenhauer and Consumer Society

Consumer society has negated Freud's thesis presented in Civilization and its Discontents. The hindrance of desire affirmation is no longer the foundation of discontent. The inverse is now true. A seemingly limitless number of desires have been manufactured and administered with a solitary route to their affirmation via consumption. Because of this, consumer society's members find themselves in a lifeworld of aimless striving, dissatisfaction, disappointment and boredom. I demonstrate that the attempt to flee the sufferings of estranged labour through consumption has pushed consumer society into a new web of suffering brought on by a continual development of manufactured desires, creating a minor yet perpetual pain that is best understood in the light of a sociologized and historicized Schopenhauerian philosophy.     

悲观的乐观主义者——浅议叔本华的悲观哲学

叔本华是西方非理性主义的代表，“生存意志”构成了他的哲学体系的核心主题，并由此成为他悲观主义哲学的基础，但深受康德二分哲学和佛教影响的叔本华还是试图寻找在“此世”中证悟并得到解脱的方法。世界在叔本华眼中是如此悲观的一副景象，却依然没有阻挡他找寻出路的理想，这样的态度本身是积极乐观、值得钦佩的。     

The appeal of nostalgia: the influence of societal pessimism on support for populist radical right parties

In the literature, explanations of support for populist radical right (PRR) parties usually focus on voters’ socio-structural grievances, political discontent or policy positions. This article suggests an additional and possibly overarching explanation: societal pessimism. The central argument is that the nostalgic character of PRR ideology resonates with societal pessimism among its voters. Using European Social Survey data from 2012, the study compares levels of societal pessimism among PRR, radical left, mainstream left and mainstream right (MR) voters in eight European countries. The results show that societal pessimism is distributed in a tilted U-curve, with the highest levels indeed observed among PRR voters, followed by radical left voters. Societal pessimism increases the chance of a PRR vote (compared to a MR vote) controlling for a range of established factors. Further analyses show that societal pessimism is the only attitude on which MR and PRR voters take opposite, extreme positions. Finally, there is tentative evidence that societal pessimism is channelled through various more specific ideological positions taken by PRR voters, such as opposition to immigration.     

Pessimistic Optimist -On Schopenhauer＇s Pessimistic Philosophy

叔本华是西方非理性主义的代表，“生存意志”构成了他的哲学体系的核心主题，并由此成为他悲观主义哲学的基础，但深受康德二分哲学和佛教影响的叔本华还是试图寻找在“此世”中证悟并得到解脱的方法。世界在叔本华眼中是如此悲观的一副景象，却依然没有阻挡他找寻出路的理想，这样的态度本身是积极乐观、值得钦佩的。     

法治的人生态度

法治作为现实的人的一种生活方式与生活式样 ,时刻与现实的人的当前生活与未来命运密切相关。作为现实的人的一种生活方式与秩序追求 ,它反映着现实的人的生活立场与人生态度。法治的人生态度的基本特色体现为悲观主义、保守主义、现实主义和个人主义。法治的人生态度与法治始终处于彼此塑造的双向互动之中