Occupying Protest and Life Dissatisfaction in Hong Kong

The Effect of the “Woman Life Freedom” Protests on Life Satisfaction in Iran: Evidence from Survey Data

“…Distinctions were also observed in the perceptions of uncertainty and mental health based on individual and familial participation in protest events. Cheung (2022) shows how participation in the Occupy Movement in Hong Kong reduced the life satisfaction of its participants. He uses conflict theory which assumes that social conflict reduces well-being because conflict is associated with many phenomena that reduce life satisfaction, such as violence, competition, discord, fighting, polarization, and hostility, among others.…”

“…On the contrary, there are also authors who show how protests and other forms of political participation can have a positive effect on subjective well-being (Frijters, Haisken-DeNew, and Shields 2004;Klar and Kasser 2009;Welzel 2013;Cheung 2022) which can help to explain the positive effect of peaceful protests on life satisfaction. One possible explanation is that the participation in protests can facilitate the feeling of empowerment and political emancipation which can increase life satisfaction (Welzel 2013;Cheung 2022). While this only applies to people who have participated in protests, there is also evidence that political freedom increases life satisfaction (Frijters, Haisken-DeNew, and Shields 2004).…”

“…Previouslydiscussed studies have shown how violent events such as war, conflict, and terrorism can affect life satisfaction(Welsch 2008;Frey, Luechinger, and Stutzer 2009;Shemyakina and Plagnol 2013;Coupe and Obrizan 2016;Farzanegan, Krieger, and Meierrieks 2017;Osiichuk and Shepotylo 2020;Kijewski 2020). There are also some studies focused on the topic of protests which have shown how protests and other forms of political participation can affect subjective well-being(Klar and Kasser 2009;Welzel 2013;Lau et al 2017;Liu, Modrek, and Sieverding 2019;Cheung 2022). Overall, we expect that the exposure to protests reduces life satisfaction.…”