Bernard Sananès, president of the Elabe research firm, underlined Tuesday, November 16 on franceinfo that “the hierarchy of values had changed” among the French, while eight in ten French say they are happy, according to the Elabe-Institut Montaigne-SNCF barometer of the territories in partnership with franceinfo. According to him, “the totems of the consumer society” (smartphones, cars, travel) appear today “almost ridiculous”. This is the world after the Covid-19 crisis for these French people who are refocusing on “the essential things.”
franceinfo: Are the French happier than three years ago?
Bernard Sananes: This is more than three years ago. Tomorrow will be the third anniversary of the start of the “yellow vests” movement. And there is, as we can clearly see in many indicators, a form of relaxation in French society. There is ultimately a form of resilience. 78% of French people say they are happy, including four in ten very happy. Of course, there was the disease, the victims, the deaths, the suffering. But ultimately, this situation made us rediscover, revisit what were the ingredients of happiness. It also made us perhaps relativize a certain number of difficulties. The gaze is not in the same place. We have rediscovered a certain number of things that seem essential: to be in good health first, to take care of your body, to have relationships with your family, to have a profession that you have chosen, to do things with your own hands. And conversely, for example, the totems of the consumer society, having a beautiful car, traveling the world, having smartphones, it seems almost ridiculous in our ranking
Does that mean that “the world after” exists a little?
There is a little among the French, indeed. The hierarchy of values has changed. So, of course, we express a form of weariness in relation to the Covid-19 crisis. All the more so if the news that we have had for a few days is confirmed. But ultimately, a bit like in Christophe Maé’s song, it’s only after that we know he was there (happiness).
In which region are we the happiest?
Pays de la Loire is no surprise. It is a region that is doing well economically, especially on the employment front. And then there are two other regions, the Grand-Est and Normandy, in which we say we are most “very happy”.
“We realize in this study that, ultimately, these are the two regions where the purchasing power situation compared to 2018 has greatly improved.”
Bernard Sananès, president of the Elabe research firmto franceinfo
It was very degraded at the time of the “yellow vests” movement, and moreover, we realize throughout the study that ultimately, the correlation to happiness is closely linked to this end-of-month variable.
Why do the French want to move?
This is even more the case if you find yourself in a large metropolitan area or in a large city, and especially if you have families with children. This is where we are most trying to reconstitute, precisely, what we have called the France of the “first circle”, “the France of the near”. In this first circle, the family is even more important than before for more than one in two French people, with a regional particularism in the Hauts-de-France, where 55% of the inhabitants say that it is even more important than before the health crisis. In addition, this desire to move is motivated by two reasons, the search for a better living environment and the proximity to nature and the countryside. Perhaps new territorial balances will emerge in the short or medium term? In any case, this research, this desire to move, this desire to reconstitute this first circle is not anecdotal. This is really a very striking element of our study.