Department of Educational and Psychological Studies, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA.
Am J Community Psychol. 2020 Mar;65(1-2):16-34. doi: 10.1002/ajcp.12368. Epub 2019 Aug 13.
Mattering is an ideal state of affairs consisting of two complementary psychological experiences: feeling valued and adding value. Human beings can feel valued by, and add value to, self, others, work, and community. To make sure that the need for mattering is fulfilled, we must balance feeling valued with adding value. Moreover, we must balance adding value to self with adding value to others. Unfortunately, the dominant neoliberal philosophy does not support the values required to ensure the experience of mattering. Whereas a healthy and fair society would require equilibrium among values for personal, relational, and collective well-being, the dominant philosophy in many parts of the world favors personal at the expense of relational and collective values. Neoliberal economic and social policies have resulted in diminished sense of mattering for millions of people. Some people respond to cultural pressures to achieve higher status by becoming depressive or aggressive. Some marginalized groups, in turn, support xenophobic, nationalistic, and populist policies in an effort to regain a sense of mattering. To make sure that everyone matters, we must align the psychology, philosophy, and politics of mattering. The political struggle for a just and equitable distribution of mattering takes place in social movements and the policy arena. The perils and promises of these efforts are considered.
有意义感是一种理想的状态，包含两种互补的心理体验：感到被重视和赋予价值。人类可以通过自我、他人、工作和社区来感到被重视和赋予价值。为了确保有意义感的需求得到满足，我们必须在感到被重视和赋予价值之间取得平衡。此外，我们必须在自我赋予价值和为他人赋予价值之间取得平衡。不幸的是，占主导地位的新自由主义哲学并不支持确保有意义感所需的价值观。虽然一个健康公平的社会需要在个人、关系和集体福祉的价值观之间取得平衡，但在世界许多地方占主导地位的哲学却以个人价值观为代价，牺牲了关系和集体价值观。新自由主义的经济和社会政策导致数百万人的有意义感减弱。一些人因受到文化压力的影响而变得抑郁或好斗，以追求更高的地位。一些边缘化群体则转而采取仇外、民族主义和民粹主义政策，以重新获得有意义感。为了确保每个人都有意义感，我们必须调整有意义感的心理学、哲学和政治学。为了公正和平等地分配有意义感而进行的政治斗争发生在社会运动和政策领域。这些努力的危险和希望都得到了考虑。
