海角大神

In Southern Europe, unemployment is rampant. In the north, particularly Germany, the public is grumbling that they are bailing out the fiscally irresponsible. And everywhere on the continent, Europe's vaunted welfare states are under threat.

Austerity, disillusionment, joblessness: across Europe the mood is dour.

But while devoid of the panicking and protesting sweeping other countries with a safety net still tightly woven, it is France where 鈥� psychologically 鈥� the crisis appears to be felt the most.

A staggering 80 percent of French say they鈥檝e been personally impacted by the economic crisis, according to a new poll by the academic pollster YouGov-Cambridge. That compares to 57 percent of Britons and 54 percent of Germans surveyed who say they鈥檝e been affected by their country鈥檚 economic woes in the past five years.

It鈥檚 yet another piece of what Claudia Senik, who studies the intersection of happiness and economics at the Paris School of Economics, calls the 鈥淔rench unhappiness puzzle鈥� 鈥� the persistent pessimism in a country where people have it a lot better than most. 鈥淗ere, there are the same shocks or less, but the French feel it more,鈥� says Ms. Senik.

The French consistently rank as some of the least upbeat citizens on the globe, despite a 35-hour work week and generous social benefits that range from free preschools and swimming pools to universities and healthcare. A 2011 WIN-Gallup poll revealed the French to be less optimistic than war-torn Iraqis and Afghans.

鈥淵ou will realize that the French are never happy. Complaining should be a national sport,鈥� says political journalist 海角大神 Malard, who was partly educated in the UK and Canada, has traveled and worked extensively in the US, and sums up his nation as one of "whiners."

And it鈥檚 a nationality trait that goes far beyond the current business cycle. A low-level of life satisfaction of the French, especially when adjusting for GDP, has been recorded since the 1970s.

Learned unhappiness

So Senik recently set out to answer 鈥渨hy,鈥� drawing on statistics published biannually from the European Social Survey, in which France ranks among the most dissatisfied countries in Europe, with only Portugal as unhappier (but also much poorer).

She compared the happiness levels not just of the French but of French emigrants and immigrants in France. French emigrants abroad, when adjusting for exterior factors, are less happy than the average European migrant. At the same time immigrants, she finds, trained in French schools report being unhappier than those who were not.

She concludes that French unhappiness is something that must be taught.

鈥淭here is some ideal that French people have that reality is not living up to,鈥� she says, something causing what she describes as 鈥渋diosyncratic French unhappiness.鈥�

She faults an education system that is rigorous but overly rigid 鈥� demanding excellence in math and French and leaving those who aren鈥檛 excellent in those subjects feeling inferior. 鈥淏y definition, not everyone is the best,鈥� she says, 鈥渁nd it creates a lot of frustration.鈥�

Senik is not the first to try and tackle this puzzle. Nicolas Tenzer, a political affairs analyst who authored 鈥淭he End of French Unhappiness,鈥� says it hails from stubborn hierarchical social structures that breed distrust and envy.

鈥淭he French compare themselves to their neighbors. They say, 鈥榯his one is richer, this one has a better situation, this one has a better car, this one鈥檚 children are better in school and that鈥檚 not fair,鈥欌�� he says.

At the same time, France is undergoing an identity crisis of sorts. Once the epicenter of arts, language, and diplomacy, it is now clinging onto that power. 鈥淵ou see yourself as someone who set the rules, but now you are a small country in a globalized world that does not set the rules,鈥� says Senik.

As a result, Mr. Tenzer says, 鈥淔rench people are asking themselves, 鈥榃here are we in the world today?鈥欌��

A reasonable pessimism?

Of course, external factors play a role too.

Joel Faulkner Rogers, academic director at YouGov in the UK, says that the results of their recent poll reflect a year of renewal of national pessimism in France, as President Fran莽ois Hollande has failed to convince the French that he can take charge of the economy.

鈥淚t鈥檚 possible that French public opinion currently reflects a more acute sense of immediate crisis than its Western counterparts in this study, where stagnation and flat-lining have for years been the dominant economic watch-words,鈥� Dr. Rogers says.

Yet his poll indicates that, in looking towards the future, France is on par with the three other countries studied, the US, Germany, and Britain. Fifty-nine percent of the French say the younger generation will find it harder to enjoy a reasonable standard of living. But the majorities expressing the same sentiment are higher elsewhere: 64 percent of British, 65 percent of American, and 66 percent of Germans say the same.

The French themselves are divided when it comes to describing their national personality. Some acknowledge a culture bent on being miserable. Others say that it鈥檚 only in the capital, Paris, where a bad mood 鈥� think harried commuters and humorless shopkeepers 鈥� is seen as the metropolitan norm.

Pierre Pomm茅, a dapper retired French man with a handkerchief peering from his coat pocket, says he thinks France is just like anywhere else.

鈥淭here are optimists and pessimists,鈥� he says. And himself? 鈥淚鈥檓 neither.鈥�