Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 8.djvu/701

 ON LIFE-SATISFACTION.

THE purpose of this article is to discuss and prove the fol- lowing proposition : The degree of life -satisfaction of separate individuals or of whole societies is measured, not by the absolute quantity of goods possessed, but by the rapidity with which this quan- tity is increasing. In other words, the feeling of satisfaction or of self-contentment is a result or a function, not of the quantity of goods, but of the rapidity with which the quantity varies from time to time. Mathematically, this proposition may be expressed thus : Let the curve PQRST in the accompanying diagram represent the aggregate quantity of goods material, moral, and intellectual possessed at any given time by an indi- vidual, a human society, or a nation. This curve, which we may call the "progress curve," generally has an aspect like that shown in the diagram :

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II

A\

t = f jme

An organism or a society develops first very slowly and then with increasing rapidity ; hence the corresponding part, PQ, of the curve (early civilization) rises slantingly. In youth

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