Thirteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

This paper investigates the changes in Gross National Happiness and how GNH and its concept is penetrated and inherited by people. We visited the Kingdom of Bhutan (hereinafter “Bhutan”) for the study. Due to the influence of modernization, consumer trends are appearing in urban areas such as Thimphu (especially among young people), and this cannot be avoided. This is what actually happens in Bhutan, but at the same time, the government is trying to improve the situation, and they seem to have flexibility and accept changes as necessity. The current government regime is occupied by people from rural areas and they know what actual life is like in rural areas. However, in the future, those people would be replaced by people who are born and raised in urban areas. When this generational change happens, will the balance of the GNH’s four pillars be kept or will it be overtaken by materialism? It is important to keep an eye on the future of Bhutan and its people. As for the research method and relevant theory, the “socion theory,” which has been developed in Japan under the influence of sociologist Niklas Luhmann’s (1995) “Social Systems” (Stanford University Press), is applied to elucidate complex social-psychological linkages among diverse stakeholders in and around the country of Bhutan.