I think there's a reason for this. It's when people actually are socially marginalised – for example after the recession of 2008, when many people lost their jobs – that they start to question the things they used to take for granted.

I agree with this. But I also think that the happiness described in this article, can oftentimes be 'fake' happiness. The kind when people think that once they have a good paying job, a nice car, a family, a house etc. that this is what makes them happy. Or what society believes should make people happy. Before the recession of 2008 or any recession really, people were so busy working to pay for all those above things, like mortgage, rent, car loan etc. they hardly had the time to think for themselves let alone do any research on what's going on in the world. If people are 'kept busy' they're less likely to question things, and perceive themselves as being 'happy'. I'm pretty sure of this (but don't take my word for it lol). Then, when so many lost their jobs, there was a sense of fear (not being able to pay the bills) but also a sense of 'being useless' (because in our system, it is OH so important to keep up appearances). resulting in feelings of 'unhappiness'. However, there was also a group that broke away from that, realized that the most important things were really family, friends and real relationships, rather than those artificial ones powered by their status in society. Personally, I believe that part of the recession was a good thing, because it brought people back to their roots, and it gave some people the actual time to do some research. Yes, some of those would have gone overboard with their beliefs, but some did really well with their critical thinking.

I've been called a conspiracy theorist. However, I don't agree. I don't have all the answers. I merely have 'theories' as to how things could have gone down, and how things are acted out. I never take anyone's word for it, I keep researching. But that's the one issue I have with people who are overly reliant on the 'science' of things. They take that science and work that comes from people (who make mistakes) and take it as true. While a lot of those people stamped as being conspiracy theorists never stop searching, researching and questioning.