Although we are doing well, we still find reasons to grumble: a discussion with Pavel Fischer on the state of society

Do current global events give cause for joy or disillusionment? How is public opinion formed and what determines it? And how can politicians use – or misuse – the popular mood? Those are just a few of the questions that Pavel Fischer, a former diplomat who is currently head of the nonprofit Stem.cz, tackled on 15 February at the Bakala Foundation’s Student Hub. He based his analysis of current social and political events on a unique set of data that has been amassed by Stem.cz over more than two decades. “It really puts things into perspective,” Pavel Fischer remarked, getting his presentation off the ground.

The organisation has, for example, since 1994 surveyed levels of contentment found among the public when it comes to the state of society and their personal lives. Pavel Fischer was therefore able to point out that even though some 70 to 80 percent of respondents regularly stated that the previous year had been successful for them personally, only a fraction actually considered that the year had been good for society as a whole. The degree of “collective” contentment was found to be highly variable, ranging anywhere between 13 and 59 percent. During his discussion with students, Pavel Fischer said he thought that this was mainly down to the deluge of negative news that shapes our views of events in the rest of society and wider world. Pavel Fischer served as the Director of the Political Department of the Presidential Office during Václav Havel’s tenure as President. He is also a former Political Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, a former Czech Ambassador to France and Monaco, and the current Director of Stem.cz.