How People Matter

To commemorate Mental Health Awareness Month, this week's review looks at how "mattering" impacts one's well-being, relationships, and community

Posted on May 2, 2022 in Reviews of the Month

How People Matter: Why it Affects Health, Happiness, Love, Work, and Society

Prilleltensky, Isaac. by Isaac Prilleltensky and Ora Prilleltensky Cambridge, 2021
348p bibl index, 9781108839013 $99.99, 9781108969246 $34.99, 9781108986069

The feeling that they are valued—that they matter—is a profound emotion that people yearn to realize in all areas of their lives. Isaac Prilleltensky (The Morals and Politics of Psychology, CH, Feb’95, 32-3582) and Ora Prilleltensky (both, Univ. of Miami) have authored a great many books and articles on well-being and here open a new conversation on mattering, supported by research and communicated through entertaining narratives. They assert that the feeling of mattering has a profound relationship to people’s physical and mental health, personal relationships, and the way they work. As they argue, recognition of mattering is a vital piece in positively transforming local, national, and global communities. Individuals might gain value or self-worth through joining significant social movements, such as the Black Lives Matter movement or the Great Resignation. Or they may side with authoritarianism and become participants in movements characterized by extremism, narcissism, nationalism, and other social phenomena that offer insiders a feeling of regained power or superiority. This book is a much-needed read for professionals, especially those in leadership positions, but ultimately for anyone who honors the importance of living a more meaningful life and nurturing a higher level of belonging during the current turbulent times.

Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals. General readers.
Reviewer: J. E. Perez, University of Miami
Subject: Social & Behavioral Sciences – Psychology
Choice Issue: Jun 2022

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