but I'll at least mention that there's a lot more we can do with Inglehart's post-materialism (do a google search on inglehart postmaterialism energy, and you'll get the gist on the sociopolitical ramificiations and theoretical assumptions of Inglehart's work, which is some of the best in comparative political science over the years...of course, that means that means that many have ripped it apart, but it's better to be talked about than not as an academic...&laugh&)

Second, I think this also relates to something we discussed here way back in the beginning about Putnam's social capital argument (link here).  The decline of social capital in America is one of the endogenous effects going on in this relationship, and something to be considered when talking about social connectedness and happiness.

Finally, a methods question: How does one operationalize happiness? &chuckle&  (I ask that semi-rhetorically, as there's a few problems with the WVS self-assessment question in my opinion...and those measurement and conceptual problems tie into Putnam's argument (as well as Huckfeldt and Sprague, as well as others) as well as a few other sociological and political science theoretical perspectives I'll not bore you with.)