IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jinter/v38y2026i1p7-27.html

Identity, Personality and Life Satisfaction: An Aristotelian Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Rojhat Avsar

Abstract

A substantial body of literature explores the relationship between identity, personality and subjective well-being. However, fewer studies have explicitly focused on moral identity and its distinctive significance. In this article, I examine moral identity through the lens of Aristotelian virtue ethics, which offers several advantages. First, the internalisation of virtues, such as magnanimity, strongly indicates a robust moral identity. Second, for Aristotle, cultivating virtues is directly linked to achieving eudaimonia , or a sense of fulfilment. Thus, the good life and the life of virtues (moral life) are inherently intertwined. Despite this connection, no empirical study has directly linked Aristotelian virtues to life satisfaction or moral judgements. To support the Aristotelian idea that a virtuous life—indicative of a strong moral identity—leads to a sense of fulfilment and flourishing, I have proposed a novel method for measuring virtuous dispositions among individuals and their relationship to life satisfaction. JEL Codes: B55, D6, I3

Suggested Citation

  • Rojhat Avsar, 2026. "Identity, Personality and Life Satisfaction: An Aristotelian Approach," Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, , vol. 38(1), pages 7-27, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jinter:v:38:y:2026:i:1:p:7-27
    DOI: 10.1177/02601079251340742
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/02601079251340742
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/02601079251340742?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thomas Nitsch, 1994. "The physical environment as a global economic concern," Forum for Social Economics, Springer;The Association for Social Economics, vol. 24(1), pages 1-40, September.
    2. Giovanni Russo, 2012. "Job and Life Satisfaction Among Part-time and Full-time Workers: The “Identity” Approach," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 70(3), pages 315-343, September.
    3. George A. Akerlof & Rachel E. Kranton, 2000. "Economics and Identity," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(3), pages 715-753.
    4. Elias Khalil, 1989. "Principles, rules and ideology," Forum for Social Economics, Springer;The Association for Social Economics, vol. 18(1), pages 41-54, March.
    5. Veronika Huta & Richard Ryan, 2010. "Pursuing Pleasure or Virtue: The Differential and Overlapping Well-Being Benefits of Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motives," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 11(6), pages 735-762, December.
    6. Ricardo F. Crespo, 2023. "Reinserting Ethics in Economics: Some Thoughts Springing from Recent Related Contributions," Forum for Social Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(1), pages 114-122, January.
    7. Helena Lopes & Teresa Calapez, 2012. "The Relational Dimension of Identity—Theoretical and Empirical Exploration," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 70(1), pages 81-107, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Esa Mangeloja, 2004. "Interrelationship of economic growth and regional religious properties," ERSA conference papers ersa04p94, European Regional Science Association.
    2. Marco Colagrossi & Claudio Deiana & Andrea Geraci & Ludovica Giua, 2022. "Hang up on stereotypes: Domestic violence and an anti‐abuse helpline campaign," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(4), pages 585-611, October.
    3. D’Acunto, Francesco & Ghosh, Pulak & Rossi, Alberto G., 2026. "How costly are cultural biases? Evidence from FinTech," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    4. Hammar, Henrik & Carlsson, Fredrik, 2001. "Smokers' Decisions To Quit Smoking," Working Papers in Economics 59, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    5. Chowdhury, Shyamal & Ooi, Evarn & Slonim, Robert, 2017. "Racial discrimination and white first name adoption: a field experiment in the Australian labour market," Working Papers 2017-15, University of Sydney, School of Economics.
    6. Engelhardt, Sebastian v. & Freytag, Andreas, 2013. "Institutions, culture, and open source," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 90-110.
    7. Rachel G. Childers, 2011. "Being One'S Own Boss: How Does Risk Fit In?," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 56(1), pages 48-58, May.
    8. Delia Furtado & Stephen J. Trejo, 2013. "Interethnic marriages and their economic effects," Chapters, in: Amelie F. Constant & Klaus F. Zimmermann (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Migration, chapter 15, pages 276-292, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Dreber, Anna & Heikensten, Emma & Säve-Söderbergh, Jenny, 2022. "Why do women ask for less?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    10. Dev, Pritha, 2014. "Identity and fragmentation in networks," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 86-100.
    11. Schnellenbach, Jan, 2012. "Nudges and norms: On the political economy of soft paternalism," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 266-277.
    12. Aline Lopes Moreira & Jorge Castellá Sarriera & Leonardo Fernandes Martins & Lívia Maria Bedin & Maria Angela Mattar Yunes & Luciana Cassarino Perez & Murilo Ricardo Zibetti, 2022. "Psychometric Properties of Children’s Subjective Well-Being Scales: a Multigroup Study Investigating School Type, Gender, Age and Region of Children in the South and Southeast Regions of Brazil," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 15(2), pages 657-679, April.
    13. Astrid Dannenberg & Carlo Gallier, 2020. "The choice of institutions to solve cooperation problems: a survey of experimental research," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 23(3), pages 716-749, September.
    14. Fredrik Carlsson & Dinky Daruvala & Olof Johansson‐Stenman, 2005. "Are People Inequality‐Averse, or Just Risk‐Averse?," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 72(287), pages 375-396, August.
    15. Leanne Roncolato & Alex Roomets, 2020. "Who will change the “baby?” Examining the power of gender in an experimental setting," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 823-852, September.
    16. Małgorzata W Kożusznik & José M Peiró & Aida Soriano, 2019. "Daily eudaimonic well-being as a predictor of daily performance: A dynamic lens," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(4), pages 1-24, April.
    17. Alfonso Urzúa & Claudia Miranda-Castillo & Alejandra Caqueo-Urízar & Franco Mascayano, 2013. "Do Cultural Values Affect Quality of Life Evaluation?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 114(3), pages 1295-1313, December.
    18. Booth, A.L. & van Ours, J.C., 2007. "Job Satisfaction And Family Happiness : The Part-Time Work Problem," Discussion Paper 2007-69, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    19. Christian Pfeifer & Gesine Stephan, 2019. "Why women do not ask: gender differences in fairness perceptions of own wages and subsequent wage growth," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 43(2), pages 295-310.
    20. Miriam Marcén & Marina Morales, 2019. "Live together: does culture matter?," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 671-713, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • B55 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Social Economics
    • D6 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics
    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:jinter:v:38:y:2026:i:1:p:7-27. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.