ABSTRACT
T he amount of choice Americans face every day has exploded (Schwartz, 2004). Thisshould be good news. American society is guided by a set of assumptions aboutwell-being that is so deeply embedded in most of us that we don’t realize either that we make those assumptions, or that there is an alternative. The assumptions can be stated in the form of a rough syllogism:
The more freedom and autonomy people have, the greater their well-being. The more choice people have, the greater their freedom and autonomy. Therefore, the more choice people have, the greater their well-being.
