The General Theory of the Relativity of Happiness

Alright, there is no such theory in the scientific literature that goes by such a name. It is just a grandiose term I give to the "discovery" made by a certain Professor Andrew Clark of PSE Ecole Normale Superieure (whatever that means) in Paris. But still the idea is there: that happiness is relative. Specifically, one is only happy when one perceives himself/ herself to be better off than the people around.

This principle applies to everything, from money, status, marriage to religion. The supposed discovery was that in itself none of this made a person really happy unless he/she is better off than his/her neighbours. The implication for this is that happiness of the human population is a zero sum game. There is no way to increase the happiness of everyone on the planet simply because when everybody is happy, no one will really be happy since there is no more downward comparison to bring out the happiness. Surely this is the "keeping up with the Jones approach" carried out to the extreme.