Understanding the diversity of conceptions of well-being and quality of life

Abstract

The Institute of Social Studies is Europe's longest-established centre of higher education and research in development studies. On 1 July 2009, it became a University Institute of the Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR). Postgraduate teaching programmes range from six-week diploma courses to the PhD programme. Research at ISS is fundamental in the sense of laying a scientific basis for the formulation of appropriate development policies. The academic work of ISS is disseminated in the form of books, journal articles, teaching texts, monographs and working papers. The Working Paper series provides a forum for work in progress which seeks to elicit comments and generate discussion. The series includes academic research by staff, PhD participants and visiting fellows, and award-winning research papers by graduate students.

Helse i hvert smil?

“…Gasper (2010) Quality of Life assessment), der definisjonen av quality of life be gynner med «An individual's perception of…». Økonomen Robert Costanza har forsøkt å kombinere de objektive og subjektive tilnaermingene i begrepet «overall human QoL», som han forstår som en funksjon av både graden av behovstilfredsstillelse og graden av opplevd tilfredshet hos personer eller grupper (Costanza et al, 2007).…”

Urban Livelihoods, Institutions and Inclusive Governance in Nairobi : 'Spaces' and their Impacts on Quality of Life, Influence and Political Rights

“…Phillips (2006) discusses the rich landscape of families of approaches to quality of life (QoL) and well-being (WB), with variations in the dimensions of types of conceptualisations, value priorities, research methodology, purposes and standpoint, and theoretical sources. Gasper (2009) summarises these 6 main families of research approaches to QoL and WB ranging from more individualistic to more social, with one approach consisting of two research streams (Table 2.6): 1) Subjective Well-Being (SWB), the currently prominent approach which has spread from psychology to economic and sociology. SWB approaches are however not sufficient for all purposes.…”

“…SWB approaches are however not sufficient for all purposes. The remaining approaches, except perhaps the preference fulfilment variant (3a), are diverse interpretations of Objective Well-Being (OWB) (Gasper 2009, based on Phillips, 2009; 2) Health Related Quality of Life; 3a) Utility -as interpreted in 20 th century economic -, looking at purchasing power and/or imputed preference fulfilment; 3b) Needs and Capabilities, which contains several variants concerning needs fulfilment or achievement of valued capabilities (including Sen's capabilities approach, interpreting capabilities as positive freedoms to achieve reasoned values) ; 4) Poverty Studies, which concentrate on the potential quality of life of an individual in terms of opportunities and their social determinants; 5) Community Studies, which focus on the social Chapter 2 34 context/fabric and the quality of life of a community; 6) Societal Quality of Life Constructs, which integrate a number of the above aspects. For public policy (through from constitutional and legal frameworks, to projects).…”

“…Source: Gasper (2009), based on David Phillip's Quality of Life (Phillips 2006). Conceptions of the terms of QoL and WB vary in correspondence with the multitude of approaches and research streams within and convey different meanings.…”

“…Conceptions of the terms of QoL and WB vary in correspondence with the multitude of approaches and research streams within and convey different meanings. Gasper (2009) stresses the importance of conserving this richness, Chapter 2 36 rather than attempting to formulate a uniform definition of QoL and WB and 'making well-being assessment to a form of mental temperature-making'. This corresponds with Amartya Sen's principle that interpretations of inherently ambiguous ideas should illuminate, not attempt to eliminate, the ambiguity.…”