Wellbeing in Developing Countries: From Theory to Research

✍ Scribed by Ian Gough, J. Allister McGregor

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 425
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

In a world where many experience unprecedented levels of wellbeing, chronic poverty remains a major concern for many developing countries and the international community. Conventional frameworks for understanding development and poverty have focused on money, commodities and economic growth. This book challenges these conventional approaches and contributes to a new paradigm for development centred on human wellbeing. Poor people are not defined solely by their poverty and a wellbeing approach provides a better means of understanding how people become and stay poor. It examines three perspectives: ideas of human functioning, capabilities and needs; the analysis of livelihoods and resource use; and research on subjective wellbeing and happiness. A range of international experts from psychology, economics, anthropology, sociology, political science and development evaluate the state-of-the-art in understanding wellbeing from these perspectives. This book establishes a new strategy and methodology for researching wellbeing that can influence policy.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Figures......Page 11
Tables......Page 12
Notes on contributors......Page 14
Acronyms......Page 20
Preface......Page 23
Introduction......Page 27
1.1 Development and wellbeing......Page 29
From money poverty to resources and agency......Page 32
From money poverty to subjective wellbeing and quality of life......Page 33
1.2 Human needs and capabilities......Page 35
1.3 Resources, livelihoods and wellbeing......Page 43
1.4 Subjective quality of life: happiness and satisfaction with life as a whole......Page 51
Human needs and human wellbeing......Page 59
Resources, agency and meaning......Page 63
Quality of life and subjective wellbeing......Page 65
Conclusion: researching wellbeing......Page 68
Part I Human needs and human wellbeing......Page 71
2.1 Needs and wellbeing: issues and themes......Page 73
2.2 The fall and rise of needs theory......Page 75
Meanings and obscurities......Page 78
Modes of needs discourse......Page 79
Elements of normative needs discourse......Page 84
2.4 Concepts of wellbeing and their interrelations with concepts of need......Page 85
Seven concepts of wellbeing......Page 87
Needs theory for wellbeing research?......Page 92
Research on the dynamics of need definition......Page 94
Politics of discourse......Page 95
3.1 Introduction......Page 97
Basic needs as a psychological construct......Page 98
Needs as defined by SDT......Page 100
A short list of needs: autonomy, competence and relatedness......Page 101
Social contexts......Page 102
The wellbeing that needs predict......Page 103
3.4 Implications of STD’s definition of needs......Page 104
Multiple needs and the absence of a need hierarchy......Page 106
Research on the universality of needs for relatedness, competence and autonomy......Page 108
Comparative studies on the effects of autonomy......Page 110
Autonomy within relationships......Page 114
Goals and needs......Page 115
3.6 Some final comments......Page 116
4.1 Introduction......Page 119
4.2 Aspects of freedom in Sen’s writings......Page 120
4.3 Freedom and measurement: focusing the question......Page 122
4.4 Measurement approaches......Page 125
4.5 Empowerment measures......Page 126
4.6 Domain-specific agency measures......Page 130
4.7 Conclusion......Page 134
5.1 Introduction......Page 135
5.2 Individual and societal security......Page 136
5.3 Security and wellbeing......Page 140
5.4 The problem of security for poor people......Page 142
5.5 Improving the security dimension of wellbeing......Page 148
5.6 Conclusion......Page 157
6.1 Introduction......Page 159
6.2 Non-economic wellbeing achievement......Page 162
6.3 Correlates with µi : data and results......Page 166
6.4 Conclusion......Page 172
Appendix 6A: estimation of a non-economic wellbeing measure......Page 174
Appendix 6B: hypothesis testing issues......Page 176
Part II Resources, agency and meaning......Page 181
7.1 Introduction......Page 183
7.2 Wellbeing and livelihood frameworks......Page 184
7.3 The importance of agency......Page 186
7.4 Reviewing resource categories......Page 189
7.5 From types of resource to dimensions of resources......Page 192
7.6 Subjectivity and contingency......Page 194
7.7 Conclusion......Page 200
8.1 Introduction......Page 202
8.2 Livelihoods agency, resources, structures......Page 204
8.3 Livelihoods and asset management strategies in the Andes......Page 209
Livelihood strategies......Page 210
Livelihood outcomes......Page 214
8.4 Structural constraints on access......Page 218
8.5 Livelihoods and NGO interventions: encuentros and desencuentros......Page 222
9.1 Introduction......Page 225
9.2 Figueroa’s ‘sigma economy’ model of social exclusion......Page 227
9.3 An assessment of the theory......Page 234
9.4 Relevance for development policy and practice......Page 238
Part III Quality of life and subjective wellbeing......Page 243
10.1 Introduction......Page 245
10.2 Cross-cultural issues in quality of life research......Page 246
10.3 Approaches to developing cross-cultural measures......Page 249
Identifying items......Page 252
Translating existing QoL measures......Page 253
Collecting data to provide population norms......Page 255
State of the art in international instrument testing......Page 256
Is the concept of quality of life comprehensible and relevant in a given location?......Page 263
Is quality of life measurable across nations and cultural groups with the same instrument?......Page 264
Can quality of life data be compared across nations and cultural groups?......Page 265
Conclusions......Page 266
11.1 Introduction......Page 268
11.2 The experimental phase: definition of concepts and the development of models and instruments......Page 269
Critical research decisions......Page 270
11.3 The consolidation phase confirming trends and exploring parts of the whole picture......Page 273
Case studies......Page 275
Technical and cultural bias......Page 276
The innovation phase: beyond the descriptive......Page 278
Focus on the material, relational and symbolic dimensions of quality of life......Page 279
South Africa’s emergent black middle class......Page 281
International comparisons......Page 282
11.4 The future quality of life research agenda......Page 283
12.1 Introduction......Page 285
The subjective wellbeing approach......Page 286
On the measurement of subjective wellbeing: life-satisfaction conception......Page 288
The domains-of-life approach......Page 290
The construction of the domains of life and domain satisfaction variables......Page 292
On the relationship: specification......Page 294
On the relationship regression analysis......Page 295
Gender......Page 297
Age......Page 298
Education......Page 299
Income......Page 300
12.6 Socioeconomic and demographic variables and satisfaction in the domains of life regression analysis......Page 301
12.7 Final considerations......Page 304
Conclusion: researching wellbeing......Page 307
13.1 Introduction......Page 309
13.2 A conceptual framework for exploring the disciplines: the Foundations of Knowledge Framework......Page 311
Domain and problematic......Page 312
Ontology: what is the world assumed to be like?......Page 313
Epistemology: how can the world be known about?......Page 314
Methodological frameworks: research objects, research instruments and modes of analysis......Page 315
Conclusions: types of conclusion and substantive findings......Page 316
Rhetoric: words, symbols and styles used to persuade others......Page 317
Relations between the elements......Page 318
13.3 Researching ‘wellbeing’ across the disciplines: some ways forward......Page 319
Mapping the domain and problematics......Page 323
Towards a simple normative framework......Page 325
The importance of ontology......Page 326
Epistemological diversity: many routes to knowledge......Page 327
Theorising, frameworks and theories: the relation between ideas and evidence......Page 329
Towards a methodological framework de-linking epistemology and research methods and de-linking data collection and analysis......Page 330
Dealing with rhetorical diversity......Page 331
13.4 Conclusions......Page 333
Flourishing, surviving, suffering and dying......Page 334
Negotiating intellectual barriers to cross-disciplinary collaboration......Page 335
Other barriers to cross-disciplinary research and its use......Page 337
II. Values......Page 338
V. Theories and explanations......Page 339
VIII. Empirical conclusions – re poverty, inequality, being, and quality of life.......Page 340
Comments......Page 341
14.1 From concepts to methodology......Page 342
14.2 Needs, resources and quality of life: links and tensions......Page 344
The centrality of the social human being......Page 347
Harm and needs......Page 350
Meaning, culture and identity......Page 353
Time and processes......Page 358
Resourcefulness, resilience and adaptation......Page 360
14.4 A conceptual framework for researching wellbeing......Page 362
14.5 A methodology for researching wellbeing......Page 365
Outcomes......Page 366
Structures......Page 368
Processes......Page 369
14.6 Conclusions and challenges......Page 370
Multi-, inter-, and trans-disciplinarity......Page 371
Wellbeing and policy making......Page 372
Wellbeing, policy makers and politicians......Page 373
The global challenge of the social contract......Page 374
References......Page 377
Index......Page 413