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THE GOOD SOCIETY FRAMEWORK: an ESSAY on UNDERSTANDING the QUALITY of LIFE Professor Patrick W

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THE GOOD SOCIETY FRAMEWORK: an ESSAY on UNDERSTANDING the QUALITY of LIFE Professor Patrick W Spring & Summer, May & August SOCIAL 2010 INDICATORS • NETWORK Number 102 & 103 ISSN 0885 6729 NEWS A Quarterly Review of Social Reports and Research on Social Indicators, Social Trends, and the Quality-of-Life. SINews Included of WorkingN Group 6ET on Social Indicators and Social Reporting of the International Sociological Association. THE GOOD SOCIETY FRAMEWORK: AN ESSAY ON UNDERSTANDING THE QUALITY OF LIFE Professor Patrick W. Jordan Fellow, Royal Society of Medicine [email protected] Good societies are those in which the food; whether work, home and public envi- QoL have been proposed and, although conditions enable their citizens to have ronments are generally safe. there is some overlap in their dimensions, a high standard of well-being. Tradition- • Peace and Security - whether crime is there is little consensus as to which is the ally, the main measures used to quantify most appropriate. a society's level of well-being have been low and people feel safe in their homes and financial measures, in particular 'stan- public areas; whether or not society is af- The indices differ both in terms of the dard of living', which is mainly a measure fected by war or terrorism. dimensions that they use and in the of people's income and spending power. • Culture and Leisure - whether there is weightings that they give to each dimen- sion. More recently, attention has been fo- a rich and rewarding culture, both 'high' and cussed on wider and more far-reaching 'popular'; whether there are opportunities to The Good Society Framework (GSF) was measures of well-being which look at participate in rewarding leisure activities. complied through amalgamating the di- quality of life in a broader sense. A • Spirituality, Religion and Philosophy mensions used in the other indices and variety of indices for measuring quality - whether there is access to religious and (Continued on next page.) of life have been developed, but cur- spiritual teachings and the opportunity to rently there is little consensus on what practice one's religion of choice; whether In this Issue... the key dimensions are. there is access to philosophical teachings This paper presents a framework, the and ideas about how to live. ESSAYS AND REVIEWS: Good Society Framework (GSF), for as- Education - whether there is educa- The Good Society Framework: An Essay • on Understanding the Quality of Life .. 1-4 sessing quality of life and explains how tion that enables people to function effec- it was developed. It is conceived as a Japanese Sociologists on Passive tively in society; whether the education is Happiness................................................. 6 comprehensive model of well-being in- intellectually enriching. corporating all of the major factors in- Happiness and Psychological Capital as Resources for Work and Life .............. 4 & 7 cluded in the various indices and group- • Governance - whether there is democ- ing them into nine dimensions: racy, fairness and freedom of expression; NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS: whether justice is transparent and consis- Call For Papers Applied Research in • Relationships - the quality of tent, and whether society is governed with Quality of Life, The Official Journal of the people's social, family and interpersonal compassion and equality. International Society for Quality-of-Life relationships; the extent to which soci- Studies ...................................................... 7 ety is coherent and harmonious. 1. INTRODUCTION THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR In recent years there has been an increasing QUALITY-OF-LIFE STUDIES .................... 7 • Economy - people's degree of SINET Homepage ..................................... 8 economic prosperity and spending focus, both in government and in academia, power; the extent to which jobs are on the subject of quality of life. Editor's Note: Leading off this issue is an rewarding and offer potential for growth Traditionally, the main criterion on which a essay by psychologist Patrick Jordan in and development. society's level of well-being has been judged which he describes a "good society frame- is 'standard of living'. This is essentially a work" that he has synthesized from prior • Environment and Infrastructure - quality of life and social indicators work. the pleasantness and sustainability of measure of the wealth and spending power of a country's citizens. He invites readers to send him any the natural environment; the degree to thoughts, comments, or recommenda- which the built environment is pleasant Quality of life (QoL), on the other hand, is a tions. This is followed by my review of a and functions well and extent to which broader measure, including not only finan- volume advancing a sociological view of the infrastructure is effective and effi- cial considerations, but also a wider defini- happiness with essays from a group of cient. tion of well-being. Japanese sociologists. The third essay of • Health - whether people have So far, a wide variety of indices for measuring the issue is my review of a recent book on access to good healthcare and healthy happiness in the work place. 1 SINET • SPRING & SUMMER, MAY & AUGUST 2010 www.soc.duke.edu/resources/sinet (Continued from previous page.) SINET merging them into a manageable number of dimensions (nine). Social Indicators Network News The GSF is not intended as an index of quality of life as there is no attempt to score nations EDITOR EMERITUS: on its dimensions, nor are the dimensions weighted or ranked in order of importance. Abbott L. Ferriss, Rather the GSF can be seen as a framework, model or checklist outlining the characteristics Atlanta, GA that a great society should have in order to enable its citizens to have an optimum QoL. COORDINATING EDITOR/PUBLISHER: Kenneth C. Land, It was initially created as part of a project involving professional bodies who were Duke University, Durham, NC interested in looking at how the professions that they represent could contribute to well- MANAGING EDITOR: being in a sense that went beyond just the financial. The aim of the GSF was to help them Rob Marks, to structure thinking about this. Duke University, Durham, NC Its compilation was both analytical and pragmatic in nature. The framework was put CORRESPONDING EDITORS: together by looking at the various indices used for measuring QoL (described in the next Children, Youth and Education: section of this paper), listing their various elements and then grouping them into a Donald J. Hernandez 'manageable' number of dimensions. Bureau of the Census, A challenge facing not only professional bodies, but also government at all levels as well Washington, DC as other policy makers and other organisations in both the public and private sector is Health and Aging: how to help to improve society and improve the quality of life for people. This applies Linda K. George and both to the most developed societies as well as the least developed, although the nature Deborah T. Gold, of the challenges in each case may be rather different. Duke University, Durham, NC General Social and Cultural Trends: The GSF is intended as a reference tool to stimulate thinking about how to improve QoL James A. Davis, on all of these dimensions and improve life for all people irrespective of their current National Opinion Research Center, circumstances. Chicago, IL 2. QUALITY OF LIFE INDICES John P. Robinson, University of Maryland, The GSF was developed using information and indices from a number of sources College Park, MD including: Marketing/Quality of Life • Quality of Life Index Research: • Gross National Happiness M. Joseph Sirgy, • Human Development Index Virginia Polytechnic Institute • Genuine Progress Indicator & State University • World Values Survey Social Forecasting/Futurology • Life Quality Index Joseph Coates, • Satisfaction with Life Index Coates and Jarratt, Inc. • Happy Planet Index Washington, DC Subjective Well-Being and the Each is described below Quality of Life: 2.1 Quality of Life Index Ed Diener, University of Illinois The Quality of Life Index was created by The Economist magazine's intelligence unit. It at Urbana-Champaign ranks countries according to quality of life based on the following dimensions: health, International Correspondents: family life, community life, material well-being, political stability, climate, job security, Asia and the Pacific: political freedom, gender equality. Mahar Mangahas, Philippines, 2.2 Gross National Happiness Social Weather Stations, Quezon City, The Philippines This index was originally started by the government of Bhutan, but has been developed Dudley L. Poston into an international collaborative project involving many academic and research Texas A&M University, institutions. It ranks countries based on how they perform on the following dimensions: College Station, TX economy, environment, physical health, mental health, work, society and politics. Europe: 2.3 Human Development Index Maria Ciechocinska, University of Agriculture & Educa- This index was created by the United Nations Development Program. It ranks countries tion, Zytni, Poland based on a combination of life expectancy, education and wealth. Lief Gouiedo 2.4 Genuine Progress Indicator Stockholm, Sweden Wolfgang Glatzer The Genuine Progress Indicator was developed by the Methodist Church in collabora- Frankfurt, Germany tion with the University of Maryland. It ranks countries based on a combination of economic conditions and environmental sustainability. Zsolt Speder Budapest, Hungary (Continued on next page.) 2
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