In order to define the essential elements of well-being in Italy, the National Council for Economics and Labour (Cnel) and the Italian National Institute of Statistics (Istat)  set up a “Steering Committee for the measurement of progress in the Italian society” composed of representatives from social partners and the civil society. Furthermore, Istat established a large and qualified Scientific Commission of experts from the various domains of societal well-being.

This organizational approach stemmed from the consideration that there are two essential elements for measuring progress:

• the first, strictly political, relates to the contents of the concept of well-being;
• the second, of a technical-scientific nature, concerns the measurement of the relevant concepts.

As a result, Cnel, a constitutional body representing the civil society (its members include representatives from social partners and the third sector) and Istat, an institution where experts operate in the measurement of the various economic, social and environmental phenomena, have combined their forces to reach a joint definition of the domains of well-being in Italy and a shared set of indicators to be used to define the state and progress of our country.

The concept chosen for this exercise was the one of “Equitable and Sustainable Well-being” and the project aimed at analysing the levels, time trends and distribution of its various components, in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses, as well as particular territorial imbalances or advantaged/disadvantaged social groups, considering them from an inter-generational point of view (sustainability).

The result of this effort, which places Italy in the forefront of the international panorama for the development of well-being indicators going “beyond GDP”, is described in the Bes 2013 report (view by clicking here), written in a language accessible to everyone.

The synthesis of the report and the trends on wellbeing are also available in English. Moreover the BES website provides a platform for the analysis of the Bes indicators and the body of statistical and methodological information developed during the project.

The Journal of Social Research & Policy invites original paper submissions for a special issue on “Between wealth and well-being: consumption, psychology and quality of life”, to bring together papers concerning mutual relations between growing standard of life, prosperity and well-being in modern societies.

Academics, especially those doing research in psychology, sociology, anthropology and economics, have always been interested in the subject of the impact of cultural, social, and economic change on individuals and societies. Apparently, changes brought about by prevalent growing wealth and consumer culture may have both positive and negative consequences. On the one hand, the changes make life easier and increase the standard of living as well as lead to a rapid advancement of technology. However, focusing on wealth may decrease well-being, sense of affiliation and the quality of social relationships and it may also result in neglect of culture and art and mindless destruction of the natural environment. Therefore, it is really crucial to study and indicate the threats produced by the changes and look for precautions against them. There are a lot of import ant questions to be answered, i.e.:

• What are the individual and social benefits and costs of the permanent economic growth?
• Is being wealthy and focusing on consuming and buying a good strategy for happy life? In what way? What kind of consumption may increase our well-being?
• Is it good to be happy?
• In what way may the concept of happiness be a product of consumer culture?
• How can individualistic vs. collectivistic values strengthen the concept of happiness seen as a pursue to wealth and possession? Why?
• What can stop the development of consumer culture? Is spirituality a good alternative nowadays?
• What are the strategies to preserve health and well-being? How can we improve the existing measures of the well-being?

We invite original and empirical papers, written in a good English language on the subjects of:

• Consumption, values and social change
• Indications of well-being and ill-being in consumer culture
• Psychological and social costs and benefits of consumption societies
• Values, well-being and quality of life
• Materialism, mercantilism and well-being
• Self-regulation, self-control and consumption
• Money time and happiness
• Social influence, materialism and consumerism
• Self-esteem and consumption
• Consumption vs. spirituality and well-being
• Strategies of healthy and happy life
• Measures of well-being and happiness

All submissions will be peer reviewed. For guidelines on manuscript preparation and submission, please visit the journal website. Please send any inquiries to Anna Maria Zawadzka psyamz@univ.gda.pl, or Magdalena Żemojtel-Piotrowska psymzp@ug.edu.pl

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 30 June 2013

Reciprocity and Dependency in Old Age
Book Series: International Perspectives on Aging, Vol. 8
Thompson, Sue

Spin Fluctuation Theory of Itinerant Electron Magnetism
Book Series: Springer Tracts in Modern Physics, Vol. 253
Takahashi, Yoshinori

Stigma, Discrimination and Living with HIV/AIDS
Editor/s: Liamputtong, Pranee

The Exploration of Happiness
Book Series: Happiness Studies Book Series
Editor/s: Delle Fave, Antonella

Social Sciences (general)

Cities at Risk
Book Series: Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research, Vol. 33
Editor/s: Joffe, Helene; Rossetto, Tiziana; Adams, John

Governability of Fisheries and Aquaculture: Theory and Applications
Book Series: MARE Publication Series, Vol. 7
Editor/s: Bavinck, Maarten; Chuenpagdee, Ratana; Jentoft, Svein; Kooiman, Jan

Simulating Social Complexity
Book Series: Understanding Complex Systems
Editor/s: Edmonds, Bruce; Meyer, Ruth

Strategic Cultures in Europe
Book Series: Schriftenreihe des Zentrums für Militärgeschichte und Sozialwissenschaften der Bundeswehr, Vol. 13
Editor/s: Biehl, Heiko; Giegerich, Bastian; Jonas, Alexandra

NEW ON SPRINGERLINK

Social Sciences (general)

Cities at Risk
Editor/s: Joffe, Helene; Rossetto, Tiziana; Adams, John

Simulating Social Complexity
Editor/s: Edmonds, Bruce; Meyer, Ruth

Strategic Cultures in Europe
Editor/s: Biehl, Heiko; Giegerich, Bastian; Jonas, Alexandra

The table of content is available at SpringerLink.

“According to Sonja Lyubomirsky, you have a happiness set point. It’s partly encoded in your genes. If something good happens, your sense of happiness rises; if something bad happens, it falls.

But either way, before too long, your mood will creep back to its set point because of a really powerful and perverse phenomenon referred to in science as “hedonic adaptation.” You know, people get used to things.

With her 2007 book, “The How of Happiness,” and this year’s follow-up, “The Myths of Happiness,” Dr. Lyubomirsky, a psychology professor at the University of California, Riverside, caused ripples in her field but also drew a wider audience, cementing her place in a long chain of happiness-industry stalwarts, from M. Scott Peck with “The Road Less Traveled” to Martin E. P. Seligman and “Learned Optimism” to Daniel Gilbert and his best-selling “Stumbling on Happiness.”

Dr. Lyubomirsky’s findings can be provocative and, at times, counterintuitive. Renters are happier than homeowners, she says. Interrupting positive experiences makes them more enjoyable. Acts of kindness make people feel happier, but not if you are compelled to perform the same act too frequently. (Bring your lover breakfast in bed one day, and it feels great. Bring it every day, and it feels like a chore.)

Dr. Lyubomirsky ­ 46, Russian and expecting to give birth to her fourth child this weekend ­ is an unlikely mood guru. “I really hate all the smiley faces and rainbows and kittens,” she said in her office. She doesn’t often count her blessings or write gratitude letters, both of which she thinks sound hokey even though her research suggests they make people happier.”

Read the whole article here

The recent ISQOLS item about the UNDP’s conference on measuring human progress has prompted me to write.

Social Indicators Research has just published online my commentary on the Diener, Inglehart and Tay paper, ‘Theory and validity of  life satisfaction scales’, published online in the journal last year. The paper presents one of the most comprehensive and compelling arguments in favour of subjective well-being (SWB) indicators. It remains cautious about their use in informing national policy, but, like the SBW literature more broadly, still underestimates the limitations of SWB indicators.

My commentary focuses on two issues raised in the paper. The first is the marked contrast between people’s personal life satisfaction and their satisfaction with the societies they live in. As a headline in The Atlantic magazine stated last year: ‘Americans are losing confidence in the nation but still believe in themselves’.

The second issue concerns the role of individualism and freedom, on which the SWB literature is too one-dimensional:  they are a good thing. However, other disciplines have a more nuanced and refined view of individualism as, at best, a two-edged sword, a mixed blessing. I give the example of a new study of Finnish students’ fears for the future, which found marked increases since 1983 in personal fears about failure, loneliness, health and death, trends the authors attribute to individualisation.

The bottom line (as I’ve argued before) is that progress indicators, including measures of SWB, are still a way from telling us all we need to know.

The commentary is available to subscribers at SpringerLink [link] http://www.springerlink.com/openurl.asp?genre=article&id=doi:10.1007/s11205-013-0239-5

An author version is on my website

Richard Eckersley

http://richardeckersley.com.au