Satisfaction with Life and the Intensity of the Reforms

The subjective assessment of the quality of life was a popular theme in the sociological literature (especially in the United States) in the late sixties and early seventies. The emergence of the "universal welfare state" and the achievement of an unprecedentedly high level of material well-being in the developed societies of the West revealed a new facet of the problem. It seemed that the welfare economy had ceased to function: while the living standard rose substantially, according to objective statistical indices, the subjective indices of satisfaction with life showed no equivalent tendency to rise. Moreover, the degree of satisfaction with life differed very little among the social groups, although their life circumstances differed considerably. The explanation for this phenomenon was found in the relationship between level of aspirations and level of achievement. A number of studies [1-3] convincingly demonstrated that it was not so much the level of achievement that was important as its dynamics, whether a respondent rated it as rising or falling. It was also noted that the assessment of life on the whole was cumulative, composing the sum of the weighted assessments of different aspects of existence, and that among these the factor with the strongest influence was the respondent's material situation

Demographic economics · Economics · Life satisfaction · Personality · Phenomenon · Political science · Positive economics · Respondent · Welfare · Welfare state · Cultural Differences and Values · Law · Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction · Psychology · Social Power and Status Dynamics · Social Psychology

• Developing measures of perceived life quality

  Open Access•Frank M Andrews, Stephen B Withey•Social Indicators Research•1974

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