Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review'A powerful, thought-provoking and timely contribution, offering new insights that will greatly enhance our understanding of well-being and its determinants.' -- Dimitris Ballas, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
'Wellbeing has been a vibrant field of research across a number of disciplines for several years. However, the experience of the pandemic, which has exposed deeply ingrained inequalities and injustices, makes the concept more relevant than ever. The pandemic raises the possibility of transformational change that could lead to a refocusing of policy goals away from narrowly-defined economic indicators to those focused on a multidimensional conception of wellbeing. As such, this volume is incredibly well timed. It brings together contributions from across the social sciences to demonstrate how understanding the ways in which wellbeing is mobilised as a concept in research, practice and policy is central to these endeavours. In highlighting practice-based approaches the volume reflects on how wellbeing could form the foundation of a post-pandemic world. In doing so, it provides a rich and valuable contribution not only to wellbeing scholarship but also to practical debates on how to take this agenda forward most effectively.' -- Ian Bache, University of Sheffield, UK
'An essential practical aide for charting the challenges facing us today with the ambition they merit, A Modern Guide to Wellbeing Research
offers guidance for actions and policies to improve wellbeing while casting some light on the different understandings of this important, but complex concept.' -- Katherine Trebeck, Wellbeing Economy Alliance
'Wellbeing is the overarching aim of social science and needs a multidisciplinary dialogue and approach. For sustainable, inclusive well-being as both a goal and process we need to draw on the strengths of all academic disciplines. You won’t agree with everything here, I don’t, but that’s the point as we work out what really matters, how we can study it and how to use that knowledge in practice.' -- Nancy Hey, Executive Director, What Works Centre for Wellbeing, UK
Table of ContentsContents: Foreword xiv Katherine Trebeck, Wellbeing Economy Alliance 1 Introduction to wellbeing research 1 Beverley A Searle, Jessica Pykett and Maria Jesus Alfaro-Simmonds PART I APPROACHING WELLBEING 2 Commentary to Part I: reanimating the radical possibilities of wellbeing 23 Sarah Atkinson 3 Towards a queer epistemological framework for wellbeing research 29 Julia Zielke 4 A Marxian approach to wellbeing: human nature and use value 51 David Watson 5 Developing qualitative, biographical research into happiness and wellbeing: a sociological perspective 68 Mark Cieslik 6 Practicing wellbeing through community economies: an action research approach 84 Thomas SJ Smith and Kelly Dombroski PART II PRACTICING WELLBEING 7 Commentary to Part II: a wellbeing lens in practice 104 Neil Thin 8 Prisoners’ rehabilitation and wellbeing: a psychosocial perspective 110 Fabio Tartarini 9 Gender and wellbeing in post-war Sri Lanka 129 Fazeeha Azmi 10 Wellbeing and inclusion: a place for religion 148 Laura Kapinga and Bettina Bock 11 Children experiencing happiness in the city 164 Maria Jesus Alfaro-Simmonds 12 Housing inequalities and wellbeing: a critical analysis of narratives from stakeholders in Luxembourg 184 Magdalena Górczyńska-Angiulli, Elise Machline 13 Woodlands and wellbeing: evaluating the ‘Actif Woods Wales’ programme 205 Heli Gittins, Sophie Wynne-Jones and Val Morrison PART III WHERE NEXT FOR WELLBEING? 14 Commentary to Part III: wellbeing: a means for informed policy-making 227 Susan J Elliott 15 Who benefits and who suffers from international migration? Global evidence from the science of happiness 232 Martijn Hendriks 16 Human wellbeing in environmental management 245 Kelly Biedenweg and David J Trimbach 17 Budgeting for wellbeing 266 Arthur Grimes 18 Subjective wellbeing and transformation 282 Beverley A Searle Index
