IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/soinre/v135y2018i3d10.1007_s11205-017-1561-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Social Indicators Movement at 50: Onwards in Unity or Divided?

Author

Listed:
  • Jeroen Boelhouwer

    (The Netherlands Institute for Social Research|SCP)

Abstract

Before we can move forward with new topics in quality of life research, it would be useful to settle a number of issues that have been a source of debate over the last 50 years. Broadly speaking, this leads to seven principles for measuring and describing quality of life: the central focus is on people; quality of life is about more than just economics; a full measurement must incorporate both objective and subjective indicators; quality of life incorporates several dimensions; the outcome must be viewed separately from the determinants; there must be attention for distribution and difference; the domains can be combined into an index (though this is not essential). The main debate is perhaps about whether or not there should be an index. An index is necessary if we wish to give social indicators the same status as economic indicators have through GDP. In my view, that is desirable. Once these principles are established, the agenda for future social indicators research can be shaped using a model-based approach incorporating several recommendations from Land and Michalos.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeroen Boelhouwer, 2018. "The Social Indicators Movement at 50: Onwards in Unity or Divided?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 135(3), pages 1027-1033, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:135:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1007_s11205-017-1561-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-017-1561-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11205-017-1561-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11205-017-1561-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Heinz-Herbert Noll, 2011. "The Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi-Report: Old Wine in New Skins? Views from a Social Indicators Perspective," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 102(1), pages 111-116, May.
    2. Sten Johansson, 2002. "Conceptualizing and Measuring Quality of Life for National Policy," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 13-32, June.
    3. Michael Hagerty & Robert Cummins & Abbott Ferriss & Kenneth Land & Alex Michalos & Mark Peterson & Andrew Sharpe & Joseph Sirgy & Joachim Vogel, 2001. "Quality of Life Indexes for National Policy: Review and Agenda for Research," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 1-96, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Heinz-Herbert Noll, 2018. "Social Monitoring and Reporting: A Success Story in Applied Research on Social Indicators and Quality of Life," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 135(3), pages 951-964, February.
    2. Jerzy Michalek & Nana Zarnekow, 2012. "Application of the Rural Development Index to Analysis of Rural Regions in Poland and Slovakia," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 105(1), pages 1-37, January.
    3. Sarah Parks, 2012. "Divergent Pathways of Development: A Comparative Case Study of Human Well-Being in Two Thai Provinces," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 30(5), pages 891-909, October.
    4. Delhey, Jan & Steckermeier, Leonie C., 2016. "The Good Life, Affluence, and Self-reported Happiness: Introducing the Good Life Index and Debunking Two Popular Myths," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 50-66.
    5. Valerie Møller & Benjamin J. Roberts, 2017. "South African Hopes and Fears Twenty Years into Democracy: A Replication of Hadley Cantril’s Pattern of Human Concerns," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 130(1), pages 39-69, January.
    6. Jamal Al-Qawasmi, 2020. "Measuring Quality of Life in Urban Areas: Toward an Integrated Approach," International Journal of Environmental Sciences & Natural Resources, Juniper Publishers Inc., vol. 25(2), pages 67-74, July.
    7. Diego Born & Victoria Colamarco & Enrique Delamónica & Alberto Minujín, 2019. "South American Children’s Quality of Life: Intra-Urban Disparities along Life-Cycle Indicators," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 14(3), pages 799-817, July.
    8. Michael R. Hagerty & Kenneth C. Land, 2007. "Constructing Summary Indices of Quality of Life," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 35(4), pages 455-496, May.
    9. Claudia Salceanu & Mariana Floricica Calin, 2022. "The Pandemic Context and Quality of Life for Youth in Constanta County," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 27(1), pages 687-696, January.
    10. Hu, Shu & Das, Dhiman, 2019. "Quality of life among older adults in China and India: Does productive engagement help?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 229(C), pages 144-153.
    11. Baruce C. Rudy, 2014. "The Wal-Mart Effect? Exploring the Social Costs of Explosive Organizational Growth," Working Papers 0191mgmt, College of Business, University of Texas at San Antonio.
    12. Felix N. Fernando & Dennis R. Cooley, 2016. "An Oil Boom’s Effect on Quality of Life (QoL): Lessons from Western North Dakota," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 11(4), pages 1083-1115, December.
    13. Giulia Greco, 2018. "Setting the Weights: The Women’s Capabilities Index for Malawi," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 135(2), pages 457-478, January.
    14. O'Donnell, Gus & Oswald, Andrew J., 2015. "National well-being policy and a weighted approach to human feelings," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 59-70.
    15. Brambert Patryk & Kiniorska Iwona, 2018. "Changes in the Standard of Living in Rural Population of Poland in the Period of the Eu Membership," European Countryside, Sciendo, vol. 10(2), pages 263-279, June.
    16. Sarah White & Jethro Pettit, 2004. "Participatory Approaches and the Measurement of Human Well-being," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2004-57, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    17. Mohamad Rezvani & Hossain Mansourian, 2013. "Developing Small Cities by Promoting Village to Town and its Effects on Quality of Life for the Local Residents," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 110(1), pages 147-170, January.
    18. Doh Shin & Conrad Rutkowski & Chong-Min Park, 2003. "The Quality of Life in Korea: Comparative and Dynamic Perspectives," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 62(1), pages 3-16, April.
    19. Vaishar Antonín & Vidovićová Lucie & Figueiredo Elisabete, 2018. "Quality of Rural Life. Editorial 16 June 2018," European Countryside, Sciendo, vol. 10(2), pages 180-190, June.
    20. R.K. Serkebayeva & G.K. Kazbekov & R.K. Sabirova & R.S. Utaliyeva & L.B. Izbassarova, 2018. "The Impact of Finance on the Level and the Quality of Life: The Case of Kazakhstan," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(4), pages 859-874.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:135:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1007_s11205-017-1561-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.