DEVELOPMENT

3.3
Subjective well-being
Mati Heidmets
Besides the external and easy-to-measure indicators
(life span, income, education level, etc.), researchers of
development have started to focus on people’s subjective
worlds, their attitudes towards themselves and their surroundings.
It is true that the growth of wealth, or the
reduction of inequality, acquire a sense and a meaning
only when they are reflected in the feelings of those who
acquire the wealth, or experience the (in)equality -- and
this shapes their attitudes to the events. A rich, smart, but
unhappy, person is definitely a more problematic member
of society than one who has not acquired a higher
education, whose wallet is thin, but who is still happy
and enjoys life just like it is. People’s attitudes toward
themselves and their lives have started to be characterised,
using the concept of subjective well-being. According
to Robert Putnam, this should be the most important
variable in social sciences: “... the ultimate ‘dependent
variable’ in social science should be human well-being,
and in particular, well-being as defined by the individual
him- or herself, or ‘subjective well-being.’” (Helliwell, Putnam,
2004, 1435).
According to the definition offer by the most
famous researcher in this field, University of Illinois
professor Edward Diener, “... subjective well-being consists
of emotional and cognitive components. Emotional
well-being is reflected in frequent experiences of pleasant
emotions and infrequent experiences of unpleasant
emotions. The cognitive component of subjective
well-being refers to a global evaluation of one’s life, often
assessed as life satisfaction.” (Toy, Diener, 2008). When
speaking about subjective well-being, we are speaking
about the satisfaction that a person feels regarding his
or her own life, as well as the proportion of positive
emotions the person has about everyday life. The latter
can be defined as happiness.
The European Foundation for the Improvement
of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound), which
functions as a European Union agency differentiates
the Europeans’ quality of life into life satisfaction, on
the one hand, and happiness, on the other, and also
attempts to measure them both: “... life satisfaction
measures how people evaluate their life as a whole after
taking all life circumstances into consideration – in a
way it can be viewed as a person’s measure of their
success in life. Happiness is a state of mind, incorporating
both the existence of positive emotions and the
absence of negative emotions. … Life experiences and
objective circumstances, particularly negative experiences,
such as unemployment, deprivation, illness and
family breakdown can all have a significant impact on
life satisfaction, while happiness is also influenced by
an existing predisposition through personality. (Eurofound,
2012, 18).
In the research on subjective well-being (SWB),
of these two viewpoints, discretionary-based life
satisfaction is used more than emotion-based
happiness, and this is also true of sociology, psychology
and development studies. Together with
general satisfaction, various aspects of satisfaction
are now also measured – job satisfaction, housing
satisfaction, marriage/marital satisfaction,
and consumer/client satisfaction (Spector, 1997).
Studies indicate that people who are satisfied with
life, and have a positive attitude, are more constructive,
more interested in social affairs and more loyal to
the authorities. Constant dissatisfaction, on the other
hand, results in conflict, opposition and ignorance.
Both researchers and the public had stuck positive
labels on satisfaction – a satisfied citizen, worker, client,
and voter is better than an unsatisfied one. Actions
and objectives that help to increase satisfaction are
welcomed. Based thereon, shifts in life satisfaction, as
well as subjective well-being as a whole, have become
an important yardstick, which helps to assess societal
changes. If SWB increases, we are on the right path; if
it decreases, things are going wrong.
In the international debates related to development,
people’s assessments and subjective preferences are gaining
importance. The OECD motto is: “Better policies for
better lives.” The UK Office for National Statistics has
started to measure national well-being. Bhutan has even
established the promotion of Gross National Happiness as
a national objective. In 2011, with its Resolution 65/309,
the UN also issued a corresponding challenge to its
Member States to work out additional measures, based
on which the spread of well-being and happiness could
be assessed, and to plan national policies based thereon.
(The Happy ...2012, 5).
3.3.1
Measures of subjective well-being
The reliable measuring of subjective well-being, and
the comparison of the nations-states based thereon, is
a complicated undertaking, since individual particularities
and the broader cultural context come into play
(Diener, 2009). The uniform yardsticks, for this field,
are still developing, and in addition to satisfaction and
happiness, which were already mentioned, several other
viewpoints are used for subjective assessment – people’s
assessment of the “goodness” of their lives is examined,
along with optimism about the future, the sense of
security, etc. As a rule, well-being is not treated as a
black-and-white construction (satisfied or not satisfied,
happy or unhappy), but as a multifaceted attitude toward
oneself and one’s surroundings.
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Estonian Human Development Report 2012/2013