Abstract
In this chapter, we explore the broad social and political discourses framing contemporary approaches to child well-being research and policy, through an historical analysis of the discourses on well-being as propounded by some key philosophers and social scientists. We identify the ways in which child well-being has, until very recently, been excluded from these discourses. We describe how in more recent research, even where children’s voices are included, hearing them as ‘real’ tends to be rendered problematic due to the research being framed by positivist, measurement-based epistemology. In this chapter, we argue that because contemporary research on child well-being typically proceeds without reference to relevant historical constructions of well-being, an elision between well-being and happiness is perpetuated. This elision, in ignoring the fact that hedonic and eudemonic concepts of well-being proceed from different philosophical bases, contributes to confusion in understanding the phenomena in terms of subjective experience.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Alkire, S., & Sarwar, M. (2009). Multidimensional measures of poverty and well-being (Report Working Paper). Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI). University of Oxford.
Andresen, S., Diehm, I., Sander, U., & Ziegler, H. (Eds.). (2010). Children and the good life: New challenges for research on children. Dordrecht: Springer.
Beck, U. (1992). Risk society: Towards a new modernity. London: Sage.
Becker, D., & Marecek, J. (2008). Dreaming the American dream: Individualism and positive psychology. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(5), 1767–1780.
Bellamy, C. (Ed.). (2004). The state of the world’s children 2005. New York: UNICEF.
Ben-Arieh, A., & Frønes, I. (2007). Indicators of children’s well being: What should be measured and why? Social Indicators Research, 84, 249–250.
Ben-Arieh, A., Kaufman, N. H., Andrews, A. B., Goerge, R. M., Lee, B. J., & Aber, J. L. (2001). The rationale for measuring and monitoring children’s well-being. In A. Ben-Arieh, N. Hevener Kaufman, A. Bowers Andrews, R. M. Goerge, B. Joo Lee, & J. Lawrence Aber (Eds.), Measuring and monitoring children’s well-being (Social indicators research series 7, pp. 1–10). Dordrecht: Springer.
Ben-Arieh, A., Casas, F., Frønes, I., & Korbin, J. (2014). Multifaceted concept of well-being. In A. Ben-Arieh, F. Casas, I. Frønes, & J. E. Korbin (Eds.), Handbook of child well-being: Theories, methods and policies in global perspective (pp. 1–28). Dordrecht: Springer.
Bentham, J. (1789). An introduction to the principles of morals and legislation. Chapter VII.1. Library of Economics and Liberty: http://www.econlib.org/library/Bentham/bnthPML7.html
Bradshaw, J., & Richardson, D. (2009). An index of child well-being in Europe. Journal of Child Indicators Research, 2(3), 319–351.
Bradshaw, J., Hoelscher, P., & Richardson, D. (2007). An index of child well-being in the European Union. Social Indicators Research, 80(I), 133–177.
Camfield, L., Crivello, G., & Woodhead, M. (2009a). Wellbeing research in developing countries: Reviewing the role of qualitative methods. Social Indicators Research, 90, 5–31.
Camfield, L., Natalia Streuli, N., & Woodhead, M. (2009b). Children’s well-being in contexts of poverty: Approaches to research, monitoring and participation. International Journal of Children’s Rights, 17, 65–109.
Casas, F. (1997). Children’s rights and children’s quality of life: Conceptual and practical issues. Social Indicators Research, 42, 283–298.
Chan, C.-K., Ngok, K.-L., & Phillips, D. (2008). Social policy in China. Bristol: The Policy Press.
Conceição, P., & Bandura, R. (2008). Measuring subjective wellbeing: A summary review of the literature. New York: Office of Development Studies, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Conti, G., & Heckman, J. J. (2012). The economics of child well-being (Discussion Paper No. 6930) (October), The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). http://ftp.iza.org/dp6930.pdf. Accessed 31 July 2013.
Cummins, R. A., & Lau, A. L. (2005). Personal Well-being Index – School Children (PWI-SC), Manual – English version (Draft, 3rd ed.). Melbourne: Deakin University.
Cyrenaics, O’Keefe, T. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ISSN 2161-0002. http://www.iep.utm.edu/. Accessed 7 Nov 2014.
Deci, E., & Ryan, R. (2008). Hedonia, eudaimonia, and well-being: An introduction. Journal of Happiness Studies, 9, 1–11.
Diener, E. (2002). Subjective well-being: The science of happiness and a proposal for a national index. American Psychologist, 55(1), 34–43.
Drabsch, T. (2012, July). Measuring wellbeing (Briefing Paper No 4/2012). NSW Parliamentary Research Service.
Drakulić, A. M. (2012). A phenomenological perspective on subjective well-being: From myth to science. Psychiatria Danubina, 24(1), 31–37.
Fegter, S., Machold, C., & Richter, M. (2010). Children and the good life: Theoretical challenges. In S. Andresen, I. Diehm, U. Sander, & H. Ziegler (Eds.), Children and the good life: New challenges for research on children. Dordrecht: Springer.
Fernandes, L., Mendes, A., & Teixeira, A. (2012). A review essay on the measurement of child well-being. Social Indicators Research, 106, 239–257.
Friedman, B. (2006). The moral case for growth. Society, January/February, 15–22.
Gabhainn, S. N., & Sixsmith, J. (2005). Children’s understandings of well-being. Dublin: The National Children’s Office.
Gallagher, E. (2010). Aristotle’s definition of Eudaimonia http://www.academia.edu/514238/Aristotles_Definition_of_Eudaimonia. Accessed 29 Dec 2013.
Gasper, D. (2004). Human well-being: concepts and conceptualizations. WIDER Discussion Papers, World Institute for Development Economics (UNU-WIDER), No. 2004/06, http://hdl.handle.net/10419/52803
Giddens, A. (1998). The third way: The renewal of social democracy. Cambridge: Polity Press in association with Blackwell Publishers Ltd.
Gough, I., McGregor, J., & Camfield, L. (2006). Wellbeing in developing countries: Conceptual foundations of the Wed Programme. ESRC Research Group on Wellbeing in Developing Countries WeD (Working Paper. 19).
Hanafin, S., & Brooks, A. M. (2005). Report on the development of a national set of child well-being indicators in Ireland. Dublin: The National Children’s Office.
Haybron, D. (2008). Philosophy and the science of subjective well-being. In M. Eid & R. J. Larsen (Eds.), The science of subjective well-being (pp. 17–33). New York: The Guilford Press.
James, A., & Prout, A. (1990). Constructing and reconstructing childhood: Contemporary issues in the sociological study of childhood. London: The Falmer Press.
Jayawickreme, E., & Pawelski, J. O. (2013). Positivity and the capabilities approach. Philosophical Psychology, 26(3), 383–400. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09515089.2012.660687.
Joshanloo, M. (2014). Eastern conceptualizations of happiness: Fundamental differences with western views. Journal of Happiness Studies, 15, 475–493.
Kemerling, G. (2011). Utilitarianism. Philosophy pages, Britannica. http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/5q.htm. Accessed 30 Nov 2014.
Land, K., Lamb, V., Meadows, S., & Taylor, A. (2007). Measuring trends in child well-being: An evidence-based approach. Social Indicators Research, 80(1), 105–132.
Lee, E., & Carey, T. (2013, Winter). Eudaimonic well-being as a core concept of positive functioning. MindPad, 21(1), 17–20.
Maslow, A. (1987). Motivation and personality (3rd ed., p. 116). New York: Addison-Wesley.
Mill, J. S. (1966) (First ed., 1863). Utilitarianism. In John M. Robson (Ed.), John Stuart Mill: A selection of his works. Toronto: Odyssey Press.
Nussbaum, M. (1999). Sex and social justice. New York: Oxford University Press.
Nussbaum, M. (2003). Capabilities as fundamental entitlements: Sen and social justice. Feminist Economics, 9(2–3), 33–59.
Nussbaum, M. (2011). Creating capabilities: The human development approach. Cambridge, MA: Belknap.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2009). Doing better for children. Paris: OECD Publishing. http://www.oecd.org/els/family/doingbetterforchildren.htm. Accessed 18 Feb 2015.
Pollard, E., & Lee, P. (2003). Child well-being: A systematic review of the literature. Social Indicators Research, 61(1), 59–78.
Prout, A. (2005). The future of childhood: Towards the interdisciplinary study of children. London: Routledge Falmer.
Qvortrup, J., Bardy, M., Sgritta, G., & Wintersberger, H. (1994). Childhood matters: Social theory, practice and politics. Aldershot: Avebury.
Robeyns, I. (2006). The capability approach in practice. The Journal of Political Philosophy, 14(3), 351–376.
Rogers, C. (1951). Client-centered therapy: Its current practice, implications and theory. London: Constable.
Rogers, C. R. (1961). On becoming a person: A psychotherapist’s view of psychotherapy.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2001). On happiness and human potentials: A review of research on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 141–166.
Sachs, J., Helliwell, J., & Layard, R. (Eds.) (2012). World happiness report. http://www.earth.columbia.edu/sitefiles/file/Sachs%20Writing/2012/World%20Happiness%20Report.pdf. Accessed 8 July 2013.
Sangharakshita. (1998). What is the dharma? The essential teachings of the Buddha. Cambridge: Windhorse Publications.
Self, A., Thomas, J., & Randall, C. (2012). Measuring national well-being: Life in the UK, 2012. Office for National Statistics. http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/wellbeing/measuring-national-well-being/first-annual-report-on-measuring-national-well-being/art-measuring-national-well-being-annual-report.html. Accessed 28 Mar 2013.
Seligman, M. (2011). Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being. New York: Free Press.
Sen, A. K. (1999). Development as freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
September, R., Willenberg, I., & Savahl, S. (2004). ‘Hear our hearts’: Towards the development of child well-being indicators from children’s perspectives. Bellville: University of the Western Cape.
Statham, J., & Chase, E. (2010). Childhood wellbeing: A brief overview (Briefing Paper 1). Childhood Wellbeing Research Centre. Loughborough: Loughborough University.
Stoll, L. (2014). A short history of wellbeing research. In D. McDaid & C. Cooper (Eds.), Economics of wellbeing (Wellbeing: A complete reference guide, Vol. 5). Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell.
Tiliouine, H. (2014). Happiness in Islam. In A. C. Michalos (Ed.), Encyclopedia of quality of life and well-being research (pp. 2662–2667). Dordrecht: Springer.
Tirosh-Samuelson, H. (2003). Happiness in premodern Judaism: Virtue, knowledge, and well-being. Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press.
Van Hoorn, A. (2007). A short introduction to subjective well-being: Its measurement, correlates and policy uses. Paper prepared for Conference ‘Is happiness measurable and what do those measures mean for policy?’, University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’, 2–3 April, 2007.
Volkert, J., & Schneider, F. A. (2012). A literature survey of disaggregating general well-being: Empirical capability approach assessments of young and old generations in affluent countries. Sociology Study, 2(6), 397–416.
Wilson, F., (2014). John Stuart Mill. In Edward N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2014/entries/mill/
Woolridge, A. (2006). Measuring the mind: Education and psychology in England, c. 1860–c. 1990. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Zevnik, L. (2014). Critical perspectives in happiness research: The birth of modern happiness. Dordrecht: Springer.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Fattore, T., Mason, J., Watson, E. (2017). Tracing Conceptualisations of Well-Being: Locating the Child in Well-Being Discourse. In: Children’s Understandings of Well-being. Children’s Well-Being: Indicators and Research, vol 14. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-0829-4_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-0829-4_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-024-0827-0
Online ISBN: 978-94-024-0829-4
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)