Publications / Other reports / 2010 / 2010:001 Livskvalitet
Livskvalitet
ISBN print: 978-82-7763-320-6
ISBN internet: 978-82-7763-321-3
Pages: 112
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Virtual centre for research on civil society and the voluntary...
This is a state of the art report on the subject of voluntarism, art and culture and their impact on quality of life, health and well-being. The report consists of three parts. The first describes the emergence of a new scientific discipline on happiness, well-being and quality of life. The report presents some international indexes which measure and range different countries on development. These indexes do not only measure economic aspects but, in line with the happiness research, also include subjective reviews, psychological and emotional aspects. The new discipline called happiness research was established on what is characterised a Western paradox, namely that Western societies have become richer but their citizens have not become happier. Happiness research is therefore an interdisciplinary field which promotes not only economic measurements of development, but also research from e.g. positive psychology, brain science, political science, sociology and philosophy.
The second part of the report illuminates research on voluntarism and happiness, and part three deals with culture and quality of life. In both parts the report distinguishes between the significance of culture and voluntarism for happiness on a societal level on one hand, and on an individual level on the other. Research on happiness emphasizes the level of trust in societies as a core subject for the quality of a society, and for the level of subjective well-being among citizens. Thus, happiness research states the importance of culture and voluntarism to the quality of life first and foremost at the societal level.
The report seeks to compile scientific knowledge on these subjects and creates the base for identifying important questions and further research in this field.