Measuring WellBeing
MEASURING ECONOMIC WELL-BEING
By using Gross Domestic Product as the main indicator of well-being, many important factors are neglected. As defined in the New Merriam-Webster Dictionary, well-being is the state of being happy, healthy, or prosperous (1989, p.831). Economically, perhaps the only relevant state under the definition is prosperity, but in reality happiness and health have a great impact on well-being, significant enough to be recognized even when focusing mainly on wealth in numbers. If society hopes to have a more accurate and complete indication of well-being, globally or nationally, a new system of measurement must be developed, leaving GDP to its original function of totaling the dollar value of all domestically-produced goods and services sold over a period of time.
One of the most important factors that is not presently acknowledged when calculating well-being the affects of pollution and natural resource depletion. The land is the most basic foundation for virtually every good produced and needless to say, once it has been stripped of its raw materials, the consequences will resound globally. Damage to our environment adversely affects each aspect of well-being: health, happiness and prosperity. We cannot hope to be healthy without clean air and water, nor can we hope to be prosperous without the materials needed to make goods. And we most certainly cannot hope to be happy when everything around us is sick, stagnant and useless. Unfortunately, GDP actually considers the activities which create pollution as gains to well-being.
Another neglected factor that needs to be recognized when measuring well-being is the value of tasks performed at home and in the community, in which no money is exchanged but countless hours are spent organizing and maintaining. Such simple tasks as gardening or enjoying a block picnic in the neighbourhood park surely add to well-being, as do the jobs of child-rearing and elder care, in which the lives of others are entrusted to people who volunteer their time, love and energy for nothing but the gratification of showing their love and care for another human. A society in which the local park is a hangout for drug dealers, children run recklessly in the streets with no parental guidance and our elderly citizens are left to die in their beds, lonely and uncared for, cannot be in a state of well-being. The activities that make a community safe and welcoming often do not involve a monetary transaction, and are therefore not reflected in GDP.
Gadrey, J. and Catrice, F,J. (2006). The new indicators of well-being and development. New York::Palgrave Macmillan.
Wellbeing was first discussed as authentic happiness by Seligman. In the concept of authentic happiness he discussed the components of positive emotions, meaning in life and engagement. He had described these components to be very much essential in bringing in authentic happiness which he called as wellbeing. It takes the shape of subjective wellbeing, when it becomes subjective to a person’s experience alone. The concrete aspects of health and wealth may stay away from this, when a person’s subjectivity is concerned (Kammann, 1983). Over the years as we see in other studies, this concept has changed to subjective wellbeing being defined on the basis of all the areas of life, wherein the objective factors of wealth and health, and
Have you ever met a devil who does evil for his own sake? Iago in William Shakespeare's Othello could seem like he has good motives, but I feel that he uses them as his excuses. The first thing that I did was uncovered Iago's motives. Iago is the most controversial character in Othello. He is able to keep his true thoughts and motives from everyone. Are his motives only excuses for his actions? Iago pretends to have so many motives that they seem more like excuses. Iago then uses these excuses to justify his actions, which are pure evil. I also feel that Iago has motives and actions that cause his actions. Does Iago have many different excuses, or does he only have one? This paper will prove that Iago has one clear motive and reason for his madness. Iago is not looking for justification that causes him to act the way he does. There is much more though to Iago. He is not a man of only excuses, he has goals with his motives, which causes him to act the way he does.
One reason driverless cars should replace human drivers is because they are safer and offer a comprehensive solution to a problem that plagues the entire world – automobile accidents. Currently, according to Ryan C. C. Chin, around 1.2 million deaths occur worldwide each year due to automotive accidents (1) and in the U.S. alone “more than 37,000 people died in car accidents in 2008, 90% of which died from human mistake” (Markoff 2). Most of these accidents involving human error are caused by fatigued, inattentive, or intoxicated drivers. However, according to Sergey Brin’s the Pros and...
...lass and sexuality by including papers like Stead's which brought middle-class readers in touch with the events of working-class London and provided workers with middle-class representations of themselves. City of Dreadful Delight is an assortment of cross-cultural contact and negotiation between class and sexuality in Victorian era London. Walkowitz's analysis emphasizes distinct “classes,” and the impact of events on each group. Through close social and cultural analysis of the explosion of discourses proceeding and surrounding Jack the Ripper, Walkowitz has demonstrated the historical importance of narratives of sexual danger particularly in the lens of sexuality and class. She explicitly demonstrated the conflicted nature of these discourses, outright showing the women marginalized by male discursive dominance, whose struggles continue to even generations later.
According to Freud’s conclusion based on decades of experimentation and theoretical work in the field of psychotherapy, humans cannot be happy because a satisfaction of needs creates only a momentary phase of happiness which expires after some time. Therefore, the focus of life should not be obtaining happiness, and people should focus on avoiding suffering instead (Bullock, n.d.). However, several paradigms about well-being exist, and individual cognitive patterns and paradigms define the emotional responses to social influences. From an objective viewpoint, well-being is a state of consciousness that arises from a combination of internal and external factors, and money is an unstable external influence in defining subjective well-being.
There will be a day when driving will not require a license. Children will be traveling on their own, teens will be texting while driving, adults will be doing their jobs while driving, and the elderly who are visually or physically impaired will be able to transport themselves (Symonds). This will be made possible through new technological car advancements that will enable a car to be driverless. With technology increasing exponentially, and our everyday lives getting busier and busier, we need a solution. Weeks of productivity are lost each year by Americans (Pollette). Driverless cars will cause this issue to vanish by reducing delays and smoothing traffic flow (Winston). Most technology will have flaws, and this is also true for driverless cars’ technology. Improvements are being made to enhance the car (Pollette), but accidents will still take place. Despite the flaws, driverless cars will make trips shorter, and when trips are long, we will be able to multitask.
Well-being is a combination of physical, mental, emotional and social factors. It is seen, as a stable state of being satisfied with one’s self and their life that doesn’t fluctuate due to a single even, person, or feeling (Begley and Begun, 2000). Well-being consists of eight dimensions, emotional, environmental, financial, intellectual, occupational, physical, social and spiritual (Begley and Begun, 2000). For the purpose of this study we are going to be looking at the emotional and occupational sides of well-being. Emotional state of well being is the ability to recognize, understand and express a full range of emotions and channel our emotions into healthy behaviours that satisfy our personal and social goals (Ryff, 1985). Occupational is achieving personal satisfaction and enrichment in one’s life through work, education, and personal goals and passions (Ryff, 1985).
In the Oxford English dictionary the definition of wellbeing is “a state of being healthy, happy or prosperous; physical, psychological and moral welfare.” In correlation with KE 206 module, wellbeing is indeed all these things but also how they shape and influence the lives of children and young people. The wellbeing of children and young people can be understood objectively and subjectively. Objectively, the wellbeing of children and young people can be understood by looking at and measuring basic needs in life food shelter and safety. The wellbeing of children and young people can be understood subjectively by asking how one perceives themselves, their own wellbeing and emotions. In general, wellbeing is also affected by external factors
Human drivers have instincts that cannot be duplicated by technology, but by that same token human error is not a part of a self-driving car. In addition, we also need to take into consideration the transition period, when there are self-driving cars as well as human drivers on the road. Humans can notice the other drivers physically signal to go-ahead, when at a four way stop sign or; offer an opening for the merging lane. This is an example of what human interaction is capable of, that self-driving cars will need to calculate in order to
Well-being is a term used to describe the physical, psychological and social condition of an individual. The physical well-being of a person is in relation to the functional daily activities such as eating, dressing, bathing and moving around. The psychological well-being relates to the cognitive functions of an individual, such as being able to deal with fear, anxiety, stress and depression. The social well-being is about one’s ability of being part of a society and interacting with them different people along with fulfilling roles as a family member, a friend, and a colleague. The World Health Organization (WHO) defined health as the “complete state of physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of infirmity” (WHO 1948). This explains how the well-being of an individual does not only rely on the absence of ill health but it also takes into account the other aspects of life which affect the quality of life. Quality of life is def...
This is the acknowledgment that quality of life/well-being has both objective components which are the components external to an individual and measurable by ‘others’ and subjective components which are personal assessments of one’s own life or of particular aspects of life using measures of satisfaction, happiness, or other self-assessment scales.
Animals are just as living as we are, they deserve the same basic rights that we do and they deserve to live a life without pain and suffering that humans so often inflict. As humans, we have a natural need to help and protect. This need should range from world hunger to ending all harm that comes to any species. We are natural born leaders and therefore it is our responsibility to look out for those who look up to us. As animals have no say we have to be there voice and speak up where needed. Through this and advocating for a better tomorrow we can make a difference in animal abuse and end all harm to those innocent, to make the world a better equalized place.
In my paper I will clarify the seven measurements of wellbeing and how we require every one and how they identify with us. These measurements are: Social Wellness, Emotional Wellness, Spiritual Wellness, Environmental Wellness, Occupational Wellness, Intellectual Wellness and Physical Wellness. Every one of the measurements of health have critical impact in our day by day living with how we converse with individuals, to how we think rationally. My paper will have the capacity to clarify measurements of wellbeing altogether.
Economic growth and social development are complementary and they have a close but complex relationship. With the economic growth, it is clear that there are many environmental concerns in today’s society. Air, water, and land pollution have worsened; the environment of wild animals and plants has been seriously damaged; many species are threatened with extinction, deforestation and over-exploitation of mineral resources.