Wellbeing in Developing Countries: From Theory to Research

by Ian Gough (Editor), J. Allister McGregor

In a world where many experience unprecedented levels of wellbeing, chronic poverty remains a major concern for many developing countries and the international community. Conventional frameworks for understanding development and poverty have focused on money, commodities and economic growth. This 2007 book challenges these conventional approaches and contributes to a new paradigm for development centred on human wellbeing. Poor people are not defined solely by their poverty and a wellbeing approach provides a better means of understanding how people become and stay poor. It examines three perspectives: ideas of human functioning, capabilities and needs; the analysis of livelihoods and resource use; and research on subjective wellbeing and happiness. A range of international experts from psychology, economics, anthropology, sociology, political science and development evaluate the state-of-the-art in understanding wellbeing from these perspectives. This book establishes a new strategy and methodology for researching wellbeing that can influence policy.

424 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Leonardo]

Citado en el artículo de Alkire en Capabilities and Happiness.

[Tomas Chaigneau · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's amazing how fast wellbeing work is evolving in the development realm and so this book can feel a little dated at times! However it provides a great background as to the reasoning and rationale for current well being thinking (either in terms of subjective, objective of relational aspects of wellbeing). Some of the chapters stick out but are compensated by great introductory and conclusion chapters.