The Pursuit of Human Well-Being

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxxvi

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2. Historical Conceptions of Well-Being over the Long Term

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-2

      PDF

   2. The Search for Well-Being: From Ancient to Modern Times

      • Richard J. Estes

      Pages 3-30

   3. Western Historical Traditions of Well-Being

      • Alex C. Michalos, Daniel Weijers

      Pages 31-57

   4. East Asian Historical Traditions of Well-Being

      • Shawn Arthur, Victor H. Mair

      Pages 59-82

   5. Well-Being in India: A Historical and Anthropological Report

      • Isabelle Clark-Decès, Frederick M. Smith

      Pages 83-107

   6. Islamic Conceptions of Well-Being

      • Mohsen Joshanloo

      Pages 109-131

3. Domains of Well-Being

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 133-134

      PDF

   2. How We Measure Well-Being: The Data Behind the History of Well-Being

      • M. Joseph Sirgy, Richard J. Estes, Audrey N. Selian

      Pages 135-157

4. Regional Analyses of the History and Contemporary State of Well-Being Since World War II

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 159-160

      PDF

   2. New Beginnings in an Ancient Region: Well-Being in Sub-Saharan Africa

      • Valerie Møller, Benjamin Roberts

      Pages 161-215

   3. Well-Being in Latin America

      • Mariano Rojas, José de Jesús García Vega

      Pages 217-255

   4. Well-Being in Canada and the United States

      • Richard J. Estes, Kenneth C. Land, Alex C. Michalos, Rhonda Phillips, M. Joseph Sirgy

      Pages 257-299

   5. The History of Well-Being in East Asia: From Global Conflict to Global Leadership

      • Takashi Inoguchi, Richard J. Estes

      Pages 301-348

   6. The History of Well-Being in South Asia

      • Vijay Kumar Shrotryia, Krishna Mazumdar

      Pages 349-380

   7. The History of Well-Being in Southeast Asia

      • Mahar Mangahas, Edilberto C. De Jesus

      Pages 381-408

   8. The History of Well-Being in Europe

      • Wolfgang Glatzer, Jürgen Kohl

      Pages 409-452

   9. The History of Well-Being in Oceania

      • Robert A. Cummins, Tanja Capic

      Pages 453-491

   10. Well-Being in the Transition Economies of the Successor States of the Former Soviet Union: The Challenges of Change

       • Carol Graham, Aurite Werman

       Pages 493-521

   11. The History of Well-Being in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)

       • Habib Tiliouine, Mohammed Meziane

       Pages 523-563

This handbook informs the reader about how much progress we, the human race, have made in enhancing the quality of life on this planet. Many skeptics focus on how the quality of life has deteriorated over the course of human history, particularly given World War II and its aftermath. This handbook provides a positive perspective on the history of well-being. Quality of life, as documented by scientists worldwide, has significantly improved. Nevertheless, one sees more improvements in well-being in some regions of the world than in others. Why? This handbook documents the progress of well-being in the various world regions as well as the differences in those regions. The broad questions that the handbook addresses include:

• What does well-being mean?
  
• How do different philosophical and religious traditions interpret the concept of well-being within their own context?
  
• Has well-being remained the same over different historical epochs and for different regions and subregions of the world?
  
• In which areas of human development have we been most successful in advancing individual and collective well-being? In which sectors has the attainment of well-being proven most difficult?
  
• How does well-being differ within and between different populations groups that, for a variety of socially created reasons, have been the most disadvantaged (e.g., children, the aged, women, the poor, racial, ethnic, and sexual minorities)?

• Historical Traditions of Well-Being
• Quality of Life Indicators
• Well-Being of Nations and Population Groups
• Contemporary State of Well-Being
• Domains of Well-Being
• Well-Being in Western Countries
• Well-Being in East Asia
• Well-Being in South Asia
• Well-Being in Islamic Countries
• Well-Being in Latin America
• Well-Being in North America
• Well-Being in Europe
• Well-Being in Oceania

“This is an immensely important milestone in the global cultural history of wellbeing, and it will be a superb resource for anyone wanting a comprehensive global overview of philosophies, concepts, and socio-economic and political histories relating to wellbeing, as well as a rich source of basic information on contemporary objective and subjective indicators. … As an extremely ambitious collection offering encyclopedic coverage of historical and contemporary information relevant to wellbeing worldwide, this is impressive.” (Neil Thin, Margarita Tarragona, Paul Wong, Rebecca Jarden, Jonathan Bartholomaeus and Aaron Jarden, International Journal of Wellbeing, Vol. 7 (1), June, 2017)

• School of Social Policy and Practice, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA

  Richard J. Estes

• Pamplin College of Business Department of Marketing, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, USA

  M. Joseph Sirgy

Richard J. Estes is Professor Emeritus of Social Work and Social Policy in the School of Social Policy & Practice of the University of Pennsylvania. He specializes in international and comparative social welfare, social policy, and social development. He has been the recipient of many awards and prizes for his contributions to comparative social development. In addition to the present volume, his books include The Social Progress of Nations, 1984; Trends in World Social Development, 1988; Health Care and the Social Services,1984; Towards a Social Development Strategy for the Asia and Pacific Region (with Edward Van Roy), 1992; Social Development in Hong Kong: The Unfinished Agenda, 2005; Medical, Legal, and Social Science Aspects of Child Sexual Exploitation, 2007; Advancing Quality of Life in a Turbulent World, 2007; Social Progress in Islamic Societies: Social, Political, Economic, and Ideological Challenges (with Habib Tiliouine, Dordrecht NL: Springer), in preparation; and Human Well-Being: The Untold Global History (with M. Joseph Sirgy, Dordrecht HL: Springer), in preparation, 2015.

M. Joseph Sirgy is a management psychologist (PhD, University of Massachusetts, 1979), Professor of Marketing, and Virginia Real Estate Research Fellow at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). He has published extensively in the areas of marketing, business ethics, and quality of life (QOL). He is the author/editor of many books related to quality-of-life and well-being research. In 1998, he received the Distinguished Fellow Award from ISQOLS. In 2003, ISQOLS honored him as the Distinguished QOL Researcher for research excellence and a record of lifetime achievement in QOL research. In 2012 he was awarded the EuroMed Management Research Award for outstanding achievements and groundbreaking contributions to well-being and quality-of-life research.

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