Introduction to wellbeing research

Abstract

"This insightful Modern Guide explores heterodox approaches to modern wellbeing research, with a specific focus on how wellbeing is understood and practised, exploring policies and actions which are taken to shape wellbeing. It evaluates contemporary trends in wellbeing research, including the sometimes competing definitions, methods and approaches offered by different disciplinary perspectives. Exploring the threats to wellbeing from the environments we inhabit and the situations societies create and endure, chapters particularly look at wellbeing inequalities and the experiences of marginalised groups, demonstrating the connection between wellbeing and political struggle. Provocative commentaries from leading scholars plus chapters on original theoretical developments and research studies across diverse world regions reveal wellbeing research based on situated practices, social differences and specific cultural contexts. This Modern Guide assesses the influence and impact of wellbeing research on policy and practice across a range of sectors and spaces, including: wellbeing budgeting, nature-based interventions, urban design, environmental resource management, prisons, housing, international migration, and post-conflict situations. This will be a useful read for scholars of human geography, social policy, urban studies, anthropology, political science and environmental economics. Policy makers will also appreciate the suggestions for improvement to wellbeing policies and practices"-- Foreword / Katherine Trebeck, Wellbeing Economy Alliance -- 1. Introduction to wellbeing research / Beverley A Searle, Jessica Pykett and Maria Jesus Alfaro-Simmonds -- Part I. Approaching wellbeing -- 2. Commentary to Part I: Reanimating the radical possibilities of wellbeing / Sarah Atkinson -- 3. Towards a queer epistemological framework for wellbeing research / Julia Zielke -- 4. A Marxian approach to wellbeing: Human nature and use value / David Watson -- 5. Developing qualitative, biographical research into happiness and wellbeing: A sociological perspective / Mark Cieslik -- 6. Practicing wellbeing through community economies: An action research approach / Thomas S.J. Smith and Kelly Dombroski -- Part II. Practicing wellbeing -- 7. Commentary to Part II: A wellbeing lens in practice / Neil Thin -- 8. Prisoners' rehabilitation and wellbeing: A psychosocial perspective / Fabio Tartarini -- 9. Gender and wellbeing in post-war Sri Lanka / Fazeeha Azmi -- 10. Wellbeing and inclusion: A place for religion / Laura Kapinga and Bettina Bock -- 11. Children experiencing happiness in the city / Maria Jesus Alfaro-Simmonds -- 12. Housing inequalities and wellbeing: A critical analysis of narratives from stakeholders in Luxembourg / Magdalena Górczyńska-Angiulli, Elise Machline -- 13. Woodlands and wellbeing: Evaluating the 'Actif Woods Wales' programme / Heli Gittins, Sophie Wynne-Jones and Val Morrison -- Part III. Where next for wellbeing? -- 14. Commentary to Part III: Wellbeing: A means for informed policy-making / Susan J Elliott -- 15. Who benefits and who suffers from international migration? Global evidence from the science of happiness / Martijn Hendriks -- 16. Human wellbeing in environmental management / Kelly Biedenweg and David J. Trimbach -- 17. Budgeting for wellbeing / Arthur Grimes -- 18. Subjective wellbeing and transformation / Beverley A. Searle -- Index.