The local conception of wellbeing in lao social cultural construction

Abstract

Although material resources are insufficient, wellbeing becomes a promise concept which leads to an argument that wellbeing is a socially and culturally defined concept. Therefore, wellbeing can be varied with many different perspectives whose definition is challenged. This paper proposes to explore the local notion of wellbeing within the social cultural contexts of Lao PDR. The study adopted a qualitative method, 35 representatives of the households participated in the focus group discussion in Sangthong district, and 15 key informants were in-depth interviewed. The content analysis and triangular technique were employed for data analysis and reviewing. This study argues that to develop the measurement of development should include the wellbeing of social and cultural dimension. The result shows that the notion of wellbeing’s meaning in local Lao people conception are comprised of seven dimensions, including family; society; health; education; security, leader and public management; environment; and economic dimension. This finding suggests that the social cultural construction of wellbeing should be considered a form of work to develop the measurement of development in Laos by including the social and cultural wellbeing.