The Politics of Wellbeing

This volume is the first collection in the field of wellbeing studies that places politics centre stage. Through a combination of intellectual inquiry, empirically-grounded research, and investigation across different settings, this book aims to provide fresh insights and develop new lenses through which to understand the rise and significance of the wellbeing agenda. Divided into three parts, it considers how to define wellbeing for public policy; the prospects for wellbeing as a force for political change; and the link between policy agendas and the everyday lives of people. The book explores the key political issues of power, democracy, and the legitimacy of wellbeing evidence in a range of settings – international, national and subnational/substate. The volume will appeal to wellbeing and politics scholars, as well as students and general readers with an interest in these new political agendas.

Introduction.- 1: Wellbeing in politics and policy – Ian Bache and Karen Scott.- Part One - Political theory and wellbeing.- 2: The End of History and the Invention of Happiness; Jules Evans.- 3: Well-being and Social Justice: In Defence of the Capabilities Approach; Annie Austin.- 4: The Proper Role for Wellbeing in Public Policy: towards a Pluralist, Pragmatic, Theory-neutral Approach; Tim Taylor.- Part Two - Wellbeing: a force for political change?.- 5: Is wellbeing a useful concept for progressives?; Charles Seaford.- 6: Between Policies and Life: The Political Process of Buen Vivir in Ecuador; Daniela Bressa Florentin.- 7: Challenging the dominant economic narrative through alternative wellbeing indicators: the Canadian experience; Anders Hayden and Jeff Wilson.- 8: Societal Wellbeing – Catalyst for Systems and Social Change in Northern Ireland?; Peter Doran and Susan Hodgett.- Part Three - Between wellbeing policy and everyday lives: critical perspectives.- 9: Reconciling Universal Frameworks and Local Realities in Understanding and Measuring Wellbeing; Allister McGregor.- 10: ‘Therapeutic entrepreneurialism’ and the undermining of expertise and evidence in the education politics of wellbeing; Kathryn Ecclestone.- 11: Skivers, Strivers and Thrivers: The shift from welfare to wellbeing in New Zealand and the United Kingdom; Karen Scott and Annick Masselot.- 12: The politics of the official statistic: the UK ‘Measuring National Well-being’ programme; Matt Jenkins.-