Waiting for happiness in Africa
- Authors: Moller, Valerie , Roberts, Benjamin J , Tiliouine, Habib , Loschky, Jay
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67225 , vital:29061 , https://s3.amazonaws.com/sdsn-whr2017/HR17-Ch4_lr.pdf
- Description: publisher version , From Introduction: Are the people in Africa really among the least happy in the world? And if African countries do have a ‘happiness deficit’, what are the prospects of Africa achieving happiness in the near future? These are questions we shall try to address in this chapter. The World Happiness Report (WHR), published since 2012, has found that happiness is less evident in Africa than in other regions of the world. It reports Gallup World Poll (GWP) ratings of happiness, measured on the ‘ladder of life’, a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 indicating greatest happiness. On the map of the Geography of Happiness, published in an earlier World Happiness Report Update 2015, the happiest countries in the world are shaded green, the unhappiest red. Africa stands out as the unhappiest continent, being coloured almost entirely in shades of glaring red (See Fig. 4.1). In 2017, the WHR reports that average ladder scores for over four in five African countries are below the mid-point of the scale (see Fig. 4.2). And only two African countries have made significant gains in happiness over the past decade . There are also considerable inequalities in life evaluations in African countries, and this inequality in happiness has increased over the past years . In this chapter, we shall tentatively seek a number of explanations for the unhappiness on the African continent, which is home to about 16% of the world’s population. It will be no easy task to identify factors that may have shaped perceptions of well-being among the 1.2 billion African people who live in 54 nation states with different historical, cultural, and socio-economic backgrounds. Nonetheless, we shall attempt to describe some of the positive and negative experiences in the lives of people in African countries that likely impact on personal well-being. We shall also try to identify the prospects for change and development that could spell hope for increasing the happiness of African people in future.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2017
South African perceptions of the good life twenty years into democracy
- Authors: Moller, Valerie
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67215 , vital:29060 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20568-7_15
- Description: publisher version , South Africa celebrated 20 years of democracy in 2014. In 1994, life satisfaction among all South Africans peaked following the first open non-racial elections. Since that time, only some 45–55 % of the total population, on average, state that they are satisfied. Drawing on Alex Michalos’ classic Multiple Discrepancy Theory (MDT), this chapter explores the needs, expectations, aspirations and perceptions of progress among black South Africans, who were promised a better life under democracy by the new government they voted for in 1994. Findings suggest that expectations raised by the new government in the early years of democracy, coupled with a strong sense of entitlement to state services and welfare in later years, are among the strongest drivers of life satisfaction 20 years into democracy. South Africa’s democracy project is still a work in progress and black South Africans continue to hope for a better life in the future.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2016
Global Handbook of Quality of Life: exploration of well-being of nations and continents
- Authors: Glatzer, Wolfgang , Camfield, Laura , Moller, Valerie , Rojas, Mariano
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67245 , vital:29063 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9178-6
- Description: publisher version , This handbook provides a comprehensive historical account of the field of Quality of Life. It brings together theoretical insights and empirical findings, and presents the main items of global quality of life and wellbeing research. Worldwide in its scope of topics, the handbook examines discussions of demographic and health development, the spread of democracy, global economic accounting, multi-item measurement of perceived satisfaction and expert-assessed quality of life, and the well-being of children, women and poor people. It looks at well-being in specific regions, including North and Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, South America, and Eastern and Western Europe. In addition to contributions by leading and younger authors, the handbook includes contributions from International Organizations about their own work with respect to social reporting.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2015
Shadow of the Sun – the distribution of wellbeing in Sub-Saharan Africa
- Authors: Roberts, Benjamin J , Gordon, Steven Lawrence , Moller, Valerie , Struwig, Jare
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67235 , vital:29062 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9178-6_23
- Description: publisher version , Despite the enthusiasm that prevailed during sub-Saharan Africa’s initial wave of independence, representations of quality of life in the region over the last half-century focused on themes that typically characterize failed states: maladministration, violence and conflict, disease, impoverishment and suffering. Although considerable hardship persists, the subcontinent experienced impressive economic growth over the last decade. This, together with increasing gains from state-led social spending, has prompted a new narrative that speaks of promise and opportunity. Against this backdrop, the chapter reviews quality of life in the region using select objective and subjective wellbeing measures. The results confirm the general pattern of recent social progress, though lingering deprivation, inequality and often difficult political conditions. While this situation is reflected in relatively low life satisfaction evaluations, it is also accompanied by a resolute optimism that attests to the resilience of the region’s citizens in the face of adversity. The chapter also assesses the influence of certain objective conditions on subjective wellbeing at the macro-level.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2015
Happiness, national pride and the 2010 World Cup
- Authors: Moller, Valerie
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67265 , vital:29065 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781317664185
- Description: publisher version , The potential for national pride to take on shades of both the authentic and the hubristic is reflected in the International Social Survey Program's (ISSP) use of two different multi-item measures of national pride, a general and a domain-specific one. In contrast, domain-specific national pride is characterized as 'not overtly nationalistic, imperialistic, nor chauvinistic' and is expressed as positive feelings towards national accomplishments in a range of domains including arts, science and sport. Most scholars who take an interest in the impact of sport mega-events acknowledge that national pride is related to concepts such as patriotism and nationalism whose meanings are difficult to disentangle. The South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS), which has tracked the attitudes of South African adults around the 2010 World Cup, has confirmed this idea. The longitudinal SASAS study found that subsequent to the event, there was an enormous upswing in the belief that the World Cup had a positive impact on social cohesion.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2014
South Africa, quality of life
- Authors: Moller, Valerie , Roberts, Benjamin J
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67255 , vital:29064 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5
- Description: publisher version , The aim of this encyclopedia is to provide a comprehensive reference work on scientific and other scholarly research on the quality of life, including health-related quality of life research or also called patient-reported outcomes research. Since the 1960s two overlapping but fairly distinct research communities and traditions have developed concerning ideas about the quality of life, individually and collectively, one with a fairly narrow focus on health-related issues and one with a quite broad focus. In many ways, the central issues of these fields have roots extending to the observations and speculations of ancient philosophers, creating a continuous exploration by diverse explorers in diverse historic and cultural circumstances over several centuries of the qualities of human existence. What we have not had so far is a single, multidimensional reference work connecting the most salient and important contributions to the relevant fields. Entries are organized alphabetically and cover basic concepts, relatively well established facts, lawlike and causal relations, theories, methods, standardized tests, biographic entries on significant figures, organizational profiles, indicators and indexes of qualities of individuals and of communities of diverse sizes, including rural areas, towns, cities, counties, provinces, states, regions, countries and groups of countries.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2014