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Well-Being, Justice, and Inequality Isaac Prilleltensky

Well-Being, Justice, and Inequality Isaac Prilleltensky. isaac@miami.edu www.education.miami.edu/isaac Presented at Positive Nations Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, Sep 29-30, 2010. Outline of Presentation. Well-being Definition Research Justice Definition Research

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Well-Being, Justice, and Inequality Isaac Prilleltensky

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  1. Well-Being, Justice, and InequalityIsaac Prilleltensky isaac@miami.edu www.education.miami.edu/isaac Presented at Positive Nations Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, Sep 29-30, 2010

  2. Outline of Presentation • Well-being • Definition • Research • Justice • Definition • Research • Inequalities and Inequities in Well-Being • Definition • Research • Implications for domestic and international policy and practices

  3. Kerala: A Community Strengths Story Kerala: A state in Southwest India. The name "Kerala" probably means "land of coconuts." Population: 31.8 million Sen: Economic growth is not the whole story. Distribution also matters a great deal for health and human development.

  4. Well-Being in Kerala Personal Empowerment Social Movements Government Action Processes Relational And Organizational Well-Being Community Well-Being Personal Well-Being Social support Sense of cohesion Tenancy laws Nutrition in school Distribution Of resources Land reform Infant mortality Literacy Nutrition Life expectancy Outcomes

  5. Defining Well-Being Wellness is a positive state of affairs, brought about by the simultaneous satisfaction of personal, relational, organizational and collective needs

  6. There cannot be well-being but in the combined presence of personal, relational, organizational and community well-being Part I: Understanding Well-Being relational personal W organizational community

  7. Personal Well-being • Sense of control • Physical health • Love • Optimism • Competence • Dignity and integrity • Growth • Self-esteem • Meaning and spirituality • Material resources

  8. Effects of lack of control and disempowerment on mortality

  9. Relational Well-Being • Support • Affection • Bonding • Cohesion • Collaboration • Respect for diversity • Democratic participation

  10. Effects of Social Support • Less likely to have heart attacks • More likely to resist common cold virus • Lower mortality • Less degree of stress • More positive outlook on life • Resilience

  11. Organizational Well-Being • Efficient structures • Clear roles • Monitoring mechanisms • Planning and accountability • Growth opportunities • Fulfillment of needs • Identity and meaning

  12. High Low Reflective Environment High Low High Low Affective Environment Effective Environment Organizational Well-Being:ERA Environments

  13. Employee engagement and outcome Employee engagement percentile Success rate 73% 67% 57% 50% 43% 33% 27% • 99 • 95 • 75 • 50 • 25 • 5 • 1

  14. Engagement leads to subjective and objective positive outcomes “The data indicate that workplaces with engaged employees, on average, do a better job of keeping employees, satisfying customers, and being financially productive and profitable. Workplace well-being and performance are not independent. Rather, they are complimentary and dependent components of a financially and psychologically healthy workplace” (Harter, Schmidt & Keyes, 2003, p. 221)

  15. Community well-being • Economic prosperity • Social justice • Adequate health and social services • Low crime • Adequate housing • Clean environment • Support for community structures

  16. Place Matters

  17. Male Life Expectancy by Inequality

  18. Social capital and community well-being Low SC: LA, MS, GA Med SC: CA, MO, OK Hi SC: ND, SD, VT, MN

  19. What Is Justice? To Each According to His or Her Due

  20. Sedgwick’s definition in 1922 • Cardinal question of justice is whether there are • “any clear principles from which we may work out an ideally just distribution of rights and privileges, burdens and pains, among human beings as such” (p. 274).

  21. Miller’s 1999 condensed version • “To each his or her due” • Isaac’s four questions • First Question: Who Or What Is Each? • Second Question: How Do We Decide What Is Due A Person, Family, Or Group? • Third Question: Who or What is Responsible for Distributing Resources and Obligations? • Fourth Question: How Do We Decide what is Due From a Person, Family, Group, or Institution?

  22. Dominant ideology Ability Effort Alternative ideology Ability Effort Needs Rights Opportunities Power Second Question: How Do We Decide What Is Due A Person, Family, Or Group?

  23. The role of context • context should determine what criterion or criteria must be preferred in each case • In social conditions of inequality, we must accord preference to needs over ability

  24. Context of Relative Equality • Under conditions of relative equality, where the gap between classes is not very pronounced, it is possible to favor effort over needs.

  25. Context of Plenty of Opportunities • In a context of plenty of opportunities for everyone, it is possible that ability and effort will be the preferred choice.

  26. Justice Out of Context • Societies aspiring to justice must seek equilibrium among all criteria • When context of inequality calls for need and equality, but culture favors effort, it’s because privileged groups benefit. • As a result, group interests that influence the choice of allocation pattern often disregard the context-specific situation.

  27. Context Minimization Error • “Practitioners “should pay more attention to the community contexts of human behavior. Conditions in neighborhoods and community settings are associated with residents' mental and physical health, opportunities, satisfactions, and commitments.” (Shinn and Toohey, 2003, Annual Review of Psychology).

  28. Synergy of Justice and Well-being How Justice Influences Well-Being

  29. Well-Being  Justice

  30. Ecological Model of Well-Being

  31. When Is Inequality in Well-Being Inequitable? (question posed by Daniels, Kennedy, and Kawachi, 2000) When inequalities in well-being are avoidable, unnecessary, and unfair(Dahlgren and Whitehead, 1991)

  32. Do inequalities in well-being exist? • If so, are they • Avoidable • Unnecessary • Unfair • Let’s examine the evidence…….

  33. Colombia: Happy but Dead • Highest rate of murders per capita in the world • Highest number of kidnappings in the world • Colombia 5181 in 7 years • Mexico 1269 • Brazil 515 • Venezuela 109 • Severe under reporting • Colombians report highest level of satisfaction 8.31 (out of 10) in the world in the 90s

  34. USA

  35. List of Best Nations (Newsweek, Aug 2010) Colombia # 62 Finland Switzerland Sweden Australia Luxembourg Norway Canada Netherlands Japan Denmark United States

  36. Metrics for Best Countries Survey Education (TIMMS and or PISA) Health (Healthy life expectancy) Quality of Life (Gini coefficient, gender gap, extreme poverty, homicide rates, pollution, unemployment) Economic dynamism (GDP, innovation, diversification, business friendly laws, bankruptcy) Political environment (freedom house rating, global peace index, political risk)

  37. From Gallup Poll http://www.gallup.com/poll/103795/WellBeing-Report-Card-President-Sarkozy.aspx

  38. Life satisfaction and per capita GDP around the worldFrom: J Econ Perspect. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2009 May 11. Published in final edited form as:J Econ Perspect. 2008 April 1; 22(2): 53–72. doi: 10.1257/jep.22.2.53.

  39. Each doubling of GDP is associated with a constant increase in life satisfactionFrom: J Econ Perspect. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2009 May 11. Published in final edited form as:J Econ Perspect. 2008 April 1; 22(2): 53–72. doi: 10.1257/jep.22.2.53.

  40. Contradictions between objective and subjective criteria of well-being • "neither life satisfaction nor health satisfaction can be taken as reliable indicators of population well-being, if only because neither adequately reflects objective conditions of health.” (Deaton, 2008, p. 70) • J Econ Perspect. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2009 May 11. Published in final edited form as:J Econ Perspect. 2008 April 1; 22(2): 53–72. doi: 10.1257/jep.22.2.53.

  41. “life-satisfaction is higher in countries with higher GDP per head. “it is not true that there is some critical level of GDP per capita above which income has no further effect on life-satisfaction.” Data reject the Easterlin paradox, according to which happiness does not go up after certain income level. (Deaton, 2008, J Econ Perspect. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2009 May 11. Published in final edited form as: J Econ Perspect. 2008 April 1; 22(2): 53–72)

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