Happier together:Social cohesion and subjective well-being

Jan DelheyJacobs University Bremen

Bertelsmann Cohesion Radar projectwww.social-cohesion.net

GLADS

Good Lives and Decent Societies

individual well-being societal well-being(“quality of life”) (“quality of society”)

e.g. social cohesion

Concerns about cohesion:

cohesion refers to a specific aspect of a society’s collective quality of life: the solidarity exhibited by the people of that society. In other words, cohesion describes the sense of community and the degree of brotherhood that exist.

Collective property, not an individual. Social cohesion is believed to be challenged: growing ethno-cultural

diversity; a widening gap between rich and poor; technological changes; welfare state retrenchments; Euro-crisis....

A gap in the social reporting landscape (Legatum Prosperity Index 8 dimensions, social capital; Index of Social Progress 10 dimensions, social chaos)

Scope of the study

34 countries over 20 years (collapsed intofour time periods)

Our concept of social cohesion

Overlap with other studies, e.g. Chan (2006)

Data sources: Survey data, expert ratings and process data

The international cohesion ranking

…in more detail

Cohesion:quite stable

over time

Cohesion strong in rich societies

Determinants of social cohesion

National income (GDP p.c.) Knowledge economy Income inequality (Unemployment rate) Importance of religion Postmaterialist value climate

What’s not influencing cohesion:Ethnic fractionalization; migration (excpetion: migration from Eastern European)Masculine/feminine culture (Hofstede)

The effect on SWB

Normative perspective vs. happiness perspective

The more – the better? Or mixed blessing (cf. dark sides of social cohesion)

Equally important for rich and poor societies? Equally important for more/less vulnerable groups?

LifeSat higher in cohesive societies

Which components of SWB are enhanced by cohesion?

EU countries only; EQLS

Cohesion more important in rich countries

EU countries only; EQLS

Cohesion is good for all:less vs. more vulnerable groups

EU countries only; EQLS

In summary

Social cohesion is focusing on one important aspect of a “decent society”.

Social cohesion mainly depends on economic conditions, equality, and the value climate.

Citizens have higher SWB in more cohesive societies (Western Europe in particular).

Cohesion is good for all. More important than GDP (GDP works through cohesion).

We are happier together!