What drives societal and individual quality of life?

On December 15 Klaus Boehnke and Georgi Dragolov took part in the "Culture matters" research seminar with the report on "What drives societal and individual quality of life?".

The report was offered an overview of findings from recent empirical research on factors that condition societal and individual quality of life. Societal level quality of life was operationalized as social cohesion (along the approach of the Bertelsmann Social Cohesion Radar); individual level quality of life was operationalized as life satisfaction and as happiness.

Regarding social cohesion, the presentation was compared the role of macro-level socio-economic, political, and cultural factors across Western and Asian societies. As to life evaluation, the session was addressed the post-materialization of happiness in Western societies and its monetarization in Asia. Special attention was being paid to cross-cultural differences in the impact of income inequality on individual quality of life. A discussion with the auditorium was sought with regard the case of Russia, considering the country’s special – Eurasian – geopolitical standing.