Showing papers in "Social Indicators Research in 1996"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors attempted to group 173 different domains names derived from the literature under seven headings as used by the Comprehensive Quality of Life Scale (ComQol) and found that 68% could be classified in this way.
Abstract: While life satisfaction is commonly measured as an aggregate of individual life domains, the characterisation of such domains is uncertain. This study attempts to group 173 different domains names derived from the literature under seven headings as used by the Comprehensive Quality of Life Scale (ComQol). It was found that 68% could be classified in this way. Moreover, due to the repeated use of some domain names, the ComQol classification included 83% of the total reported data. The ComQol domain data did not differ from single-item global measures of life satisfaction and the within-study variance was lower using the ComQol rather than the original domains. A hierarchy of domain satisfaction was found which was dominated by the domain of intimacy. The other ComQol domains were quite tightly clustered within a range of 1.08 standard deviations. No difference was found between normative data and data gathered from people with a chronic medical condition, but people selected on psychiatric criteria had a lower life quality, most particularly in the domain of intimacy. It is concluded that life satisfaction, and therefore subjective well-being, can be economically and validly measured through the seven ComQol domains.
795 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors review advances in the study of satisfaction in the context of Social Indicators Research, focusing on five developments: changes in the conceptualization of satisfaction, advances in satisfaction measurement, growth of a significant body of comparative data on satisfaction, resulting advances in understanding of the appraisal-process, and developments in the use of the satisfaction concept in wider conceptions of welfare.
Abstract: This paper reviews advances in the study of satisfaction in the context of Social Indicators Research. Five developments are considered: 1) changes in the conceptualization of satisfaction, 2) advances in the measurement of satisfaction, 3) growth of a significant body of comparative data on satisfaction, 4) the map of satisfaction that emerges from these developments, 5) resulting advances in understanding of the appraisal-process, and 6) developments in the use of the satisfaction concept in wider conceptions of welfare.
674 citations
TL;DR: The Happy Life Expectancy (HLE) measure as discussed by the authors measures the number of years the average citizen in a country lives happily at a certain time in a given year by using a survey data on subjective appreciation of life.
Abstract: One of the aims of social indicator research is to develop a comprehensive measure of quality-of-life in nations that is analogous to GNP in economic indicator research. For that purpose, several multi dimensional indexes have been proposed. In addition to economic performance, these also acknowledge the nation's success in matters like schooling and social equality. The most current indicator of this type is the ‘Human Development Index’. In this approach QOL is measured by input; the degree to which society provides conditions deemed beneficial (‘presumed’ QOL). The basic problem is that one never knows to what extent the cherished provisions are really good for people. An alternative is measuring QOL in nations by output, and consider how well people actually flourish in the country. This ‘apparent’ QOL can be measured by the degree to which citizens live long and happily. This conception is operationalized by combining registration based estimates of length-of-life, with survey data on subjective appreciation-of-life. Life-expectancy in years is multiplied by average happiness on a 0–1 scale. The product is named ‘Happy Life-Expectancy’ (HLE), and can be interpreted as the number of years the average citizen in a country lives happily at a certain time. HLE was assessed in 48 nations in the early 1990's. It appears to be highest in North-West European nations (about 60) and lowest in Africa (below 35). HLE scores are systematically higher in nations that are most affluent, free, educated, and tolerant. Together, these country-characteristics explain 70% of the statistical variance in HLE. Yet HLE is not significantly related to unemployment, state welfare and income equality, nor to religiousness and trust in institutions. HLE does not differ either with military dominance and population pressure. The conclusion is that HLE qualifies as the envisioned comprehensive social indicator. It has both clear substantive meaning (happy life-years) and theoretical significance (ultimate output measure). HLE differentiates well. Its correlations fit most assumptions about required input, but also challenge some. The indicator is likely to have political appeal.
441 citations
TL;DR: It is proposed that scholars refine the WHO definition of health over the next several years, while at the same time creating bridges between a new conceptual definition and more detailed operational definitions.
Abstract: The World Health Organization formulated its definition of health following World War II, during a period when the social health of societies was in question. Since that definition in 1946, social scientists have dutifully followed its precepts and attempted to operationalize its concepts, including social well-being. But, American social scientists have found that psychosocial well-being may be a more accurate formulation of mental and social well-being, and they have questioned the reasonableness of a definition that requires complete health. It is proposed that scholars refine the WHO definition over the next several years, while at the same time creating bridges between a new conceptual definition and more detailed operational definitions. An expansion of the WHO definition may be necessary to include a spiritual dimension of health if social scientists can agree that spirituality is part of health and not merely an influence.
181 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that happiness is intrinsically cardinally measurable and comparable though with many difficulties and propose a sophisticated questionnaire to obtain more accurate and interpersonally comparable reports of happiness based on the concept of just perceivable increments of pleasure/pain.
Abstract: Most questionnaires to obtain reports of happiness are primitive with the results obtained of low (interpersonal) comparability. This paper argues that happiness is intrinsically cardinally measurable and comparable though with many difficulties. Moreover, a sophisticated questionnaire was developed and used to obtain more accurate and interpersonally comparable reports of happiness based on the concept of just perceivable increments of pleasure/pain. Comparisons with the traditional questionnaire are also made (by the respondents) to show the superiority of the sophisticated questionnaire.
172 citations
TL;DR: The Extended Satisfaction With Life Scale (ESWLS) as discussed by the authors is a 50-item self-report scale that measures satisfaction with life in nine domains and can be completed in under 20 minutes.
Abstract: The development and psychometric properties of the Extended Satisfaction With Life Scale (ESWLS) are described in detail. The ESWLS is a 50-item self-report scale that measures satisfaction with life in nine domains. It can be completed by most people in under 20 minutes and can be used by researchers and clinicians. The readability of the ESWLS was estimated to be between the seventh and tenth grade levels. Internal consistency, estimated by coefficient α, ranged from 0.81 to 0.96 for the individual subscales. Two-week test-retest reliability coefficients ranged from 0.74 to 0.87. Results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses strongly supported the factor structure of the ESWLS. Preliminary evidence of convergent and discriminant validity is provided as well as preliminary norms.
171 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a total of 266 adolescent students responded to two self-report well-being measures, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson et al., 1988) and the Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (Dew and Huebner, 1994).
Abstract: A total of 266 adolescent students responded to two self-report well-being measures, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson et al., 1988) and the Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (Dew and Huebner, 1994). The findings supported multidimensional models of subjective well-being. Similar to findings with adults and younger children, three separable factors of well-being were identified: positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction. Demographic variables correlated differentially with the three factors. Considered together with findings from other research, the results suggest the structural invariance of subjective well-being from middle childhood through adulthood.
151 citations
TL;DR: Quality of life is an increasingly common theme in the health status and health promotion literatures and the links among the social indicators, quality of life, and health promotions areas are examined.
Abstract: Quality of life is an increasingly common theme in the health status and health promotion literatures. Six approaches that consider quality of life and health are reviewed. These are (a) health-related quality of life; (b) quality of life as social diagnosis in health promotion; (c) quality of life among persons with developmental disabilities; (d) quality of life as social indicators; (e) the Centre for Health Promotion (University of Toronto) model, and (f) Lindstrom's quality of life model. Each approach is considered as to its emphasis on objective or subjective indicators, individual or system-level measurement, value-laden or value-neutral assumptions, and potential relationship to social policy and social change goals. The links among the social indicators, quality of life, and health promotions areas are examined.
116 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue in favour of level of living surveys among the very old, including questions on living conditions in a number of areas such as health, economy, housing, social relation, activities, political resources, etc.
Abstract: This paper starts with a discussion of the need for general level of living surveys targeted towards the very old, both for research and the production of statistics. We argue in favour of level of living surveys among the oldest, including questions on living conditions in a number of areas such as health, economy, housing, social relation, activities, political resources, etc. Data of this kind are likely to be of utmost importance, both for the production of reliable descriptive statistics on the living conditions among the elderly, and for the purpose of research on ageing. The main part of the paper, then, is directed towards two key issues in the planning and undertaking of such studies, namely the need for a low non-response rate and for medically valid information on health and functional capacity. These discussions are based on our recent experiences from the level of living survey on the survivors in a large national panel survey, aged 77–98 in 1992. In order to achieve a low non-response rate, studies of this kind on the oldest old require additional efforts in survey planning and operation. Similarly, relevant and medically valid data on health and functional ability requires that special attention is paid to questionnaire construction and interviewer training.
67 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a series of hypotheses derived from gender stratification theory and industrialism theory were tested on a sample of 96 less developed countries circa 1990, and evidence is presented of an inverse relationship between the status of women and infant mortality rate.
Abstract: A number of prior studies have attempted to account for cross-national differences in infant mortality rate using a variety of economic, demographic, and health related variables. These studies have given relatively little attention to the impact of predictors measuring the status of women. The present study, based on a sample of 96 less developed countries circa 1990, tests a series of hypotheses derived from gender stratification theory and industrialism theory. Evidence is presented of an inverse relationship between the status of women and infant mortality rate. The present study shows that it makes a difference whether we use relative or absolute measures of women's status and it shows that in addition to women's educational status, other dimensions of women's status particularly economic status and autonomy are also important predictors of infant mortality rate.
64 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the possibility of using physical housing quality information from censuses to help indicate socioeconomic status, particularly that of children, elderly people and women in developing areas such as Latin America.
Abstract: This note explores the possibility of using physical housing quality information from censuses to help indicate socioeconomic status, particularly that of children, elderly people and women in developing areas such as Latin America. We develop a comparative scale from six housing items (wall material, floor material, roof material, availability of electricity, type of sewerage and water facilities) since these items are recommended by the U.N., tend to be present in most housing censuses, tend to be highly related to each other and tend to have a similar valuation. A more basic three-item scale, consisting of the last three items listed above, is also discussed because this scale might be even more widely available while providing valuable, aggregated, information. The six-item and three-item scales correlate highly with each other. There is a wide range among Latin American countries in people's distribution along the scales but the scales themselves seem applicable everywhere. Not only have they been proving useful in our own research, but both scales correlate fairly well with a country's infant mortality rate on the aggregate level and with an individual's educational attainment among men and women 15 to 59 and among elderly people 60 years of age and older.
TL;DR: In this article, the effects in both directions are estimated in a model with reciprocal relationships as a starting model, and it can then be determined which of the two effects for each pair of variables is strongest and which effect can be ignored in the model.
Abstract: In social indicator studies, there is some controversy about the causal direction between subjective well-being and domain-specific satisfaction variables; a “top-down” approach is distinguished from a “bottom-up” approach. In this paper, the effects in both directions are estimated in a model with reciprocal relationships as a starting model. It can then be determined which of the two effects for each pair of variables is strongest and which effect can be ignored in the model. This procedure is applied to four different datasets collected in the Netherlands, and to models with different exogenous variables. Comparing the best solutions obtained for all different models and datasets, it is shown that the direction of the effects is not consistent across models and datasets. We have to conclude that it is impossible to obtain a stable solution for the model of subjective well-being in this study. As a consequence, we also have to conclude that the results from other studies cannot be trusted in which the causal order in a model of subjective well-being is tested.
TL;DR: In this article, a Cox regression analysis was performed on a sample of 253 hospitalised cancer patients who filled out a 108 item-questionnaire, including indicators of quality of life and a two-item religiosity scale.
Abstract: This study is based on a sample of 253 hospitalised cancer patients who filled out a 108 item-questionnaire, including indicators of quality of life and a two-item religiosity scale. A majority of the patients reported that their religious belief had been of support to them after they became ill from cancer. Religiosity was found to be significantly related to general satisfaction with life and feelings of hopelessness. A Cox regression analysis, where religiosity was entered among other relevant covariates, showed a negative relationship between religiosity and the hazard rate that came very close to attain statistical significance. Thus, the effect of religiosity on the survival of patients with severe diseases such as cancer seems worth following up in future studies.
TL;DR: In this article, a set of indicators for the measurement of quality of life in the urban environment are presented. But if a place is meaningless without a subject, so too a person removed from his own place is a man of uncertain identity.
Abstract: In the wealth of studies on measuring the quality of life, an autonomous ’urban’ trend has been progressively distinguishing itself, namely the extension of urban conditions of life to an ever higher percentage of the world's population. From the concept of city understood as a negation of environmental values, we have passed, thanks to a long multidisciplinary evolution, to the concept of the urban ecosystem and to that of the ecological city. What type of indicators may be used for the measurement of the quality of life in the urban environment? And what is their most appropriate ambit of application? An Italian experience in environmental planning (the Ten-Year Plan for the Environment — DECAMB, and the Territorial Frame of Reference — QUADROTER, for the Ministry of the Environment) may offer starting points for a research programme. Concepts such as land supply and demand; territorial loading; equilibrium and spill-over of urban systems; critical population mass, are used to introduce and initial experimental set of (objective and subjective) indicators of the quality of life orientated towards planning, both as regards the provision of services, and for participatory and symbolic aspects. But if a place is meaningless without a subject, so too a person removed from his own place is a man of uncertain identity.
TL;DR: In this paper, a series of comparative studies was conducted investigating different adolescent samples according to cultural background (American Christians, Israeli Jews, Israeli Arabs), socioeconomic status (low, high, disadvantaged), religiosity (observant, secular), and exceptionality (hearing impaired) and at different stages of prosocial involvement (non-involved, registered, and involved volunteers).
Abstract: Is there a link between adolescents' experience of joy and fulfillment and their increased openness and commitment to the world and other human beings? A series of comparative studies was conducted investigating different adolescent samples according to cultural background (American Christians, Israeli Jews, Israeli Arabs), socio-economic status (low, high, disadvantaged), religiosity (observant, secular), and exceptionality (hearing impaired) and at different stages of prosocial involvement (non-involved, registered, and involved volunteers). Over and above group differences, the findings from all samples demonstrated that adolescents who realize positive experiences in greater depth and intensity, are also differentiated by a stronger desire to contribute to society and/or to be devoted to some aim beyond self. Implications for educators in fostering the social responsibility and self-fulfillment of young people from different backgrounds were discussed.
TL;DR: The Short Happiness and Affect Research Protocol (SHARP) as discussed by the authors is a short measure of subjective well-being, which contains 12 items derived from the Memorial University of Newfoundland Scale of Happiness (MUNSH).
Abstract: Issues in the measurement of subjective well-being (SWB) include the relative balance between scale brevity and measurement accuracy. Because accuracy is expected to vary negatively with the length of a scale, the brevity/accuracy trade-off has pragmatic implications for survey research. This article begins by examining minimal psychometric criteria to evaluate short measures of SWB. These criteria include content validity (i.e., four basic categories are cited), criterion validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability. Several measures frequently used in large-scale surveys are shown to fail against one or more of these criteria. Consequently, a new brief measure was developed and shown to satisfy all the criteria. It is termed the Short Happiness and Affect Research Protocol (SHARP). This measure contains 12-items derived from the Memorial University of Newfoundland Scale of Happiness (MUNSH), with the content balanced over positive and negative, and short-term (affective) and long-term (dispositional) components. The internal consistency, temporal stability, and criterion validity coefficients for the SHARP are comparable to those of the MUNSH, which is among the most accurate measures of self-reported SWB.
TL;DR: In this article, a description of the quality of life today for women is given with information on indicators such as income, population, refugees, percent women in political office or boardrooms.
Abstract: This description of the quality of life today for women begins with information on indicators such as income, population, refugees, percent women in political office or boardrooms. The goal for civil society is defined as the survival of the Earth without which other concerns are tangential. The key to effective policies is to measure the cause and effects of environmental degradation and find ways to provide feedback to the decision-makers and ourselves to change behavior. Better quality of life for women means improvement for children and men too. Groups such as Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) and coalitions, e.g., Earth Summit Watch, Beijing Watch, provide feedback on progress made from United Nations summits and bodies such as the World Bank. Both current econmic policies and military actions harm life on Earth. The abilities of women are needed at all levels to effect change and “dance with the universe”. Useful resources and organizations are listed in addpendix.
TL;DR: A review of the past 30 years of research on the relationships between migration or residential mobility and the quality of life broadly construed, mainly in Canada and the United States, can be found in this paper.
Abstract: This paper provides a review of the past 30 years of research on the relationships between migration or residential mobility and the quality of life broadly construed, mainly in Canada and the United States. In the final section a check-list of critical issues in quality-of-life research is given.
TL;DR: In this paper, a broad range of social, political, economic, and environmental factors contribute to the asynchronous nature of Asia's contemporary development trends, while poverty remains the most dominant feature of development throughout the region.
Abstract: Asia is the world's most rapidly developing region. Even so, the majority of Asian nations continue to experience slow-moderate levels of economic growth, high rates of inflation, rapid population growth, and comparatively high levels of ethnic tension and civil unrest. Comparatively weak levels of intra-regional cooperation on a broad range of social, political, economic, and environmental factors contribute to the asynchronous nature of Asia's contemporary development trends. Poverty remains the most dominant feature of development throughout the region.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the use of a measure of well-being derived from time-use data on the enjoyment of activities, and explore the association between the wellbeing of partners.
Abstract: In this paper I investigate the use of a measure of well-being derived from time-use data on the enjoyment of activities, and explore the association between the well-being of partners. The measure of well-being used is directly derived from the subjective assessment of the enjoyment of activities as recorded in time-use diaries. It is shown that this measure yeilds plausible results which share many of the characteristics of other measures of well-being. In addition, since the diaries used in the analysis were collected from couples it has also been possible to investigate the association between the well-being of partners. It is shown that in multivariate analyses including both time-use and socio-demographic variables the effect of a partner's well-being has by far the most significant impact on individual well-being. It is argued that this combination of information offers a useful means of analysing the relationship between time-use, well-being and the couple relationship. In this sense the analysis cross-cuts some of the conventional disciplinary boundaries which have served to separate the study of emotional relationships and psychological states from that of the daily activities of households.
TL;DR: In this paper, the use of a standardized depression scale (CES-D) in a sample survey of three Russian villages (N=263) in the summer of 1993 was reported.
Abstract: This paper reports the use of a standardized depression scale (CES-D) in a sample survey of three Russian villages (N=263) in the summer of 1993. The analysis shows a good response rate on all items, except for two. The internal consistency of the scale is good (alpha reliability is 0.79), and the factor loadings are sensible and relatively high. There is a greater percentage of the respondents in rural Russia who showed symptoms of depression compared to the percentage of respondents who showed symptoms of depression in other studies. Greater levels of depression were found among respondents who were elderly, in poor health, who were women, divorced or separated, and had little social support.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors developed an instrument for measuring the cognitive domain of the quality of life of university students, and to report the validity and reliability of the scales that are created.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to develop an instrument for measuring the cognitive domain of the quality of life of university students, and to report the validity and reliability of the scales that are created. The study uses a representative sample of undergraduate students from the faculty of education at a major Canadian university. The construct validity of the scales is assessed by Thomas Piazza's procedures for analyzing attitudinal items. The findings support conceptualizing the cognitive domain in terms of Structural and Functional dimensions. The Structural Dimension includes the Knowledge and Comprehension dimensions from Bloom's taxonomy and the Functional Dimension includes the Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation dimensions. The alpha reliability coefficients of the two scales are 0.88 and 0.85, respectively. Some potential applications of these scales for understanding educational attainments, as well as for the evaluation of university departments and faculties, are suggested.
TL;DR: In this article, the effects of off-farm employment on perceptions of quality of life were found to be significant for men and women employed off-the-farm, and low levels of satisfaction with time issues, leisure and exercise were most evident for employed women.
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to determine the effects of off-farm employment on perceptions of quality of life. Data collected on 311 Western Ontario male and female farmers revealed that although most indicated satisfaction with their lives, some differences are apparent. Women employed off the farm report more areas of lower satisfaction than their male counterparts and men and women working solely on the farm. Low levels of satisfaction with time issues, leisure and exercise were most evident for employed women. Men employed off the farm report the most effects from time issues, satisfaction with the farm business, income and the environment. People working off the farm feel their farms are less successful and are more concerned with their environment. Whereas the farm family's pluriactivity enables many to hold on to herished aspects of the farming lifestyle for a while, its burdens are perceived to fall neaviest on female farmers especially if they have young children. The magnitude of their concerns about the quality of their environment and not being able to farm successfully suggests that many of these farmers would improve their quality of life by peeding up the transition out of farming before all their farm's equity is lost.
TL;DR: In this paper, a multinomial logit framework was used to estimate a disease specific demand function to study the determinants of utilisation of the services of a health care provider or a treatment regiment for malaria.
Abstract: This paper attempts to estimate a disease specific demand function to study the determinants of utilisation of the services of a health care provider or a treatment regiment for malaria. The study adapts a multinomial logit framework to look at both facility characteristics and individual patient features on demand for malaria care in Ghana. The individual patient characteristics form a set of social indicators which can be used to discriminate or put into groups patients with respect to their choice of provider.
TL;DR: Wang et al. as mentioned in this paper examined the theoretical and empirical dimensionality of marital quality in urban Chinese marriages and found that the quality of urban Chinese Marriages can be conceptualized as a two-factorial and multidimensional construct.
Abstract: The research reported in this article examines the theoretical and empirical dimensionality of marital quality in urban Chinese marriages. Using survey data from the People's Republic of China, the author carried out a series of confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). Results revealed that the quality of urban Chinese Marriages can be conceptualized as a two-factorial and multidimensional construct. To further validate and generalize this conceptualization, the very same CFA models were tested in both arranged and free choice marriages. The finding indicated that marital quality can be indeed measured by marital interaction, marital satisfaction, marital disagreement, marital problem, and marital instability indicators. This result is consistent with the marital quality literature in the United States.
TL;DR: In this paper, a new method for measuring the socio-economic inequality using a composite social indicator, Life-Quality Index, derived from two principal indicators of development, namely, the Real Gross Domestic Product per person and the life expectancy at birth, is presented.
Abstract: As income inequality presents a narrow view of overall inequality prevailing in a society, the paper focuses on its much broader definition, referred to as socio-economic inequality, which considers the disparities in income as well as in mortality, and standard of living. The paper presents a new method for measuring the socio-economic inequality using a composite social indicator, Life-Quality Index, derived from two principal indicators of development, namely, the Real Gross Domestic Product per person and the life expectancy at birth. Income inequality and the associated life expectancy variations are integrated into a quality adjusted income (QAI), to account for the observed differentials in life-quality of various quintiles of the population. The Gini coefficient of the distribution of QAI is introduced as a measure of socio-econmic inequality. The proposed approach is illustrated using data on life expectancy of five income quintiles in urban Canada. It is found that the magnitude of inequality in Canada is higher than that reflected by the traditional measure, the Gini coefficient of income.
TL;DR: In this article, the Life Satisfaction Research Questionnaire (LSQ) is used to measure subjective well-being and to distinguish between satisfaction with the circumstances of their lives and with what they have made of those circumstances.
Abstract: The development and application of a new measure of subjective well-being, the Life Satisfaction Research Questionnaire, is discussed. The major new contribution that this instrument makes to the study of happiness is allowing subjects to distinguish between their satisfaction with the circumstances of their lives and with what they have made of those circumstances. Two separate studies involving repeated administrations (over a period of three months) to under-graduates investigated the relationship between life satisfaction and a tendency to engage in self-deception. Results found that subjects high in self-deception tended to give greater weight to what they felt they had made of their lives than to their life circumstances. Following discussion of the results, recommendations are made for further study.
TL;DR: This paper found that men made more friends than women, in particular same-sex friends, whereas women knitted ties with both sexes, and loneliness emerged as an inhibiting factor in the bonding process.
Abstract: After the 1989 breakdown of the communist system, 235 East Germans were interviewed three times during the two years following their transition to West Berlin. In moving to the west, the migrants had to deal with various stressors, among them the lack of social ties in their new environment. Fortunately, the number of their new friends increased steadily, and loneliness declined. These changes, however, differed between sexes and age groups. Men made more friends than women, in particular same-sex friends, whereas women knitted ties with both sexes. The young built larger networks than the intermediate age group. Loneliness emerged as an inhibiting factor in the bonding process. The study demonstrates how well these refugees coped with a social crisis. It also examines the roles that loneliness and social bonding played in the readjustment process.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine collective community action by local officials in the Black Belt Timber Dependent communities to meet the social and economic well-beings of local residents and find that race is the primary factor in actions with a collective dimension in Forestville.
Abstract: The current decline in the economic well-being of the residents of the Alabama's Black Belt communities is well documented. High poverty rates, limited job growth, falling real per capita income, and increased out-migration are signs of current economic problems. With the resurgence of interest in promulgating self-help and community action mechanism at the local, state, and national levels, the purpose of this research is to examine collective community action by local officials in the Black Belt Timber Dependent communities to meet the social and economic well-beings of local residents. Data from the case study research indicate that race is the primary factor in actions with a collective dimension in Forestville. Inequality based on race suppresses interaction among the residents whose lives and well-being are in fact tied together ecologically; and, without interaction, collective local action cannot exist. The community has not been hospitable to African Americans because they are viewed or seen as social inferiors and this view is expressed by many whites who grew up in the community. The white leadership discouraged collective action in order to maintain its hegemony in the community. The African Americans with political power have no resources and great exertion is needed to change established community relationships. In Forestville, racial and ethnic cleavages makes collective community actions to levelop local business and industry and human services impossible. Implications of the research findings are discussed.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify the level of development of a country on the basis of the nature of the income elasticities of the social indicators of development, i.e., necessity, luxury, and inferior.
Abstract: Human development is a multidimensional phenomenon. It depends on a number of non-monetary aspects of life (social indicators of development). Per capita gross domestic product (PCGDP) is a means to achieve these nonmonetary aspects of life. To what extent PCGDP of a country is transformed into social development is an important phenomenon. Income elasticities of social indicators with respect to PCGDP reflect such relationship. This study attempts to find income elasticities of eight social indicators of development with respect to per capita real gross domestic product (PCRGDP) adjusted for purchasing power parity and expressed in international dollars for four points of time: 1960, 1970, 1980 and 1990. The income elasticities of social indicators may be identified as necessity, luxury and inferior. On the basis of the nature of the income elasticities of the social indicators of development the level of development of a country may be identified. This paper attempts to identify the level of development of a country on the basis of the nature of the income elasticities of the social indicators of development.