Measuring Subjective Well-being from a Realist Viewpoint

Abstract

Subjective well-being (SWB) refers to a person's declared well-being and is based on a person's answer to either a single question or a group of questions about his or her subjectively perceived satisfaction or happiness. SWB is believed to be an outcome measure by which to judge successful living. The current literature on SWB consists predominately of studies of the quantitative tradition. These studies are mainly explicitly or implicitly utilitarian. This paper criticises the mainstream utilitarian SWB concept on theoretical and moral grounds. On moral grounds utilitarianism is rejected. On theoretical grounds it is especially argued that the subjective-objective divide regarding the experience behind SWB indicators is blurred. Based on this critique a critical realist approach to SWB is developed. Insights from secondary data for South Africa (SALDRU) are used to illustrate this critical realist approach. The paper concludes with a summary of how such an approach departs from that of utilitarians.