Quality of Life in Georgia: The 1980 Experience

Abstract

is a vital and necessary responsibility of both the social scientist and of government agencies involved with the delivery of human services. By mapping the variation of quality of life (QOL), measured by carefully selected social indicators, we are able to pin-point where in a city or a state human suffering exists, obviating guesswork in the allocation of needed social assistance. Concerning the necessity for such ongoing evaluation, Ben-chieh Liu has concluded that ability to evaluate what we have done, and to plan ahead, is dependent on our ability to assess how we are relative to how we were. (J) Studies relating to the measurement and spatial distribution ofsocial well-being in Georgia proliferated during the past decade. (2) This is the case even though no broadly accepted method exists by which QOL is measured, nor is there a commonly agreed upon definition. Those who have attempted to quantify QOL have had to provide their own definitions and justify the social and economic indicators employed in their statistical models. Identifying how QOL is distributed in space compounds an already difficult problem. It is relatively easy to compare two or more states or metropolitan areas with one another, because comparable socioeconomic data satisfying almost any definition are available at those scales. Determining internal variations within cities or states is another matter, for rarely are data accessible for all the same variables at the county, tract, or block levels. Accepting the fact that no single definition exists, it is still possible to make general consensual comments about social well-being and what it means. David M. Smith, for example, carefully describes what he thinks comprises a well society: