Subjective well-being and OECD

From the second half of the XX century on, new concepts of how to measure development of a country and the well-being of its citizens have gained prominence around the world. Social researchers, political actors and international agencies introduced multi-dimensional ways to measure the social progress, which took into account more factors than just the figures of GDP. 

These new perspectives started to take into account, among other factors, subjective aspects of the population’s well-being, trying to understand how social changes affect the way individuals evaluate their life as a whole.

The present work aims to study the emergence and historical evolution of these new discourses that deal with subjective well-being and development. Our intention is to understand more clearly how the debates about these themes have taken place, trying to identify the key actors (individuals, research groups and institutions) who were responsible for inserting them in the worldwide discussions about the measurement of well-being and the political decisions.

Some exploratory research pointed to the vital importance of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD, in the discussion about this theme: currently, this institution shelters the most influential social and political actors concerned with the issues of well-being and with inserting other aspects apart from the GDP in national progress estimates.

Our study concentrates, therefore, on a detailed reconstruction of the emergence of the new discourses on subjective well-being that have taken place in the OECD since the 1990s.