Concepts of Well-Being of Children in Baku/Azerbaijan

The findings that ground the theoretical and methodological considerations of my presentation are based on empirical data collected in Baku/Azerbaijan. Ten qualitative interviews have been made with girls aged between ten and twelve years stemming from well-off but also non-privileged families living in various places in Baku. Besides group interviews with a range of 20 pupils (same age and younger) in various schools in Baku have been made discussing what “happy” compared to “satisfied” means to them – this was part of a prestudy of a quantitative project on children’s well-being. The qualitative interviews as well as the group discussions showed how the children very clearly differentiated between a concept of well-being that can be called more “hedonic” (“being happy”) referring to personal happiness as well as a concept that can be said to be more “eudemonic” (“being satisfied”) implying that the expectations of the important others are met. There was on the first sight no obvious or clear positioning from the children telling that one concept of well-being was neither better nor preferable to the other, it more or less seemed to be part of the child’s attitude and while some preferred being happy others judged being satisfied as more valuable and/or important for them.

Along this empirical example I want to highlight in my presentation the question of normativity of “the good” and the interrelation with concepts of well-being. I will then discuss methodological questions linked with this issue, notably the question of how to research and analyse concepts of well-being of children while taking their socio-cultural position into account. With reference to my empirical example I will at the end of my presentation try to answer the question, how, by an praxeologically grounded, intersectional analysis, “preferences” of one concept of well-being towards another might be explained.