Social Indicators, Social Justice and Social Well-being

This paper sets out to explore the use of social indicators in measuring the level of well-being in society. It begins by establishing the background to the use of such social monitoring which tends to occur in societies that are concerned about inequalities and have a commitment to social justice and equity. Social indicators are then defined, being seen as statistics which measure changes in social conditions over time and differences between groups and geographic areas. There are different types of indicator, although most tend to be descriptive rather than analytical or evaluative. Distinctions in type that run through the paper are those between direct (a measure of the topic of interest itself) and indirect (a measure of some other variable that allows an inference to be drawn about the topic of interest) and objective (counts of behaviour or conditions) and subjective (reports of attitudes or the feelings of individuals). In section 3 the reasons why social indicators are used are discussed first in practical terms, namely describing the state of society, analyzing social change, forecasting the future, evaluating social programmes, setting goals and priorities, and developing a system of social accounts. The scientific issues relating to these uses are explored. Second, the philosophical and normative reasons why indicators are used are discussed. Their use implies a commitment to a set of goals and priorities which emphasizes the reduction of inequalities and the furthering of the principles of equity and social justice to create a good or well society. Social well-being is thus seen as a condition in which the needs and wants of the population are satisfied. Several candidate lists of the dimensions of well-being are put forward. There is broad agreement on these dimensions both with respect to objective and subjective measures. There then follows in section 4 examples of how social well-being has been measured. Those included have been selected for coverage (to ensure different aspects of living conditions and sense of well-being have been examined) and scientific rigour. Examples of global measures are provided as well as those relating to sub-national and urban comparisons. Subjective indicators illustrate life satisfaction in general and concerns over particular life domains. The section concludes with 5 comments on combining subjective and objective indicators and the possible role of ‘story-telling’ in enhancing our understanding of the context of well-being. Section 5 then summarizes some of the issues raised in the examples by examining setting goals and priorities, selecting appropriate indicators, combining and weighting indicators in indexes and how measurements are interpreted. The final section briefly sets out the appropriate use of social indicators to monitor social well-being.