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Probing Folk Happiness in Taiwan

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  • Po-Keung Ip
  • Yuet-Wah Cheung

Abstract

This paper examines Taiwan’s folk happiness, which means the subjective well-being of the common people. Subjective well-being of people refers to the judgments people make about their life satisfaction or happiness. Such judgments may include their satisfaction of life as a whole (global life satisfaction) or of specific aspects of life (domain satisfaction). Based on survey data from a large sample, the life satisfaction of people is investigated in two aspects—people’s personal life and their perceived conditions of living in Taiwan, respectively presented as personal well-being and national well-being or societal well-being. The meanings of the well-being findings are interpreted against the socio-political environment of Taiwan. The paper also examines the socio-demographic aspects, including gender, age, marital status, education, income, religion of the folk happiness of Taiwan. It is found that people in Taiwan are moderately happy. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Po-Keung Ip & Yuet-Wah Cheung, 2014. "Probing Folk Happiness in Taiwan," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 117(3), pages 689-703, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:117:y:2014:i:3:p:689-703
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-013-0393-9
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