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Subjective well-being is defined by European Commission as “The personal perception and experience of positive and negative emotional responses and global and specific cognitive evaluations of satisfaction with life…Simply, SWB [subjective well-being] is the individual evaluation of quality of life” (Abdallah et al. 2013, p.12). The term ‘quality of life’ on the other hand has long been cited in a wide range of academic disciplines, but there has yet to be an overall consensus on the definition in the field of social policy. It is, however, used in the same vein with other concepts like happiness, life satisfaction, well-being, self-actualisation, freedom from want, and objective functioning (Rapley 2003).

Subjective well-being needs a further discussion to establish a conceptual scope for this thesis, as the term is being used for hedonic well-being, as well as a multidimensional well-being. Subjective well-being as hedonic well-being finds its theoretical root from the two traditions of well-being: hedonism and eudaimonism (Ryan and Deci 2001). Ryan and Deci (2001) explain that the hedonism stems from the philosophy of Aristippus and argues that maximisation of pleasure is the fundamental goal in life and means of achieving happiness. This relatively narrow focus of happiness on bodily pleasures are developed by many philosophers, including Hobbes, Desade, and Bentham, and modern psychologists later expand the concept as the pleasures of the mind as well as the body (Ryan and Deci 2001). Hedonic well-being therefore judges the good and bad element of life based on subjective happiness and the experience of pleasure versus displeasure. Sirgy et al (2006) indicates that the predominant research has shaped the modern concepts of subjective well-being within the hedonic view. On the other hand, Ryan and Deci (2001) explain that the eudaimonism stems from Aristotle’s criticism on hedonism as a vulgar idea, understanding humans as slavish followers of desires. Searle (2008) indicates that eudaimonic sense of well-being is to be engaged in rewarding activities, achieving from basic needs to desires. It would lead to experiences of positive emotional outcomes, which is the psychological perspective of self-actualisation. According to Samman (2007) the current notion of subjective well-being is based on the hedonic well-being, and mainly focuses on material and social well- being. It should therefore be distinguishable from eudaimonic psychological well-being.

On the other hand, subjective well-being can also be used as a multi-dimensional concept, while maintaining its measurements on subjectivity. It is a broad use concept, embracing both traditions of well-being. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD 2013, p.10) defines subjective well-being as “good mental states, including all of the various evaluations, positive and negative, that people make of their lives and the affective reactions of people to their experiences”. Subjective well-being in this view indicates the full range of well-being, including people’s experience of their life as a whole, particular domain of life, and what

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eudaimonic well-being emphasises - the meaningfulness and purpose of life through engaging in rewarding activities. Ryan and Deci (2001) argue that the notion of subjective well-being understands the two traditions as distinct and overlapping concepts, as they often moderately correlate. However, according to Abdallah et al. (2013), subjective well-being is distinguishable from objective well-being, such as objective assessment of income, housing, or health. Searle (2008) also argues that subjective well-being focuses on individual desires and needs coming from one’s state of mind, as well as the resources they have to fulfil those needs. The maximisation of well-being is therefore satisfying one’s preference, depending on how far their desires are fulfilled, and whether or not they are able to enjoy chosen activities and relationships, and this is called happiness according to Nussbaum and Sen (1993). Another aspect of subjective well-being, according to Diener et al. (1999) is that it is a bottom-up approach to well-being, focusing on the individually judged feelings or values, and the level of satisfaction addressed from their own lives or societal structures.

This thesis sets out the conceptual scope of subjective well-being as multi-dimensional, and based on subjective measurements of substances and is based on individuals own feelings and judgments. Among several attempts of measuring the multi-dimensional concept of subjective well-being, the International Wellbeing Group (2013) introduced the Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI), consisting of eight domains that are meaningful on their own but which can be used to represent overall subjective well-being. This is the analytical framework of the literature review discussed in the following section. It allows us to encompass the broader definition of subjective well-being, as OECD (2013, p.12) called as ‘experienced well-being’ or ‘subjectively measured well-being’, rather than subjective well-being that can be distinguished from psychological well- being (eudaimonism), as Samman (2007) argued. The index raises respondents’ satisfaction of hedonic material and social well-being (standard of living, health, and relationships) as well as eudaimonic views of well-being (achievements and spiritual/religion - see Wills (2009) for eudaimonic understanding of spiritual/ religion domain of the PWI). In addition, the nature of qualitative in-depth interviews, the research method of this thesis (see chapter three), also allows room for considering the eudaimonic psychological states of respondents, including their sense of control, self-worth and esteem, confidence, independency, and self-actualisation. For the purpose of this thesis, therefore, subjective well-being is used an umbrella term that includes the various types of self-evaluation of one’s life, with an expectation that it represents a subjective picture of one’s quality of life.

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