Deeming Christopher
School of Geographical Sciences , University of Bristol , University Road , Clifton , Bristol BS8 1SS . Email:
J Soc Policy. 2013 Jul;42(3):541-565. doi: 10.1017/S0047279413000202.
The idea that the happiness and wellbeing of individuals should shape government policy has been around since the enlightenment; today such thinking has growing practical policy relevance as governments around the world survey their populations in an effort to design social policies that promote wellbeing. In this article, we consider the social determinants of subjective wellbeing in the UK and draw lessons for social policy. Survey data are taken from the 'Measuring National Wellbeing Programme' launched by the UK's Office for National Statistics in 2010. For the empirical strategy, we develop bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models, as well as testing for interaction effects in the data. The findings show that wellbeing is not evenly distributed within the UK. Socio-demographic characteristics such as age, gender, ethnicity, employment, household composition and tenure all matter, as does health status. Influencing population wellbeing is inherently complex, though, that said, there is a clear need to place greater emphasis on the , given the direction of current policy.
自启蒙运动以来，个人的幸福和福祉应塑造政府政策这一观点就已存在；如今，随着世界各地的政府对其民众进行调查，以努力设计促进福祉的社会政策，这种思想在实际政策中的相关性日益增强。在本文中，我们考虑了英国主观幸福感的社会决定因素，并为社会政策吸取经验教训。调查数据取自英国国家统计局于2010年启动的“衡量国民福祉计划”。对于实证策略，我们开发了双变量和多变量逻辑回归模型，并对数据中的交互效应进行了检验。研究结果表明，幸福感在英国国内分布并不均匀。年龄、性别、种族、就业、家庭构成和居住期限等社会人口特征以及健康状况都很重要。然而，影响人口福祉本质上是复杂的，话虽如此，鉴于当前政策的方向，显然有必要更加重视这一点。
