ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the increasing significance of well-being to welfare states and the challenges posed by incorporating well-being as a meaningful and measurable outcome of social policies. It addresses the policy context behind the growing relationship between well-being and social policy, and examines how recent social trends have informed the debate. The chapter summarizes the empirical evidence base on the determinants of well-being, identifying potential roles for welfare states. It also examines unemployment, and presents a case study of how evidence on well-being has been used to influence debates around welfare state reform. European governments and those in other developed welfare states have expanded efforts to incorporate measures of subjective well-being into policy making. Possibly the most researched social influence on low well-being is unemployment, where there is a long and rich history of research into the social and psychological costs of joblessness. The chapter concludes by considering empirical and normative critiques of the role of well-being in social policy.
