The Quality of Life in Confucian Asia: From Physical Welfare to Subjective Well-being

Excerpt

The end of the state is not a mere life; rather a good quality of life.

Aristotle

Without Goodness, one cannot enjoy enduring happiness.

Confucius

Throughout the world, scholars and policymakers are increasingly concerned with understanding issues related to the quality of life. There is a growing awareness that expanding the gross national product per capita will not, by itself, lead to improved citizen well-being. Quality of life involves much more than income, and economic indicators are not capable of assessing the health of a nation (Diener and Seligman 2004; Lane 2000; Scitovsky 1992; Shin et al. 2003). Thus, with hopes of identifying the factors involved, many government agencies, research institutes, and individual scholars have begun appraising and comparing the quality of life across a number of different countries and regions (Alber et al. 2004; Glatzer 2004; Hagerty et al. 2001; Prescott-Allen 2001; Shek et al. 2005; Shin et al. 2003; United Nations Development Programme 2000; World Bank 2000). As part of this rising global research movement for human betterment, Chuo University and the University of Tokyo in Japan conducted the AsiaBarometer Surveys (ABS) nationally in six East Asian societies. These surveys offer tremendous insight into how increasing prosperity in Confucian Asia has affected subjective well-being among the area’s various citizenries (Inoguchi et al. 2007). …