Abstract
This chapter examines the rise of well-being research, a leading contemporary means of shifting social analysis away from Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and which attempts to focus on the ‘social’ aspects of sustainable development in a way that doesn’t cost the earth. However, this approach has recently been critiqued by a broad range of researchers from across the social sciences for its utilitarian, individualistic and quantified approaches to wellness, for its universalistic assumptions, as well as its failure to give adequate attention to culture and context. In tandem with the analysis of prominent environmental metrics and indicators outlined in the previous chapter, then, I will examine some of the consequences of quantifying human ‘wellness’ in sustainable development, a field which also appears highly resistant to the power of numbers.
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Smith, T.S.J. (2019). Our Calculable Selves: The Rise and Hegemony of Well-Being Discourse. In: Sustainability, Wellbeing and the Posthuman Turn. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94078-6_3
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