Improving the people’s lot? Different conceptions of well-being between promises and reality

This multi-disciplinary workshop brought together a group of scholars from the fields of political science, history, religious studies and economics to explore how political actors, religions and ideologies have promised to improve the well-being of individuals and how these promises and the policies that may follow, have been perceived by the people. As the establishment of government commissions studying well-being in many industrialized nations including Germany and Japan has shown, these questions have gained significant importance in today’s pluralized societies. In these societies, it has become common knowledge that material wealth alone does not make people happy. Moreover, pre-determined value sets describing how to live a fulfilled life as prescribed by ideologies, unions or churches are not as influential as they used to be. These changes make the aforementioned questions even more relevant for the academic community and society as a whole.

Supported by:
Friedrich Ebert Stiftung