scholarly journals Making a Living: How Middle-Class Couples in Warsaw Start and Practice a Household

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 91-111
Author(s):  
Marta Olcoń-Kubicka ◽  
Mateusz Halawa
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Moral Order ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Domestic Life ◽  
The Third ◽  
Relational Work ◽  
At Home

This article is a study of the domestic monetary and financial life of young middle-class couples in Warsaw, Poland, and its suburbs. We use ethnographic evidence presented as case studies to illuminate the practices in which our interlocutors actively appropriate, mobilize, and transform money and finance to pursue moral visions of the good life. The article focuses on the household understood in processual terms of ongoing negotiations between moral and market dimensions. The first section is focused on the ways in which young couples perform relational work aimed at achieving or maintaining moral order. Couples match the diverse possible uses of money at home to their changing notions of the kind of couple they are or wish to become. The second section proceeds from the observation of a widening gap between rising middle-class aspirations and economic possibilities in contemporary Poland and explores the practices of negotiating various forms of assistance from parental households. The third and final section argues that the incursion of technologies into domestic life means that artifacts like software or digital banking increasingly materialize and mediate morality and thus actively contribute to the shaping of the household as a project of a good life.

Holding the Center

2012 ◽  
Vol 94 (2) ◽  
pp. 230-255
Author(s):  
Michan Andrew Connor
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Central City ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Television Shows ◽  
White Middle Class ◽  
The City

Early television shows that focused on Los Angeles as subject, such as The City at Night (KTLA) and Jack Linkletter's On the Go (CBS), assured white, middle-class, suburban viewers that they had a place in the larger metropolis by presenting a selective knowledge of its features and issues. On the Go surpassed the entertainment level of The City at Night to address some serious social issues. By the mid-sixties, suburbanization had been fully embraced as the "good life." Shows such as Ralph Story's Los Angeles (KNXT), instead of engaging suburban viewers in metropolitan issues, entertained them with glimpses of the city's "oddities." The change in tone marked the passing of the center of cultural identity from the central city to the suburbs.

scholarly journals Wellbeing and Public Policy

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Weijers ◽  
Phillip S. Morrison
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Public Expenditure ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Sufficient Information ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Great Expectations ◽  
International Conference ◽  
The Third ◽  
New Zealanders

Delegates left the Third International Conference on Wellbeing and Public Policy with great expectations following three days of inspirational addresses by some of the world’s most prominent thinkers and policymakers. In this article we ask: what is required for a wellbeing approach to public expenditure to be successfully implemented and sustained? The wellbeing approach arose out of concerns about whether the current suite of measures used by policymakers provides sufficient information on the full range of contributors to or components of the good life. Sometimes divided on what wellbeing is and how to measure it, proponents of the wellbeing approach agree that the ultimate goal of public policy should be to improve wellbeing for all citizens. In order for this wellbeing approach to be successful, we believe it must address three main challenges: measurement, representation and engagement. We must be clear about how wellbeing will be measured, whose wellbeing we will assess, and the extent to which all New Zealanders are represented in the conversations that will determine the first two issues.

“I’m just a laborer”

2020 ◽  
pp. 139-160
Author(s):  
Christine Jeske
Keyword(s):  
Good Life ◽  
Social Ties ◽  
Working Life ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Productive Labor ◽  
At Home

This chapter investigates how people make meaning of their lives in low-wage, low-status jobs, often by distancing themselves and the good life from work by calling themselves “just laborers.” It defines the word “laborer” as someone who is “working without skill,” “just doing the work,” not doing things that people aspire to do. It adds that treating oneself as just a laborer is a way of demanding a certain bargain, which is saying, I'm in a job that does not offer dignity or a good life, and I will not offer my life to the job either. It explains that for people in disappointing jobs, calling themselves just laborers communicates that their jobs are just a way to earn money; it is not a determinant of their identity, their status, their dignity, or the good life. In some sense, they have strategically estranged themselves from work. They are embracing some degree of alienation by intentionally separating their identity, purpose, and social ties from their acts of productive labor. In doing so, they can define their identity by their communities and interactions at home, not by their working life.

scholarly journals Structures, feelings and savoir faire: Ghana's middle classes in the making

Africa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 90 (3) ◽  
pp. 470-488
Author(s):  
Rachel Spronk
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Good Life ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Middle Classes ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Structures Of Feeling ◽  
Class Status ◽  
Raymond Williams

AbstractThe concept of ‘middle class’ in African societies has been recognized recently but at the same time it resists clear-cut definition. Rather than seeking clearer classification, I propose to embrace its contested nature as productive, seeing ‘middle class’ not as a category that we can find ‘out there’ and measure, but as a classification-in-the-making. Middle-class status, or a particular idea of the good life, is a position people strive towards, but what this entails depends on context and place. The study of the pursuit of social mobility in Ghana during colonialism, independence and the post-Cold War period – of those who have successfully improved their livelihoods – provides knowledge about the middle class in the making in different eras and under different conditions. I propose a three-pronged approach to study this processual nature: Raymond Williams’ notion of ‘structures of feeling’ helps unravel the shifting affective qualities of the changing political economy, while Sara Ahmed's focus on the ‘feelings of structure’ zooms in on agency as an important tool to analyse how middle-class trajectories unfold over time. Lastly, the availability of advantageous conditions is not enough to stimulate change; one needs the savoir faire to enact them.

900 million and counting

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 68-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Kowal ◽  
Julie E. Byles
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Older Populations ◽  
Research To Policy ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Ageing Populations

Abstract This paper will highlight current evidence about health and well-being that could encourage investment in health for older populations. The paper uses the example of hypertension throughout to illustrate how data collection efforts are translating research to policy. Hypertension, is a global scourge for poor and wealthy, younger and older adults, increasing the risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease. Although it is easily diagnosed and can be effectively treated the burden of hypertension continues to grow as awareness, prevention and treatment lags, particularly for the poor and old. The focus is brought back to how current research can inform policy for ageing populations in the final section, using Ireland’s experience to demonstrate how to legislate the good life for older adults.

Sound, Music, Affect

2013 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Media Studies ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Cultural Theory ◽  
Affect Theory ◽  
Sound Studies ◽  
Literary Studies ◽  
Affect Studies ◽  
The Third ◽  
Affective Experiences

Sound, Music, Affect features brand new essays that bring together the burgeoning developments in sound studies and affect studies. The first section sets out key methodological and theoretical concerns, focussing on the relationships between affective models and sound. The second section deals with particular musical case studies, exploring how reference to affect theory might change or reshape some of the ways we are able to make sense of musical materials. The third section examines the politics and practice of sonic disruption: from the notion of noise as 'prophecy', to the appropriation of 'bad vibes' for pleasurable aesthetic and affective experiences. And the final section engages with some of the ways in which affect can help us understand the politics of chill, relaxation and intimacy as sonic encounters. The result is a rich and multifaceted consideration of sound, music and the affective, from scholars with backgrounds in cultural theory, history, literary studies, media studies, architecture, philosophy and musicology.

scholarly journals Measuring Well-Being

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Disciplinary Boundaries ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
Theology And Philosophy ◽  
Insight Into

This edited volume explores conceptual and practical challenges in measuring well-being. Given the bewildering array of measures available and ambiguity regarding when and how to measure particular aspects of well-being, knowledge in the field can be difficult to reconcile. Representing numerous disciplines including psychology, economics, sociology, statistics, public health, theology, and philosophy, contributors consider the philosophical and theological traditions on happiness, well-being, and the good life, as well as recent empirical research on well-being and its measurement. Leveraging insights across diverse disciplines, they explore how research can help make sense of the proliferation of different measures and concepts while also proposing new ideas to advance the field. Some chapters engage with philosophical and theological traditions on happiness, well-being, and the good life; some evaluate recent empirical research on well-being and consider how measurement requirements may vary by context and purpose; and others more explicitly integrate methods and synthesize knowledge across disciplines. The final section offers a lively dialogue about a set of recommendations for measuring well-being derived from a consensus of the contributors. Collectively, the chapters provide insight into how scholars might engage beyond disciplinary boundaries and contribute to advances in conceptualizing and measuring well-being. Bringing together work from across often siloed disciplines will provide important insight regarding how people can transcend unhealthy patterns of both individual behavior and social organization in order to pursue the good life and build better societies.

Introducing the Transformative Self

2021 ◽  
pp. 3-31
Author(s):  
Jack Bauer
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Approach ◽  
Personal Growth ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Narrative Identity ◽  
Life Story ◽  
The Self ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
The Third ◽  
Over Time

This chapter introduces the main features of the transformative self—what it is and is not. For instance, the transformative self is not a person but, rather, a self-identity that a person uses to facilitate personal growth. The person creates a transformative self primarily in their evolving life story. This growth-oriented narrative identity helps the person cultivate growth toward a good life for the self and others. The chapter provides an overview of the book’s theoretical approach and topics. The book’s first section examines the components of personal growth, narrative identity, and a good life that culturally characterize the transformative self. The second section explores the personality and social ecology of the person who has a transformative self. The third section shows how the transformative self develops over time. The final section explores the hazards and heights of having a transformative self.

Remaking inequalities in the neoliberal institution

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christy Kulz
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Urban Culture ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
White Subject ◽  
Race And Class ◽  
Neoliberal Governance ◽  
Education Market ◽  
Recent Policy

Firstly this chapter discusses how Dreamfields’ 'oasis in the desert' allegedly built to transform urban children is changing urban culture in unanticipated ways. Besides grafting cultural capital onto students, it actively seeks out those who already have the capitals it requires to excel in the education market. Secondly, it explores how race and class are lived out in Dreamfields’ neoliberal regime. Whiteness does not rely on the white subject to be materialised, while the racialised subject is conceptualised through the lens of class. Both pathological blackness and dirty whiteness can be 'lost' through the application of middle-class behaviours, yet this shift requires labour, loss and conformity. Thirdly, the allure of the ‘good life’ acts a powerful tool of neoliberal governance that motivates many parents, students and teachers to willingly embrace Dreamfields’ demands. Finally, the chapter reviews how recent policy developments further centralize education and curtail participation, yet suggests there are cracks appearing in this consensus.

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