More Participation, Happier Society? A Comparative Study of Civil Society and the Quality of Life

A ‘good society’ has recently been portrayed as one in which citizens engage in voluntary associations to foster democratic processes. Arguably, such a good society is considered as one where people are content with their own lives as well as public life. We consider whether participation in civil society leads to more satisfied individuals on the one hand and a better evaluation of society at a country level on the other. With data from the first round of the European Social Survey, we illustrate that participation in voluntary associations not only depends on individual characteristics, but that there is a clear country-level effect on civil society. This can be explained with measures of quality of society after socio-demographic determinants have been controlled for. Nonetheless, it remains difficult to say what comes first: a ‘good society’ or a thriving civil society.

[1]  J. Knote Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community , 2004 .

[2]  Ruut Veenhoven,et al.  The Four Qualities of Life , 2000 .

[3]  L RANGELL,et al.  Friendship , 2018, God, Country, Notre Dame.

[4]  K. Newton,et al.  Predicting Cross-National Levels of Social Trust: Global Pattern or Nordic Exceptionalism? , 2005 .

[5]  Walter Buckley,et al.  Explorations in social change , 1964 .

[6]  Kenneth Newton,et al.  Social trust: Global pattern or nordic exceptionalism? , 2004 .

[7]  W. Zapf Lebensbedingungen und wahrgenommene Lebensqualität , 1979 .

[8]  Andrew J. Oswald,et al.  Happiness and economic performance , 1997 .

[9]  澤村 治子,et al.  原典を読む(第6回)『人間性の心理学--モチベーションとパーソナリティ』(改訂新版)(MOTIVATION AND PERSONALITY) A.H.マズロー著 小口忠彦訳 , 2007 .

[10]  Thomas Bulmahn Modernity and Happiness – The Case of Germany , 2000 .

[11]  N. Lin Social Capital: Frontmatter , 2001 .

[12]  R. Veenhoven Apparent Quality-of-Life in Nations: How Long and Happy People Live , 2005 .

[13]  Margaret S. Archer,et al.  Culture And Agency: ‘Social integration and System integration’ , 1996 .

[14]  John H. Goldthorpe,et al.  The Constant Flux: A Study of Class Mobility in Industrial Societies. , 1993 .

[15]  Mark S. Granovetter The Strength of Weak Ties , 1973, American Journal of Sociology.

[16]  L. Doyal,et al.  A Theory of Human Need , 1991 .

[17]  M. Howard The Weakness of Civil Society in Post-Communist Europe , 2003 .

[18]  Donald J. Pierce,et al.  Democracy in America , 2018, Princeton Readings in Political Thought.

[19]  N. Lin Social Capital: A Theory of Social Structure and Action , 2001 .

[20]  Bryony Hoskins,et al.  Measuring Active Citizenship through the Development of a Composite Indicator , 2009 .

[21]  C. L. Callahan,et al.  The quality of life. , 1970, Nursing outlook.

[22]  M. Archer Social Integration and System Integration: Developing the Distinction , 1996 .

[23]  W. Arts,et al.  The social capital of European welfare states: the crowding out hypothesis revisited , 2005 .

[24]  A. Evers,et al.  Defining the third sector in Europe , 2004 .

[25]  J. Delhey,et al.  Quality of life in a European Perspective: The EUROMODULE as a New Instrument for Comparative Welfare Research , 2002 .

[26]  R. Veenhoven Lebensqualität in der bundesrepublik , 1987 .

[27]  Francis Fukuyama,et al.  Social Capital and Civil Society , 2000 .

[28]  H. Anheier Civil Society: Measurement, Evaluation, Policy , 2004 .

[29]  Sylvia Fuller,et al.  Constructing ‘active citizenship’: single mothers, welfare, and the logics of voluntarism , 2008 .

[30]  Jean Louise Cohen,et al.  Civil Society and Political Theory , 2020, Crime, Inequality and the State.

[31]  M. Hagerty,et al.  Assessing Quality of Life and Living Conditions to Guide National Policy , 2002 .

[32]  H. Noll,et al.  Towards a European System of Social Indicators: Theoretical Framework and System Architecture , 2002 .

[33]  Richard M. Titmuss,et al.  The gift relationship , 1970 .

[34]  C. Wallace,et al.  Patterns of formal and informal social capital in Europe , 2007 .

[35]  Alan Walker,et al.  Social Quality: A Vision for Europe , 2001 .

[36]  M. Hagerty Testing Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: National Quality-of-Life Across Time , 1999 .

[37]  E. Diener,et al.  MEASURING QUALITY OF LIFE: ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, AND SUBJECTIVE INDICATORS , 1997 .

[38]  Erik Fridell,et al.  The mechanism for NOx storage , 2000 .

[39]  R. Sugden,et al.  The Quality of Life. , 1994 .