From Well-being to Well-living: exploring the social meanings and determinants of living together

In this paper, I will first briefly present the results of a quantitative analysis of data collected through the 2012 Australian version of the World Values Survey. Structural Equation Modelling (a rather sophisticated statistical method to explore interrelated variables/factors) is used to explore the social determinants of one of the most routine notions of wellbeing in the Australian context. The findings, as I will discuss, through being one of the most conservative, reductionist measures of the quality of life, clearly confirm the growing concerns around the inherent paradoxes of ‘being well’ in a capitalistic society.