Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Reading cases of local quality of life assessment as incomplete and socio-politically contentious practices

  • Published:
Quality & Quantity Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Quality of life represents one of the most relevant and controversial issues in the contemporary socio-economic and political scene. This paper examines local quality of life projects from a peculiar viewpoint. It does not primarily focus on the methodological debates on measurement but concentrates instead on two macro-issues: the socio-political implications of the assessment of quality of life and the peculiar incompleteness and precariousness that characterize many calculative exercises in that field. The case analysed are anomalous in respect to mainstream scientific practices: in fact, they concern an international ranking of cities according to liveability and a project aimed at the participatory assessment of local well-being. These cases are examined through the lens of the sociological debates on the processes of qualification, with specific reference to the convention theory and the studies on the economy of qualities grounded in the actor-network theory. Reading the experiences from that theoretical perspective provides important indications on the relationships between forms of knowledge, agency and power, on the controversial impacts of market logics on the public sphere and on the risk of a calculative rationalization of local knowledge. Moreover, the paper demonstrates that such issues manifest themselves not only in the initial intentions and rationales of the projects but in what the latter become through the continuous transformation of their paths and the re-framing of their boundaries – a phenomenon that may be seen as linked to the peculiar “elusiveness” of quality of life as a calculable object.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The report edited by Stiglitz, Sen and Fitoussi defines the quality of life as follows: “Quality of life is a broader concept than economic production and living standards. It includes the full range of factors that influences what we value in living, reaching beyond its material side” (Stiglitz et. al. 2010 p. 41). On the difficulty of defining the notion see Craglia et al. (2004), according to whom there is no general agreement concerning the definition of the concept, that is very general and abstract and may be defined and measured in different ways.

  2. The project takes into account various dimensions of well-being, including an item concerning life satisfaction. See http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/#/11111111111 (accessed on 29 June 2021).

  3. The range of the approaches to quality of life measurement includes that based on the economic notion of fair allocations. The latter is presented in the Stiglitz report (Stiglitz et al. 2010) as one of the three main conceptual frameworks for quality of life measurement, together with those based on subjective well-being and on capabilities.

  4. As Al-Qawasmi (2021, p. 1) noted: “Despite the lack of consensus on the definition of urban QOL, there is a degree of agreement in the literature on what constitutes quality of life. The literature points out that urban QOL is a multi-dimensional construct that encompasses a wide range of urban life attributes including economical aspects (such as income, employment, job security, working opportunities), social aspects (such as education, leisure, health and wellbeing, social security, housing, social interaction, social acceptance), political aspects (such as local governance, public institutions, public participation, trust in law enforcement, municipal services), environmental aspects (such as pollution, air quality, transportation modes) among others”. An important distinction is that underlined by McCrea et al. (2011, p. 59, italics in the original) “In conceptualizing QOUL, it is useful to make a distinction between QOL that is “derived from” the urban environment (that is, satisfaction derived in urban domains, such as housing, neighborhood, community and region) and QOL as “experienced in” the urban environments (which would include satisfaction across all life domains; for example, work, social relationships, health, neighborhood, and so on)”.

  5. While, in fact, much of the academic debate, especially in the Anglo-Saxon context, refers to the term “quality of life”, other experiences refer to other terms such as those related to well-being (see Jany-Catrice and Méda 2011).

  6. According to Diaz-Bone (2018, p. 71) “Conventions can be defined as culturally established frames for the interpretation and evaluation of “what is going on” in situations. They are part of the implicit collective knowledge present in situations, and the skills of how to apply them are part of the competencies that actors have. Actors can thus draw on conventions as ways to engage and coordinate in situations to achieve a common goal. These goals can be conceived of as the collective production of qualities (e.g., goods and processes) and the realization of common goods”.

  7. See on this point Centemeri (2010, p. 7, italics in the original): “The possibility to measure is linked to the establishment of conventions to quantify. To quantify is an action that implies a dimension of social and cognitive creativity, that goes missing if we stick to the idea that expressing phenomena through numbers is simply a question of measuring”.

  8. “The economics of convention relates conventions to products as foundations for their quality. Exponents of the approach therefore speak of quality conventions” (Diaz-Bone, 2018, p. 80).

  9. The analysis took advantage of an interview, conducted in 2014, with the editor of the initiative.

  10. I refer here to the 2014 edition of the summary and overview of the ranking.

  11. The analysis took advantage of an interview conducted in 2014 with the director of the project.

  12. See Vormbusch (2022) on how to intend the link between certain emerging forms of calculation (particularly focused on the calculation of the self) and capitalism.

References

  • Alkire, S. The capability approach to the quality of life. SOPHI Research in Progress 2a, https://www.ophi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/OPHI-RP2a.pdf (2008). Accessed 14 January 2022

  • Al-Qawasmi, J.: Selecting a contextualized set of urban quality of life indicators: results of a Delphi consensus procedure. Sustainability 13, 4945 (2021)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andrews, F.M., Withey, S.B.: Social Indicators of Well-Being: Americans’ Perceptions of Life Quality. Plenum, New York (1976)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Barbera, F., Audifredi, S.: In pursuit of quality: the institutional change of wine production market in piedmont. Sociol. Rural. 52(3), 311–331 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bherer, L., Pascale Dufour, P., Montambeault, F.: The participatory democracy turn: an introduction. J. Civ. Soc. 12(3), 225–230 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bidet, A.: La genèse des valeurs : une affaire d’enquête. Tracés. Revue De Sci. Humaines 15, 211–216 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  • Boltanski, L., Thévenot, L.: De la Justification. La Découverte, Paris (1991)

    Google Scholar 

  • Borghi, V.: Common knowledge, policies and labour. Perspectives 11, 16–17 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  • Borghi, V.: From knowledge to informational basis: capability, capacity to aspire and research. Crit. Sociol. 44(6), 899–920 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borghi, V.: Transforming knowledge into cognitive basis of policies: a cosmopolitan from below approach. In: Axel Michaels, A., Wulf C. (eds.): Science and Scientification in South Asia and Europe, pp. 242–254. Routledge, London – New York (2020)

  • Brusa, L., Tarizzo, D.: Vite di qualità. Sulla Razionalità Biopolitica. Filosofia Politica XXIII 3, 397–412 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  • Callon, M.: An essay on framing and overflowing: economic externalities revisited by sociology. Sociol. Rev. 46, 244–269 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Callon, M., Law, J.: On qualculation, agency, and otherness. Environ. Plan. D 23(5), 717–733 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Callon, M., Muniesa, F.: Economic markets as calculative collective devices. Organ. Stud. 26(8), 1229–1250 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Callon, M., Méadel, C., Rabeharisoa, V.: The economy of qualities. Econ. Soc. 31(2), 194–217 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Callon, M., Lascoumes, P., Barthe, Y.: Acting in an Uncertain World: An Essay on Technical Democracy. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA and London (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  • Centemeri, L.: Reframing problems of incommensurability in environmental conflicts through pragmatic sociology. From value pluralism to the plurality of modes of engagement with the environment. Environ. Values 24(3), 299–320 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Centemeri, L.: The “Conventional” Objectivity of Public Space: How to Think about the Questionability of What We Need to Be Unquestionable, 2nd CES International Seminar “Facts, Values and Objectivity” (2010) https://www.ces.uc.pt/iframe/eventos/pdfs/centemeri_paper.pdf Accessed 14 January 2022

  • Cochoy, F.: Une Sociologie du Packaging ou l’Âne de Buridan Face au Marché. Presses Universitaires de France, Paris (2002)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Council of Europe: Involving Citizens and Communities in Securing Societal Progress for the Well-Being of All Methodological Guide. Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  • Craglia, M., Leontidou, L., Nuvolati, G., Schweikart, J.: Towards the development of quality of life indicators in the ‘digital’ city. Environ. Plann. b. Plann. Des. 31(1), 51–64 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davies, W.: The Limits of Neoliberalism: Authority. Sovereignty and the Logic of Competition. SAGE Publications, London (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  • Delli Carpini, M.X., Cook, F.L., Jacobs, L.: Public deliberation, discursive participation and citizen engagement: a review of the empirical literature. Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci. 7, 315–344 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Desrosières, A.: Pour une sociologie historique de la quantification. Presses de l’Ecole des Mines, Paris (2008)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Diaz-Bone, R.: Economics of convention and its perspective on knowledge and institutions. In: Glückler, J., Suddaby, R., Lenz, R. (eds.) Knowledge and Institutions, pp. 69–88. Springer, Cham (2018)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E.: Subjective well-being. Psychol. Bull. 93, 542–575 (1984)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Lucas, R.E., Oishi, S.: Subjective well-being: The science of happiness and life satisfaction. In: Snyder, C.R., Lopez, S.J. (eds.) Handbook of Positive Psychology, pp. 63–73. Oxford University Press, New York (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  • Doria, L.: Calculating the Human. Universal Calculability in the Age of Quality Assurance. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke (2013)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Espeland, W.N., Sauder, M.: Rankings and reactivity: how public measures recreate social worlds. Am. J. Sociol. 113(1), 1–40 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jany-Catrice, F., Méda, D.: Le rapport Stiglitz et les écueils de l’expertise : quels indicateurs de richesse ? Institut pour le développement de l'information économique et sociale. https://basepub.dauphine.fr/handle/123456789/10452 (2011). Accessed 14 January 2022

  • Kahneman, D., Diener, E., Schwarz, N.: Well-Being: Foundations of Hedonic Psychology. Russell Sage Foundation, New York (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  • Lampland, M.: False numbers as formalizing practices. Soc. Stud. Sci. 40(3), 377–404 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lora, E., Powell, A.: A New Way of Monitoring the Quality of Urban Life, IDB Working Paper Series, No. IDB-WP-272, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Washington, DC (2011)

  • Loughlin, M.: The language of quality. J. Eval. Clin. Pract. 2(2), 87–95 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCrea, R., Marans, R. W., Stimson, R., Western, J.: Subjective Measurement of Quality of Life Using Primary Data Collection and the Analysis of Survey Data. In: Stimson. R., Marans, R. W (eds.) Investigating Quality of Urban Life: Theory, Methods, and Empirical Research, pp. 55–75. Springer Publishing, Dordrecht, The Netherlands (2011)

  • Mennicken, A., Salais, R. (eds.): The new politics of numbers. Utopia, evidence and democracy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham (2022).

  • Modell, S.: The societal relevance of management accounting: an introduction to the special issue. Account. Bus. Res. 44(29), 83–103 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morley, L.: Quality and Power in Higher Education. Open University Press, Maidenhead (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  • Nussbaum, M., Sen, A. (eds.): The Quality of Life. Oxford University Press, New York (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  • Orii, L., Alonso, L., Larson, K.: Methodology for Establishing Well-Being Urban Indicators at the District Level to be Used on the CityScope Platform. Sustainability 12(22), 9458 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Papachristou, I., Rosas-Casals, M.: An integrative methodology for the quality of life measurement in urban places based on the accomplishment of human needs. A: UN-Habitat Future of Places Conference. “UN-Habitat Future of Places III Conference, Stockholm, Jun 29 – Jul 01, 2015. Academic sessions: presentation papers”. Estocolm, (2015)

  • Pflueger, D.: Accounting for quality: the emergence and significance of managing for quality in healthcare. PhD thesis, The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) (2013) http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/799/1/Pflueger_Accounting_for_quality_%28public%29.pdf Accessed 25 September 2020

  • Phillips, D.: Quality of Life. Concept, Policy and Practice. Routledge, London and New York (2006)

  • Ponte, S., Gibbon, P.: Quality standards, conventions and the governance of global value chains. Econ. Soc. 34(1), 1–31 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Power, M.: Counting, control and calculation: reflections on measuring and measurement. Human Relations 57, 765–783 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Proctor, C.: Subjective well-being (SWB). In: Michalos, A.C. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research, pp. 6437–6441. Springer, Dordrecht (2014)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Rapley, M.: Quality of Life Research: A Critical Introduction. Sage Publications, London (2003)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, K., Robinson, D.: Measuring Affect and Emotions. In: Stets, J., Turner, J. (eds) Handbook of the Sociology of Emotions: Volume II. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research, pp. 283–303 Springer, Dordrecht (2014)

  • Rondinella T., Segre E., Zola D.: Participative processes for measuring progress: Deliberation, Consultation and the Role of Civil Society. Social Indicators Research, December, pp. 959–982 (2015)

  • Salais, R., Thévenot, L. (eds): Le travail. Marchés, règles, conventions. Paris, INSEE-Economica (1986)

  • Salais, R.: La politique des indicateurs. Du taux de chômage au taux d’emploi dans la stratégie européenne pour l’emploi. In: Zimmermann, B. (s. dir.), Les sciences sociales à l’épreuve de l’action. Le savant, le politique et l’Europe, Editions de la MSH, Paris, pp. 287–331 (2004)

  • Seawright, J., Gerring, J.: Case selection techniques in case study research: a menu of qualitative and quantitative options. Polit. Res. q. 61(2), 294–308 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sen, A. K.: Capability and Well-Being. In: Nussbaum, M., Sen, A. (eds.) The Quality of Life, Clarendon Press, Oxford (1993)

  • Shore, C., Wright, S.: Audit culture and Anthropology: neoliberalism in British higher education. J. r. Anthropol. Inst. 5(4), 557–575 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Star, S.L., Lampland, M.: Reckoning with Standards. In: Lampland, M., Star, S.L. (eds.) Standards and their Stories, pp. 3–24. Cornell University Press, Ithaca (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  • Stiglitz, J. E., Sen, A., Fitoussi, J.P.: Mismeasuring Our Lives: Why GDP Doesn’t Add UP. The Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress. With a foreword by president Nikolas Sarkozy. The New Press, New York (2010)

  • Stimson, R. J., Marans, R. W. : Objective Measurement of Quality of Life Using Secondary Data Analysis. In: Stimson. R., Marans, R. W (eds.) Investigating Quality of urban life: Theory, method, and empirical research. Springer Publishing, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp. 33–53 (2011)

  • Supiot, A.: Governance by Numbers: The Making of a Legal Model of Allegiance (Saskia Brown trans.). Hart Publishing, Oxford and Portland, Oregon (2017)

  • Talu, V.: Qualità della vita urbana e approccio delle capacità. Archivio di studi urbani e regionali. XLIV, 107, 52–73 (2013)

  • Taylor, T.: Knowing What is Good For You. A Theory of Prudential Value and Well-Being. Palgrave Macmillan, London (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  • Thévenot, L.: Rules and implements: investment in forms. Soc. Sci. Inf. 23(1), 1–45 (1984)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thévenot, L.: Conventions Économiques. Presses Universitaires de France, Paris (1986)

    Google Scholar 

  • Thévenot, L.: Un gouvernement par les normes: pratiques et politiques des formats d’information. In: Conein, B., Thévenot, L. (eds.) Cognition et information en société, Raisons Pratiques 8, pp. 205–241. Editions de l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris (1997)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Thévenot, L.: Which road to follow? The moral complexity of an “Equipped” Humanity. In: Law, J., Mol, A. (eds.) Complexities: Social Studies of Knowledge Practices, pp. 53–87. Duke University Press, Durham, NC (2002b)

    Google Scholar 

  • Thévenot, L.: Governing life by standards: a view from engagements. Soc. Stud. Sci. 39(5), 793–813 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thévenot, L.: Certifying the world: power infrastructures and practices in economies of conventional forms. In: Aspers, P., Dodd, N. (eds.) Re-Imagining Economic Sociology, pp. 195–223. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2015)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Thévenot, L.: Conventions of co-ordination and the framing of uncertainty. In: Fullbrook, E. (ed.): Intersubjectivity in Economics, pp.181–19., Routledge, London (2002a)

  • Thévenot, L.: What engages? The sociology of justifications, conventions, and engagements, meeting norms. Revue des droits de l'homme 16 http://journals.openedition.org/revdh/7114 (2019) Accessed 25 September 2020.

  • Tremblay, R., Rogerson, R., Chicoine, H.: Place ratings, shifting neoliberalism and quality of life in communities. Revue Interventions économiques [En ligne] 37 (2008) http://interventionseconomiques.revues.org/495 Accessed 25 September 2020.

  • Vormbusch, U.: Talking numbers – governing immaterial labour. Econom. Soc Eur Electron. Newsletter 10, 8–11 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  • Vormbusch, U.: Accounting for Who We Are and Could Be: Inventing Taxonomies of the Self in an Age of Uncertainty. In: Mennicken, A., Salais, R. (eds) The New Politics of Numbers. Utopia, Evidence and Democracy, pp. 97 – 134. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham (2022)

  • Voukelatou, V., Gabrielli, L., Miliou, I., Cresci, R.S., Tesconi, M., Pappalardo, L.: Measuring objective and subjective well-being: dimensions and data sources. Int. J. Data Sci. Anal. 11, 279–309 (2021)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wahlberg, A.: Measuring progress: calculating the life of nations. Distinktion Scandinavian J. Soc. Theory 8, 65–82 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Western, M., Tomaszewski, W.: Subjective wellbeing objective wellbeing, and inequality in Australia. PLoS ONE (2016). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0163345

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The interviews were conducted in 2014 for the research project “Mesurer la qualité de la vie. Les enjeux démocratiques d’un processus de rationalisation”, carried out at Centre Maurice Halbwachs (CNRS – EHESS – ENS), Paris and funded by the Ville de Paris, in the framework of the Émergence(s) programme. The interviews were conducted when I was working for CNRS at Centre Maurice Halbwachs (CNRS – EHESS – ENS), Paris. I thank Alexandra Bidet who conducted the interviews with me. I am the sole responsible for the content of the article.

Funding

The interviews were conducted in 2014 for project, carried out at Centre Maurice Halbwachs (CNRS – EHESS – ENS), Paris and funded by the Ville de Paris, in the framework of the Émergence(s) programme.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Studi Linguistici e Culturali Comparati, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Palazzo Cosulich, Fondamenta Zattere, Dorsoduro 1405, 30123, Venezia, Italia

    Luigi Doria

Authors
  1. Luigi Doria
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Luigi Doria.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The author has no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Doria, L. Reading cases of local quality of life assessment as incomplete and socio-politically contentious practices. Qual Quant 57, 1393–1420 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-022-01409-6

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-022-01409-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation