The rise of an ideal: Tracing changing discourses of wellbeing

Eeva Sointu

doi:10.1111/j.1467-954X.2005.00513.x

The rise of an ideal: Tracing changing discourses of wellbeing

Eeva Sointu

Sociology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

Abstract

Wellbeing is a quality in demand in today's society. Wellbeing is virtue that is much desired, much promoted, and much debated. Yet, as an ideal, wellbeing is not a concept set in stone. Rather, conceptualisations and experiences of wellbeing are produced in and through wider social perceptions and practices. This article outlines and analyses contemporary conceptualisations of wellbeing and suggests that ideas of wellbeing capture and reproduce important social norms. Indeed, the increasing popularity of the ideal of wellbeing appears to reflect shifts in perceptions and experiences of individual agency and responsibility. In particular, dominant discourses of wellbeing relate to changes in subjectivity; they manifest a move from subjects as citizens to subjects as consumers. In a consumer society, wellbeing emerges as a normative obligation chosen and sought after by individual agents. This article is informed by social theories of subjectivity and critical analyses of selected newspaper reports from 1985 to 2003.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	255-274
Number of pages	20
Journal	The Sociological Review
Volume	53
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-954X.2005.00513.x
Publication status	Published - May 2005

Access to Document

10.1111/j.1467-954X.2005.00513.x

Cite this

@article{d8afc7ae54ab41e6a1c3bc1a54e778c8,

title = "The rise of an ideal: Tracing changing discourses of wellbeing",

abstract = "Wellbeing is a quality in demand in today's society. Wellbeing is virtue that is much desired, much promoted, and much debated. Yet, as an ideal, wellbeing is not a concept set in stone. Rather, conceptualisations and experiences of wellbeing are produced in and through wider social perceptions and practices. This article outlines and analyses contemporary conceptualisations of wellbeing and suggests that ideas of wellbeing capture and reproduce important social norms. Indeed, the increasing popularity of the ideal of wellbeing appears to reflect shifts in perceptions and experiences of individual agency and responsibility. In particular, dominant discourses of wellbeing relate to changes in subjectivity; they manifest a move from subjects as citizens to subjects as consumers. In a consumer society, wellbeing emerges as a normative obligation chosen and sought after by individual agents. This article is informed by social theories of subjectivity and critical analyses of selected newspaper reports from 1985 to 2003.",

author = "Eeva Sointu",

year = "2005",

month = may,

doi = "10.1111/j.1467-954X.2005.00513.x",

language = "English",

volume = "53",

pages = "255--274",

journal = "The Sociological Review",

issn = "0038-0261",

publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",

number = "2",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - The rise of an ideal

T2 - Tracing changing discourses of wellbeing

AU - Sointu, Eeva

PY - 2005/5

Y1 - 2005/5

N2 - Wellbeing is a quality in demand in today's society. Wellbeing is virtue that is much desired, much promoted, and much debated. Yet, as an ideal, wellbeing is not a concept set in stone. Rather, conceptualisations and experiences of wellbeing are produced in and through wider social perceptions and practices. This article outlines and analyses contemporary conceptualisations of wellbeing and suggests that ideas of wellbeing capture and reproduce important social norms. Indeed, the increasing popularity of the ideal of wellbeing appears to reflect shifts in perceptions and experiences of individual agency and responsibility. In particular, dominant discourses of wellbeing relate to changes in subjectivity; they manifest a move from subjects as citizens to subjects as consumers. In a consumer society, wellbeing emerges as a normative obligation chosen and sought after by individual agents. This article is informed by social theories of subjectivity and critical analyses of selected newspaper reports from 1985 to 2003.

AB - Wellbeing is a quality in demand in today's society. Wellbeing is virtue that is much desired, much promoted, and much debated. Yet, as an ideal, wellbeing is not a concept set in stone. Rather, conceptualisations and experiences of wellbeing are produced in and through wider social perceptions and practices. This article outlines and analyses contemporary conceptualisations of wellbeing and suggests that ideas of wellbeing capture and reproduce important social norms. Indeed, the increasing popularity of the ideal of wellbeing appears to reflect shifts in perceptions and experiences of individual agency and responsibility. In particular, dominant discourses of wellbeing relate to changes in subjectivity; they manifest a move from subjects as citizens to subjects as consumers. In a consumer society, wellbeing emerges as a normative obligation chosen and sought after by individual agents. This article is informed by social theories of subjectivity and critical analyses of selected newspaper reports from 1985 to 2003.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=20444474659&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/j.1467-954X.2005.00513.x

DO - 10.1111/j.1467-954X.2005.00513.x

M3 - Review article

AN - SCOPUS:20444474659

SN - 0038-0261

VL - 53

SP - 255

EP - 274

JO - The Sociological Review

JF - The Sociological Review

IS - 2

ER -

The rise of an ideal: Tracing changing discourses of wellbeing

Abstract

Access to Document

Other files and links

Cite this