Paper short abstract:

Explanations of well-being either come from individual approaches or are related to the social structures. Religious or spiritual beliefs are often left out; this paper emphasizes the importance of these beliefs in determining the well being of women living in a slum community in Delhi, India.

Paper long abstract:

Human well-being has largely been understood through either the individual/ personality based approaches or through the influence of social structures into a person's everyday life. Well-being is understood as an outcome of a set of measures and the nature of well-being is often left unexplored. The studies examine well- being domains related to self, social relationships whereas religious or spiritual beliefs are usually missed out in these explanations. In many societies the feeling of well-being comes not from the ideas of autonomy, mastery over universe and so on; but from the idea that the present moment (whether good or bad) is related to fate. This paper attempts to bridge the distance between individual factors and approaches which deal with social structures by looking at the religious and spiritual beliefs which are influenced by the 'habitus' of a person . It argues that a person's beliefs are interlinked with his/her environment and the two influence the well being of the person. This argument is furthered by presenting the views of women living in an urban slum community in Delhi, India.