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Accepted Paper:

The importance of focussing on human wellbelng: the conceptual, the methodological and the political  
Allister McGregor (University of Bath)

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Paper short abstract:

This paper reaffirms the importance of focussing on human wellbeing in the social sciences. Using examples, it demonstrates how wellbeing has been an integrating concept for social inquiry; how it has necessitated methodological innovation; and that how it is always a political concept.

Paper long abstract:

This paper reaffirms the importance of focussing on human wellbeing in the social sciences.It begins by questioning the idea of crisis. Then, using illustrative examples from applications of the WeD formulation of human wellbeing in research on various manifestations of crisis (in social care, natural resource management and inclusive development), it demonstrates how wellbeing has been an integrating concept for social inquiry, how it has necessitated methodological innovation, and how it is always a political concept. The politics of human wellbeing operate at multiple levels; from the interpersonal, to the intersubjective, to the institutional and to ideational levels. The exploration of the politics of wellbeing provides important, contemporary political insights and challenges.

Panel P27
Wellbeing in crisis and ‘ordinary’ times: Exploring the Bath Wellbeing in Developing Countries (WeD) legacy in development studies and beyond
  Session 1 Wednesday 25 June, 2025, -