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Needs, Wants and Goals: Wellbeing, Quality of Life and Public Policy

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Abstract

This paper considers the possible contribution of Quality of Life methods in international development policy and practice. It discusses the role of theories of human needs in how public policy makers and implementors might distinguish between ‘needs’ and ‘wants’. There is a good case for extending theories of human need to encompass social and psychological needs, but when we do so the ability of theory to distinguish between ‘needs’ and ‘wants’ begins to evaporate. Rather, by virtue of the core relationship between needs denial and harm, it is argued that a theory of human need can provide a framework for reasoning about what constitute needs. Empirical quality of life data can then assist policy makers to identify what constitute needs satisfiers in particular societal and cultural contexts. They also can provide important information to enable processes of public reasoning about the relative societal importance of different needs claims. The paper uses data generated through the application of two Quality of Life methods in Southern and Northeast Thailand, which were employed as part of a comprehensive study of the social and cultural construction of wellbeing in developing countries, to illustrate its arguments. The paper concludes that if routinely incorporated into local policy process, such quality of life methods have a possible contribution to make to effective democratic governance for development.

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Notes

  1. Baumeister and Leary’s comprehensive review (1995) also found a strong correlation between meeting needs for social relationships and SWB.

  2. During the analysis conceptually similar areas were grouped together under single category headings (for example, Money, assets where a respondent specifically mentioned money, assets, wealth, or riches). Little grouping was required, however, suggesting that people understood the task and responded in summary form, hence the importance of the accompanying interview in interpreting the data.

  3. Metta-karuna is a Sanskrit term meaning 'loving-kindness', which is an important practice for Thai Buddhists.

  4. Significance was tested using t-test or ANOVA as appropriate and reported at ps ≤ 0.001.

  5. Although these were not significant after Bonferroni correction.

  6. People aged over 65 reported ‘education for yourself’ as less necessary than those aged 25 to 44, but this was hardly unexpected.

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Acknowledgements

The support of the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is gratefully acknowledged. The work was part of the program of the ESRC Research Group on Wellbeing in Developing Countries. The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution of the research teams in Prince of Songkhla and Khon Kaen Universities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9RE, UK

    J. Allister McGregor

  2. Young Lives, Department of International Development-Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford, England, UK

    Laura Camfield

  3. Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, London, UK

    Alison Woodcock

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  1. J. Allister McGregor
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  2. Laura Camfield
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  3. Alison Woodcock
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Correspondence to J. Allister McGregor.

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McGregor, J.A., Camfield, L. & Woodcock, A. Needs, Wants and Goals: Wellbeing, Quality of Life and Public Policy. Applied Research Quality Life 4, 135–154 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-009-9069-7

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