Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Between Social Sustainability and Subjective Well-being: The Role of Decent Work

  • Original Research
  • Published:
Social Indicators Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Sustainability is one of the main topics of this century, and social sustainability is a declination of that principle embracing the concepts of human development, quality of life and subjective well-being for the entire humankind. This study introduces in synthesis the concept of sustainability, and in particular, social sustainability in relation to decent work. Decent work is a multidimensional concept which embraces universal individual rights, human needs and social justice. The article briefly presents different ways to assess decent work and short comments on actual working conditions in the world. Then it illustrates the choice of a particular set of indicators and their relationship with the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals. It introduces in a discursive way the method adopted for the synthesis of the indicators. The method is that of partially ordered sets (Poset), which is based on discrete mathematics. This method is considered particularly suitable for the synthesis of multidimensional social concepts. It allows synthesizing, in a non-aggregative and non-compensative way, multi-facetted information related to decent work. The paper proposes an example of a two-step synthesis, and some results concerning the achievement of sustainable development targets in terms of decent work in European Union countries.

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

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. There is a vast body of literature about sustainable development. A synthetic compendium is available in Alaimo and Maggino (2020).

  2. Conigliaro (2019b) supplies a more detailed argumentation of this point of view.

  3. For a more detailed analysis Conigliaro (2019a, b). A graphic representation of principles and indicators of DW in Conigliaro (2018, p. 115).

  4. For a more detailed reflection on the application of Poset on social phenomena see Alaimo (2020).

  5. This work presents the method in a discursive form, in order to introduce the underlying logic and some basic elements, for a more complex formalization and an almost complete presentation of the fundamental definitions and the application on social studies see Fattore (2016, 2017), Fattore and Brüggemann (2017).

  6. As the nomenclature recalls the Multidimensional poverty index (MPI), the bad condition is defined as poverty or deprivation and the good condition, wealth.

  7. All the operations were carried out using the R package parsec (Arcagni and Fattore 2019). For a detailed definition of the output of the identification function see the package description and Arcagni (2017). For formula see Fattore (2016)).

  8. Data updated at October 2019.

  9. Actually, some values are quite unexpected. It raises the doubt that the indicators do measure the same phenomenon in all countries.

  10. All variables have been reclassified so that value 2 always corresponds to a better condition in terms of DW and value 0 to a worse condition. For a description of the recoding procedure see "Appendix 2".

  11. The country labels are reported in Tables 1 and 2.

  12. See "Appendix 3”.

References

  • Alaimo, L. S. (2020). Complexity of social phenomena: measurements, analysis, representations and synthesis. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, University of Rome “la Sapienza”, Rome, Italy.

  • Alaimo, L. S., Arcagni, A., Fattore, M., & Maggino, F. (2020). Synthesis of multi indicators systems over time: A poset based approach. Social Indicators Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-020-02398-5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alaimo, L. S., Arcagni, A., Fattore, M., Maggino, F., & Quondamstefano, V. (2020). Measuring equitable and sustainable well-being in Italian regions. A non-aggregative approach. Social Indicators Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-020-02388-7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alaimo, L. S., & Maggino, F. (2020). Sustainable development goals indicators at territorial level: Conceptual and methodological issues—the Italian perspective. Social Indicators Research, 147, 383–419. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-019-02162-4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alaimo, L. S. & Conigliaro, P (forthcoming). Assessing subjective well-being in wide populations. A posetic approach to micro-data analysis. In R. Brüggemann, F. Maggino, C. Suter and T. Beycan (Eds.), measuring and understanding complex phenomena. Indicators and their analysis in different scientific fields. Cham: Springer (in press).

  • Alkire, S., & Foster, J. (2011). Counting and multidimensional poverty measurement. Journal of Public Economics, 95(7–8), 476–487. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2010.11.006.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arcagni, A. (2017). PARSEC: An R package for partial orders in socio-economics. In M. Fattore & R. Brüggemann (Eds.), Partial order concepts in applied sciences. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arcagni, A. & Fattore M. (2019). Parsec: partial orders in socio-economics. R package version 1.2.3. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=parsec.

  • Bachelet, M., Maggino F., Riccardini F. (2019). Sustainability of wellbeing: an analysis of resilience and vulnerability through subjective indicators. In Bianco, Conigliaro, Gnaldi (Eds.) Italian Studies on Quality of Life. Cham: Springer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-06022-0_11.

  • Blustein, D., Masdonati J., Rossier J. (2017). Psychology and the international labour organization: The role of psychology in the decent work agenda. ILO's network on future of work. ILO. https://serval.unil.ch/resource/serval:BIB_9130E2C83471.P001/REF.

  • Conigliaro, P. (2018). Decent work between human rights and social sustainability: Considerations on relationships between principles, indicators and attainments of goals. Rivista Italiana di Economia Demografia e Statistica Volume LXXII, 3, 113–123.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conigliaro, P. (2019). Decent work principles and job quality criteria to improve sustainable and equitable well-being. In Bianco, Conigliaro, Gnaldi (Eds.) Italian studies on quality of life. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-06022-0_22.

  • Conigliaro, P. (2019b). Tra sostenibilità sociale e benessere soggettivo. Lo spazio del lavoro dignitoso. Unpublished Phd Dissertation in Applied Social Science. University of Rome “la Sapienza”, Rome, Italy. https://www.coopmagazzino.it/images/documenti/libro-Paola.pdf.

  • Conigliaro, P. (2020). Subjective well-being in Italian regions. Social Indicators Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-020-02391-y.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dubar, C. (1995). La socialisation: construction des identités sociales et professionnelles. Paris: A. Colin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Easterlin, R. A. (1974). Does economic growth improve the human lot? Some empirical evidence. In P. A. David & M. W. Reder (Eds.), Nations and households in economic growth: essays in honor of moses Abramovitz. New York: Academic Press Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, J. R., & Bagozzi, R. P. (2000). On the nature and direction of relationships between constructs and measures. Psychological Methods, 5(2), 155–174. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989x.5.2.155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • European Commission - EC. (2017). Establishing a European pillar of social rights. Brussel: Publications Office of the European Commission.

    Google Scholar 

  • European Commission. (2018). European Pillar—Social scoreboard. https://composite-indicators.jrc.ec.europa.eu/social-scoreboard/.

  • Eurostat. (2019). Sustainable development in the European Union. Monitoring progress report on the SDGs in an EU context. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. https://doi.org/10.2785/44964.

  • Fattore, M. (2016). Partially ordered sets and the measurement of multidimensional ordinal deprivation. Social Indicators Research, 128, 835–858. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-015-1059-6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fattore, M. (2017). Synthesis of indicators: the non-aggregative approach. In F. Maggino (Ed.), Complexity in society: from indicators construction to their synthesis (pp. 192–212). Cham: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fattore, M. (2018). Non-aggregated indicators of environmental sustainability. Silesian Statistical Review/Slaski Przeglad Statystyczny, 16(22), 7–22. https://doi.org/10.15611/sps.2018.16.01.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fattore, M., Maggino, F., Arrcagni, A. (2016). Non-aggregative assessment of subjective well-being. In Alleva & G. Giommi A. (eds.), Topics in theoretical and applied statistics, studies in theoretical and applied statistics. Springer. International publishing.

  • Fattore, M., & Arcagni, A. (2018). A reduced posetic approach to the measurement of multidimensional ordinal deprivation. Social Indicators Research, 136, 1053–1070. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-016-1501-4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fattore, M., & Brüggemann, R. (2017). Partial order concepts in applied sciences. Springer: International publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45421-4.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Georgescu-Roegen, N. (1971). The entropy law and the economic process. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • High Level Group on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress - HLEG. (2018). For good measure: advancing research on well-being metrics beyond GDP. Paris: OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264307278-en.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • ILO. (1944). Declaration of Philadelphia. http://blue.lim.ilo.org/cariblex/pdfs/ILO_dec_philadelphia.pdf.

  • ILO. (1999). Decent work. Report of the Director-General. Geneva: International Labour Office. http://www.ilo.org/public/english/10ilc/ilc87/reports.htm.

  • ILO. (2013). DW indicators. Guidelines for producers and users of statistical and legal framework indicators. Geneva: International Labour Office.

  • ILO. (2015). Future of work centenary initiative report. Geneva: International Labour Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • ILO. (2017a). Decent work and the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. Geneva: International Labour Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • ILO. (2017b). World Social Protection Report 2017–19. Geneva: International Labour Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • ILO. (2018). World Employment Social Outlook Trends 2018. Geneva: International Labour Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • ILO. (2019). World Employment Social Outlook Trends 2019. Geneva: International Labour Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • ILO. (2019b). Safety and health at work. https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/safety-and-health-at-work/lang--en/index.htm last access Oct. 31, 2019.

  • ISTAT. (2015). Rapporto Bes 2015. Roma: Istituto Nazionale di Statistica.

    Google Scholar 

  • Land, K. C., & Michalos, A. C. (2017). Fifty years after the social indicators movement: Has the promise been fulfilled? An assessment and an agenda for the future. Social Indicators Research, 135(3), 835–868. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-017-1571-y.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maggino, F. (2017). Dealing with synthesis in a system of indicators. In F. Maggino (Ed.), Complexity in society: from indicators construction to their synthesis (pp. 115–137). Cham: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Massoudi, K., Abessolo M., Atitsogbe K. A., Banet E., Bollmann G., Dauwalder J.-P. Handschin Ph., Maggiori C., Masdonati J., Rochat S. & Rossier J. (2018). A value-centered approach to decent work. In V. Cohen-Scali, J. Pouyaud, V. M. Podgórny, Drabik-Podgórna, G. Aisenson, J.-L. Bernaud, I.A. Moumoula & J. Guichard (Eds.) Interventions in Career Design and Education: Transformation for Sustainable Development and Decent Work (pp 93–110). Cham, Switzerland: Springer/UNESCO Chair on Life Long Guidance and Counselling.

  • Meadows, D. H., Meadows, D. L., Randers, J., & Behrens, W. W. I. I. I. (1972). The limits to growth: A report for the Club of Rome’s project on the predicament of mankind. New York: Universe Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neggers, J., & Kim, S. H. (1998). Basic posets. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Riccardini, F., Bachelet M., Bressan G., Conigliaro P., De Rosa D., Vazquez D. (2016). “Sviluppo e benessere sostenibili. Una lettura per l’Italia”. Roma, I: Universitalia.

  • Scitovsky, T. (1976). The joyless economy: the psychology of human satisfaction. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stiglitz, J. E., Sen A. & Fitoussi J. P. (2009). Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress. Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques – INSEE.

  • United Nations. (1948). Universal Declaration of Human Rights https://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Documents/UDHR_Translations/eng.pdf.

  • United Nations General Assembly. (2012). The Future We Want (Resolution Adopted by the General Assembly on 27 July 2012) .

  • United Nations General Assembly. (2015). Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. A/RES/70/1.

  • United Nations General Assembly. (2017). Global indicator framework for the Sustainable Development. Goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. A/RES/71/313.

  • World Commission on Environment and Development -WCED. (1987). Our common future. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Italian Institute of Statistics, Istat, Italy

    Paola Conigliaro

Authors
  1. Paola Conigliaro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paola Conigliaro.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

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

Appendices

Appendix 1

See Table 3.

Table 3 Selected indicators, by dimension. Description, source, EU level, maximum level and minimum level
Full size table

Appendix 2: Recoding procedures

See Table 4.

Table 4 Original values
Full size table

(1) Recoding procedure for indicator consistent with DW.

\(if\ x_{i } < x_{0} - \frac{MAD}{2} , then\, x_{inew} = 0;\, else\ if\ x_{0} - \frac{MAD}{2}\leq x_{i }\leq x_{0} + \frac{MAD}{2} , then\, x_{inew}=1;\, else\ if\ x_{i} > x_{0} + \frac{MAD}{2} , then\, x_{inew} = 2\)

(2) Recoding procedure for indicator discordant with DW.

\(if\ x_{i } < x_{0} - \frac{MAD}{2} , then x_{inew} = 2;\, else\ if\ x_{0} - \frac{MAD}{2}\leq x_{i }\leq x_{0} + \frac{MAD}{2} , then x_{inew} = 1;\, else\ if\ x_{i} > x_{0} + \frac{MAD}{2} , then x_{inew} = 0\);

See Table 5.

Table 5 Examples of two indicators
Full size table

Appendix 3

See Table 6.

Table 6 Dimensions and indicators. The rationale of thresholds found on European Assessment
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Conigliaro, P. Between Social Sustainability and Subjective Well-being: The Role of Decent Work. Soc Indic Res 157, 139–174 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-020-02564-9

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-020-02564-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation