Definition
Subjective social indicators are statistics that have some significance for measuring the quality of life from the point of view of some particular subject(s). They are contrasted with objective social indicators that are statistics that have some significance for measuring the quality of life from the point of view of any independent observer.
Description
The word “quality” in the phrase “quality of life” has a descriptive sense meaning sort, type, or kind and an evaluative sense meaning briefly good or bad. Although all social indicators are supposed to have normative significance or at least to admit of normative uses, the normative significance may be explicit or not. Given the two senses of “quality,” two species of subjective indicators may be distinguished:
- 1.
Descriptive subjective indicators, e.g., self-reported income and self-reported ethnic identity
- 2.
Evaluative subjective indicators, e.g.,...
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Michalos, A.C. (2014). Subjective Indicators. In: Michalos, A.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_2899
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