indicators of social quality外文电子书籍.pdf

Indicators of Social Quality: Outcomes of the European Scientific Network Laurent J.G. van der Maesen and Alan C. Walker Social Quality and Quality of Life In October 2001, the Network Indicators of Social Quality started the process of creating social quality indicators. This project of the European Foundation on Social Quality was supported by the European Commission (DG Research) under Framework Programme 5 (van der Maesen et al. 2000). The Network consisted of representatives of univer- sities from 14 partner countries and two European NGOs. Over its forty- two-month life the Network held four meetings. Three plenary meetings were organised with all assistants thanks to the financial support by the Dutch Scientific Foundation (NWO). Also through the creation of unique national reference groups on social quality, the Network has engaged more than a hundred scientists and policy makers in its work. The project was completed in April 2005. The intriguing question was how to theo- retically legitimise the choice of social quality indicators compared to the indicators constructed in the context of ‘quality of life’ approaches, as developed for example by ZUMA of the University of Mannheim (Noll 2000; Berger-Schmit et al. 2000) and the European Foundation on the Improvement of Working and Living Conditions in Dublin (Fahey et al. 2002). Contributors to the social quality approach argue, that while respect for differences and the openness of the future can be seen as the main themes of the intellectual debate among the social theorists and philosophers, the mainstream of the behavioural sciences has turned its empirical interest to individual perspectives on ‘quality of life’. This can be seen as a way to address the question what ‘the’ quality of life might be from a scientific perspective, trying to avoid political and