Alex C. Michalos - Böcker

What makes people satisfied or happy with their lives or with particular features of their lives? In his attempt to answer these questions, the author has applied his Multiple Discrepancies Theory to study the satisfaction and happiness of university undergraduates in 39 countries. The project aims to explain global satisfaction and happiness as well as satisfaction in 12 domains: health, finances, family relations, paid employment, friendships, housing, living partner, recreation activity, religion, self-esteem, transportation and education. The forthcoming volumes of this survey will present detailed analysis for every domain, country and university, for whole groups, males and females. The four-volume set presents a thorough picture of the relative satisfaction and happiness of students in the world.

I suppose that most of the people reading this volume will have read or have access to Volume One of my Global Report on Student Well­ Being. Therefore, I will not review the background literature relevant to multiple discrepancies theory (MDT), the theory itself or the essential features of the international university undergraduate data­ set on which this whole report is based. Anyone familiar with my earlier papers (Michalos 1985, 1987, 1988) will have a good idea of MDT. However, one really has to have a look at the first volume of this study in order to appreciate the richness of a data-set consisting of over 18,000 cases drawn from 39 countries. As I indicated at the beginning of that volume, the data-set is available for a very modest cost to anyone who wants it and I do hope others will take advantage of it. Contents Preface vii 1 Literature Review 1 1. 1 Introduction 1 1. 2 Marriage and the Family '2 1. 3 Correlates of Family and Marital Satisfaction 3 1. 4 Exchange and Equity 8 1. 5 Roles and Expectations 10 1. 6 Self-Esteem and Satisfaction 11 2 Satisfaction with One's Family Relations 14 2. 1 Introduction 14 2. 2 Descriptive Statistics for World Sample, Males and Females 14 2. 3 Satisfaction Explained by MDT for World Sample 20 2. 4 Satisfaction Explained by MDT for Males and Females 26 2. 5 Thirty-Eight Countries 27 2.

I suppose that most of the people reading this volume will have read or have access to Volume One of my Global Report on Student Well­ Being. Therefore, I will not review the background literature relevant to multiple discrepancies theory (MDT), the theory itself or the es­ sential features of the international university undergraduate data-set on which this whole report is based. Anyone familiar with my earlier papers (Michalos 1985, 1987, 1988) will have a good idea of MDT. However, one really has to have a look at the first volume of this study in order to appreciate the richness of a data-set consisting of over 18,000 cases drawn from 39 countries. As I indicated at the be­ ginning of that volume, the data-set is available for a very modest cost to anyone who wants it and I do hope others will take advantage of it. The focus of Volume One was on happiness and satisfaction with life as a whole, so-called global indicators of subjective well­ being. Volume Two was devoted to an exploration of satisfaction with the interpersonal relations of family, friends and living partners, and personal self-esteem. This volume is concerned with satisfaction with material goods as indicated by the domains of paid employment, fi­ nances, housing and transportation. In the fourth and final volume I will explain satisfaction with religion, education, recreation and health.

I suppose that most of the people reading this volume will have read or have access to Volume One of my Global Report on Student Well­ Being. Therefore, I will not review the background literature relevant to multiple discrepancies theory (MDT), the theory itself or the essential features of the international university undergraduate data­ set on which this whole report is based. Anyone familiar with my earlier papers (Michalos 1985, 1987, 1988) will have a good idea of MDT. However, one really has to have a look at the first volume of this study in order to appreciate the richness of a data-set consisting of over 18,000 cases drawn from 39 countries. As I indicated at the beginning of that volume, the data-set is available for a very modest cost to anyone who wants it. I am happy to report that a few re­ searchers have already obtained some or all of the data-set and are currently undertaking their own analyses. I do hope others will also take advantage of this opportunity. The focus of Volume One was on happiness and satisfaction with life as a whole, so-called global indicators of subjective well­ being. Volume Two was devoted to an exploration of satisfaction with the interpersonal relations of family, friends and living partners, and personal self-esteem. Volume Three was concerned with satisfaction of paid employment, with material goods as indicated by the domains finances, housing and transportation.

Michalos. . . offers his own approach to the topic in this clearly written (with humorous tone), well-structured, fully reasoned, and courageous presentation. . . . Each chapter offers a great deal of information, discusses numerous arguments, and takes an unambiguous stand. . . . the reader. . . will certainly benefit from this fairly broad approach to business ethics. --G. Enderle in Choice "Alex C. Michalos exemplifies how one proceeds on the assumption that 'God dwells in the details,' and how one engages in an increasingly fuzzy world by balancing principled commitment and skepticism. As a direct result, you will find yourself getting sucked into a dialogue about things that matter to you, which is the whole point of A Pragmatic Approach to Business Ethics." --Jonathan B. King, Associate Professor of Management, Oregon State University "Professor Michalos has produced a marvelously valuable collection of work here. . . . To my knowledge, Professor Michalos has produced the only business ethics text marketed today that examines critical ethical issues from a consistently pragmatic perspective. In 'Ethical Considerations in Evaluation,' Michalos develops a rigorous model demonstrating the compatibility of ethical and rational decision making. 'Fourteen Unsuccessful Ways to Pass the Buck' presents fourteen thoughtful refutations of the argument that business people do not have moral responsibilities. What's the matter with Machiavellian ethics? 'The Best and Worst Arguments for Business Ethics' probes that question provocatively. Trust--an informed propensity to allow oneself to be vulnerable to harm in the interest of some perceived greater good--may be the single most important virtue to be gained from a study of A Pragmatic Approach to Business Ethics. . . . Michalos has done an outstanding job and I am confident that his text will be widely adopted." --Bill Shaw, Woodson Centennial Professor, Legal and Ethical Studies in Business, University of Texas, Austin "This book provides a very wide-ranging collection of examples of where business ethics make a difference - advertising, tobacco promotion, manufacture and marketing of armaments, concentration and taxation of wealth and the North American Free Trade Agreement. A well-presented collection of evidence that business and ethics can go together and provides support for a pragmatic approach." --Journal of Management Psychology Alex C. Michalos, long-time Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Business Ethics, argues for a pragmatic approach to business ethics and demonstrates the usefulness of the approach by applying it to a variety of issues within this remarkable book. The issues discussed are broad and far-reaching and include the relations between rational and moral/ethical decision making, the limits of loyalty to employers, the impact of trust on business, and the role of commercial public opinion polling during elections. Michalos also covers advertising, tobacco promotion, manufacture and marketing of armaments, concentration and taxation of wealth, and the North American Free Trade Agreement. Provocative and insightful, A Pragmatic Approach to Business Ethics provides a foundation for business ethics that is essential. This volume will be of interest to professionals in all fields and to students and scholars in business ethics and social issues in business courses.

Since initiating the journal "Social Indicators Research" in 1974, Alex C. Michalos has been a pioneer in social indicators and quality-of-life research. This collection of 19 articles provides an overview of nearly 30 years of work, including papers drawn from diverse sources and papers never published before. Topics range over: the quality of life investigations connected to the problems of combining social, economic and environmental indicators; measuring the status of women in Canada; housing and migration; health and human well-being; older peoples' well-being; leisure activities and health; impact of public services, police services; criminal victimization; and feminism and ethnic relations on the quality of life. The final paper, on multiple discrepancies theory (MDT), is the author's contribution to an empirically testable new foundation for theories of utility, satisfaction and happiness.

Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement was founded by Alex C. Michalos and published its first issue in March 1974. It has been the leading journal for scholarly research in its field for over thirty years. This volume is published in celebration of that record of accomplishment. The 19 articles assembled here are a selection drawn from the 34 (2.4%) most frequently cited articles in the journal’s history. An introductory essay written by Michalos explains the historical and scientific importance of each article in the development of social indicators or quality-of-life research. It provides a rare overview of the perceived scientific problems that researchers around the world addressed in the first three decades of exploration, as well as a view of some of the problems to be addressed in the future. A short essay describing the origins of the journal by its founder is also included. Anyone interested in having a single volume that contains some of the best research produced in this field will find this volume irresistible.

Quality of life (QOL) research has made great strides since the social indicator movement started as a scientific enterprise in the 1960s. Following the lead of pioneers in North America and Europe, social scientists in other regions of the world have adopted and refined social data systems or barometers to monitor progress in enhancing the welfare and well-being of citizens. A distinctive feature of these barometers is that they measure both individual and societal quality of life. While not overlooking the more basic needs and material standards of living, the barometers also inform on issues of individual freedoms and choices and constraints on citizen empowerment that enhance and depress quality of life. Designed to capture nuances in local definitions of the good life, regional barometers are unique expressions of the obstacles facing different societies in their quest to achieve the good life. Scholars of public policy as well as policy makers will find inspiration from reviews of innovative initiatives to monitor contemporary quality of life in six regions of the world spanning South America, the Arctic, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia.

This encyclopedia, edited by the past editors and founder of the Journal of Business Ethics, is the only reference work dedicated entirely to business and professional ethics.

This encyclopedia, edited by the past editors and founder of the Journal of Business Ethics, is the only reference work dedicated entirely to business and professional ethics. Containing over 2000 entries, this multi-volume, major research reference work provides a broad-based disciplinary and interdisciplinary approach to all of the key topics in the field. The encyclopedia draws on three interdisciplinary and over-lapping fields: business ethics, professional ethics and applied ethics although the main focus is on business ethics. The breadth of scope of this work draws upon the expertise of human and social scientists, as well as that of professionals and scientists in varying fields. This work has come to fruition by making use of the expert academic input from the extraordinarily rich population of current and past editorial board members and section editors of and contributors to the Journal of Business Ethics.

Veenhoven’s contributions include developing theories and measuring instruments, creating the world’s first and largest database of happiness research, founding the world’s first and most frequently cited Journal of Happiness Studies, and student development in and popularization of the field of happiness studies.

Veenhoven’s contributions include developing theories and measuring instruments, creating the world’s first and largest database of happiness research, founding the world’s first and most frequently cited Journal of Happiness Studies, and student development in and popularization of the field of happiness studies.

This monograph describes the contributions to our current understanding of quality of life made by the most important ancient philosophers in the Western Tradition. It does so from the point of view of a contemporary researcher in quality of life or human well-being. Revisiting ancient texts from about 600 BCE to 300 BCE, the book explores the earliest ideas in recorded western philosophical and scientific history that were significantly related to current research and understanding of the quality of life or well-being for individuals and communities. It examines the problems and solutions found in these texts and their connection to still current fundamental issues and questions such as: ‘What is a good life?’, ‘What is the best sort of person to be?’ ‘How can one tell if one’s society is making progress to some sort of desirable state or falling backwards?’ The book shows that across time and across many cultures, the human species bears some remarkable similarities.

This volume provides bridges from the social sciences to business ethics and from the latter to the quality of life, by connecting the research themes of quality of life, social sciences, including public policy-making, and business ethics or corporate responsibility. It builds on the premise that public policy making is essentially a species of good decision making, as explained in the first volume. It shows that, because most developed countries function as market economies whose governments depend on taxation to pay for their services and because a large proportion of government revenue comes from well-regulated, responsible corporations, the quality of people’s lives is highly dependent upon good public policies, taxation and business ethics. The volume presents and examines ethical/moral problems arising in market economies since the first century BCE, including the first appearance of the business case for business ethics, fourteen arguments concerning the neglect of business ethics, business ethics issues for the 1990s and beyond, the loyal agent’s argument, advertising, the importance of trust, public opinion polling, public program evaluation, and a critique of the relatively new monster of super-capitalism. In addition, it deals with connections among the concepts of efficiency, morality, and rationality related to decision making in general and public policy making in particular. Finally, it explains relationships between outcomes measurement and performance indicators in general and performance-based management in public administration, the taxation of net wealth and financial transactions.

This first volume has as its main focus the philosophical foundations of Michalos’ work and describes it in the broad context of the study of logic, the philosophy of social sciences, and a general theory of value. After distinguishing things that have value from the value that things might have, it describes the foundations of a pragmatic theory of value. This theory plays a key role in the author’s research on the quality of life and connects his empirical research to the philosophical tradition of the American pragmatists William James, Ralph Barton Perry, John Dewey and Clarence Irving Lewis. The volume addresses various aspects and issues concerning decision making, including decision procedures used in committees, used for assessing the acceptability of scientific theories and new technologies, procedures for a science court, ethical issues involved in the formation of beliefs, some limitations of classical economists’ alleged postulates of rational preference, and the importanceof analytic guides to decision making. Finally, it describes the organization of the Social Sciences Federation of Canada and a formal accounting system for scientific research.

The focus of this volume is on the further development of the Quality of Life Theory and the means to measure the concept. The volume summarizes Michalos’ fundamental assumptions about the nature of quality of life or human well-being and explains in detail the two variable theory of the quality of life. It gives an update of the journal Social Indicators Research after forty years, an explanation of the role of community indicators in connecting communities, and a critical review of the much publicized Stiglitz, Sen and Fitoussi report. It deals with the multiple discrepancies theory (MDT), the empirical theory designed to provide the foundation of the pragmatic theory of value. Other concepts discussed in this volume are the stability, sensitivity, and other different features of measures of domain and life satisfaction and happiness, measures of arts-related activities and beliefs, measures of knowledge, attitudes and behaviour concerning sustainable development, and the role of quality of life in sustainable development research. The volume concludes with discussions on connections between social indicators and communities, aspects of community quality of life in Prince George, British Columbia and Jasper, Alberta, and British Columbians’ expectations and attitudes going into the third millennium.

This volume connects aspects of personal health, overall well-being, and education to quality of life. It includes discussions of Galen’s and Harvey’s views of the movement of blood in human bodies, and differences in the research traditions of social indicators research and health-related quality of life research. It examines determinants of health and quality of life in a variety of populations, including the residents of the Bella Coola Valley of British Columbia, aboriginal residential school survivors in Canada, and diabetics versus non-diabetics. It describes relations between health survey and patients’ medical chart reviews, the health and quality of life of older people, and the difference between good health and a good life. Other topics explored are student quality of life, comparisons of the quality of life of students, aboriginal and unemployed people, the impact of education on happiness and well-being, and liberal education. In addition, the volume presents Einstein’s views of ethics and science, and unacknowledged authorship in scholarly publications. The final chapter gives a historical review of quality of life research in Canada over the past fifty years.

This volume provides bridges from the social sciences to business ethics and from the latter to the quality of life, by connecting the research themes of quality of life, social sciences, including public policy-making, and business ethics or corporate responsibility.

This first volume has as its main focus the philosophical foundations of Michalos’ work and describes it in the broad context of the study of logic, the philosophy of social sciences, and a general theory of value.

The focus of this volume is on the further development of the Quality of Life Theory and the means to measure the concept.

This volume connects aspects of personal health, overall well-being, and education to quality of life. It describes relations between health survey and patients’ medical chart reviews, the health and quality of life of older people, and the difference between good health and a good life.

1 In 1954 Karl Popper published an article attempting to show that the identification of the quantitative concept degree of confirmation with the quantitative concept degree of probability is a serious error. The error was presumably committed by J. M. Keynes, H. Reichen­ bach and R. Carnap. 2 It was Popper's intention then, to expose the error and to introduce an explicatum for the prescientific concept of degree of confirmation. A few months later Y. Bar-Hillel published an article attempting to show that no serious error had been committed (particularly by Carnap) and that the problem introduced by Popper was simply a "verbal one. "3 Popper replied immediately that "Dr. Bar-Hillel forces me [Popper] now to criticize Carnap's theory further," and he [Popper] introduced further objections which, if accepted, destroy Carnap's theory. 4 About eight years after this exchange took place I was in graduate school at the University of Chicago in search of a topic for a doctoral dissertation. An investigation of the issues involved in this exchange seemed to be ideal for me because I had (and still have) a great ad­ miration for the work of both Carnap and Popper. A thoroughly revised and I hope improved account of that investigation appears in the first five chapters of this book. Put very briefly, what I found were four main points of contention.

For this book, we have selected papers from symposia and contributed sessions at the fourth biennial meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, held at the University of Notre Dame on November 1-3, 1974. The meeting was lively and well-attended, and we regret that there was no way to record here the many stimulating discussions after the papers and during the informal hours. We also regret that we had in­ sufficient space for all the contributed papers. Even more, some of the symposia were not available: those on systems and decision theory (c. W. Churchman, P. Suppes, I. Levi), and on the Marxist philosophy of science (M. W. Wartofsky, R. S. Cohen, E. N. Hiebert). Unhappily several individual contributions to other symposia were likewise not available: I. Velikovsky in the session on his own work and the politics of science, D. Finkelstein in the session on quantum logic. Memorial minutes were read for Alan Ross Anderson (prepared by Nuel Belnap) and for Imre Lakatos (prepared by Paul Feyerabend). They initiate this volume of philosophy of science in the mid-seventies.

It would have been nice to have been able to write this book with the style of Mailer, the wit of Shaw, the breadth of Myrdal and the zeal of Nader. It would also have been miraculous. Rest assured there are no miracles here. On the contrary, the work in your hands undoubtedly bears all the marks of imperfect human design. It's too long for one book, but probably too short for the story to be told. It's not the sort of book one can hope to fmish, even in five volumes. There is always one more table one might squeeze in, one more column or row, an illustrative chart or figure, another important refer­ ence to check, something dangling here or there that nags one to fiddle with it, wrap it up, tie it down, and so on. All one can do, I think, is put up with the nagging and press on. I can't imagine anyone making so many factual claims and evaluative judgments, and putting together so many numbers in so many different areas without making dozens of mistakes. I can't imagine anyone working with national statistics and not having plenty of mistakes made for him. As I look back on it now, it's hard to imagine anyone being naive enough (bold enough has a better ring to it) to take on the task of writing a book like this in the first place. Of course, I had Myrdal's great An American Dilemma to encourage me.

For readers who intend to read this volume without reading the first, some in­ troductory remarks are in order about the scope of the work and the strategy used in all five volumes to measure the quality of life. In the frrst chapter of Volume I, I reviewed the relevant recent literature on social indicators and so­ cial reporting, and explained all the general difficulties involved in such work. It would be redundant to repeat that discussion here, but there are some fundamental points that are worth mentioning. Readers who fmd this account too brief should consult the longer discussion. The basic question that will be answered in this work is this: Is there a difference in the quality of life in Canada and the United States of America, and if so, in which country is it better? Alternatively, one could put the question thus: If one individual were randomly selected out of Canada and another out of the United States, would there be important qualitative differences, and if so, which one would probably be better om To simplify matters, I often use the terms Canadian' and 'American' as abbreviations for 'a randomly selected resident' of Canada or the United States, respec­ tively.

For readers who intend to read this volume without reading the ftrst, some introductory remarks are in order about the scope of the work and the strategy used in all ftve volumes to measure the quality of life. In the ftrst chapter of Volume I, I reviewed the relevant recent literature on social indicators and social reporting, and explained all the general difficulties involved in such work. It would be redundant to repeat that discussion here, but there are some fundamental points that are worth mentioning. Readers who fmd this account too brief should consult the longer discussion. The basic question that will be answered in this work in this: Is there a difference in the quality of life in Canada and the United States of America, and if so, in which country is it better? Alternatively, one could put the question thus: If one individual were randomly selected out of Canada and another out of the United States, would there be important qualitative differences, and if so, which one would probably be better off? To simplify matters, I often use the terms 'Canadian' and 'American' as abbreviations for 'a randomly selected resident' of Canada or the United States, respectively.

For readers who intend to read this volume without reading the first, some in­ troductory remarks are in orde{about the scope of the work and the strategy used in all five volumes to measure the quality of life. In the first chapter of Volume I, I reviewed the relevant recent literature on social indicators and so­ cial reporting, and explained all the general difficulties involved in such work. It would be redundant to repeat that discussion here, but there are some fundamental points that are worth mentioning. Readers who fmd this account too brief should consult the longer discussion. The basic question that will be answered in this work is this: Is there a difference in the quality of life in Canada and the United States of America, and if so, in which country is it better? Alternatively, one could put the question thus: If one individual were randomly selected out of Canada and another out of the United States, would there be important qualitative differences, and if so, which one would probably be better off! To simplify matters, I often use the terms 'Canadian' and 'American' as abbreviations for 'a randomly selected resident' of Canada or the United States, respec­ tively.

For readers who intend to read this volume without reading the first, some in­ troductory remarks are in order about the scope of the work and the strategy used in all five volumes to measure the qUality of life. In the frrst chapter of Volume I, I reviewed the relevant recent literature on social indicators and so­ cial reporting, and explained all the general difficulties involved in such work. It would be redundant to repeat that discussion here, but there are some fundamental points that are worth mentioning. Readers who fmd this account too brief should consult the longer discussion. The basic question that will be answered in this work is this: Is there a difference in the quality of life in Canada and the United States of America, and if so, in which country is it better? Alternatively, one could put the question thus: If one individual were randomly selected out of Canada and another out of the United States, would there be important qualitative differences, and if so, which one would probably be better off? To simplify matters, I often use the terms 'Canadian' and 'American' as abbreviations for 'a randomly selected resident' of Canada or the United States, respec­ tively.