Abstract
There is nothing new about striving for wellbeing but the concept is particularly useful at the moment, both because the rise of right-wing populism makes the need for an alternative to conventional measures of policy success acute, and because developments in measurement and analysis make such an alternative practical. This chapter sets out two different conceptions of wellbeing, how they are reconciled in the concept of flourishing, and how this can be measured. It then describes how wellbeing can be used in policy in general and its implications for economic policy in particular. It also describes how it can help those developing plans for sustainability. It then touches on its role as a unifying narrative before describing the way it can represent a break with standard welfare economics, and thus a break with the economic ideology that currently predominates. Finally there are some very brief suggestions on next steps.
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Seaford, C. (2018). Is Wellbeing a Useful Concept for Progressives?. In: Bache, I., Scott, K. (eds) The Politics of Wellbeing . Wellbeing in Politics and Policy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58394-5_5
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