How Do Constructions of Human Wellbeing Travel between London, Madrid and Peru?

Abstract

Chapter 4 established how human wellbeing is constructed in different ways and across different locations, how it is embedded in local meanings and understandings and also how it varies according to gender, age, generation and stage in the life cycle. At the same time it also revealed that fundamental psychological needs cross-cut locational differences and that human wellbeing is about more than how it is constructed in particular locations. This chapter extends this analysis by exploring how human wellbeing ‘travels’ and is reconstructed transnationally. Human wellbeing theory makes two distinct theoretical contributions in relation to this. Firstly, it centres analysis on moving between locally constructed and universal needs (McGregor, 2007: 340). Secondly, it moves the focus of study from exploring the dynamics of poverty and inequality in specific locations in the South (or North) towards examination of what is needed to live well across spatial boundaries by highlighting the global interconnectedness of human wellbeing outcomes.