Key Actors in Public Policy-making for Quality of Life: Facilitators and Obstacles (Human Well-Being Research and Policy Making) 3030904660, 9783030904661

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Human Well-Being Research and Policy Making Series Editors: Richard J. Estes · M. Joseph Sirgy

Graciela Tonon

Key Actors in Public Policy-making for Quality of Life Facilitators and Obstacles

Human Well-Being Research and Policy Making Series Editors Richard J. Estes, School of Social Policy & Practice, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA M. Joseph Sirgy , Department of Marketing, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA

This series includes policy-focused books on the role of the public and private sectors in advancing quality of life and well-being. It creates a dialogue between well-being scholars and public policy makers. Well-being theory, research and practice are essentially interdisciplinary in nature and embrace contributions from all disciplines within the social sciences. With the exception of leading economists, the policy relevant contributions of social scientists are widely scattered and lack the coherence and integration needed to more effectively inform the actions of policy makers. Contributions in the series focus on one more of the following four aspects of well-being and public policy: • Discussions of the public policy and well-being focused on particular nations and worldwide regions • Discussions of the public policy and well-being in specialized sectors of policy making such as health, education, work, social welfare, housing, transportation, use of leisure time • Discussions of public policy and well-being associated with particular population groups such as women, children and youth, the aged, persons with disabilities and vulnerable populations • Special topics in well-being and public policy such as technology and well-being, terrorism and well-being, infrastructure and well-being. This series was initiated, in part, through funds provided by the Halloran Philanthropies of West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, USA. The commitment of the Halloran Philanthropies is to “inspire, innovate and accelerate sustainable social interventions that promote human well-being.” The series editors and Springer acknowledge Harry Halloran, Tony Carr and Audrey Selian for their contributions in helping to make the series a reality.

More information about this series at https://link.springer.com/bookseries/15692

Graciela Tonon

Key Actors in Public Policy-making for Quality of Life Facilitators and Obstacles

Graciela Tonon University of Palermo Buenos Aires, Argentina

ISSN 2522-5367 ISSN 2522-5375 (electronic) Human Well-Being Research and Policy Making ISBN 978-3-030-90466-1 ISBN 978-3-030-90467-8 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90467-8 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

To my beloved children Pedro and Erica and my husband Walter. With their love they support me in everything I do, lighting up my life. Graciela

Prologue

The transfer of quality of life research results to the field of policy making is a proposal that may facilitate decision making and improve the population’s quality of life. Against this background, it is of particular interest to examine the role of the actors involved in the process. The purpose of this book is to analyse and discuss the role of such actors— researchers, policy makers, citizens—and the relationship between them, and to identify the strengths and difficulties of the process, offering a proposal to bridge the gap. To write this book, I consulted experts from around the world—researchers, professors, practitioners—on a variety of topics ranging from quality of life to well-being, public policies, human capabilities, and education. They answered questions in writing and authorized the inclusion of their answers in the book. Their contributions enriched my ideas about the different topics that are addressed in each chapter. In addition to the theory and the results of the interviews, this book features specific cases that provide relevant examples, including experiences developed around the world in times of the COVID-19 pandemic. The book is organized in eight chapters. Chapter 1 contains an overall description of the book contents in terms of constructs and highlights the links between them. Chapter 2 reviews the genealogy of the concept of quality of life, viewed as comprising a number of dimensions that people evaluate differently according to the importance they attach to each dimension in their lives. The chapter further looks at how quality of life is conditioned by the social structure in terms of demographic characteristics, cultural traits, psycho-social characteristics of the community and its institutions. It explains the changes in the concept of public policy, which has veered away from its traditional conception as an external activity provided by the state to focusing on human rights and including actors apart from the government in the definition of problems and the formulation of alternatives. Chapter 3 presents an analysis of the process of transmission of quality of life research results to the field of public policy. It views this process as comprising vii

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Prologue

various stages, one of them being the production of knowledge. It recognizes that knowledge production has traditionally been generated at universities and that the university structure has been historically based on scientific knowledge. The chapter also explores power mechanisms in the academic field, which have traditionally institutionalized certain topics and actors, making others invisible during the process. Against this background, the creation of international research networks can be seen as an opportunity for researchers to work jointly and show their research results. The chapter finally looks at the major worldwide impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on knowledge construction processes. Chapter 4 addresses research utilization in the field of public policy and underlines the need to achieve a mutual exchange between researchers and policy makers in order to integrate research findings in the policy making process. Researchers and policy makers have a different idea of what knowledge is. Researchers generally regard knowledge as something that is theoretically and methodologically sound and/or defensible. Policy makers see knowledge as the result of experience. When researchers and policy makers have close personal links, with appropriate chains of legitimacy to those whom they represent, researchers can have more influence, and policy makers can make a better use of research. Chapter 5 discusses the conception of people as actors or as passive recipients of public policies and its association with the definition of citizenship. Nowadays citizenship is conceived not only as a legal status defined by a set of rights and obligations, but also in terms of identity and the expression of belonging to a specific political community. This scenario requires the participation of citizens as a basic strategy of organization to defend their rights and satisfy their needs, with the consequent impact on the design of policies. Chapter 6 addresses the topic of aid, which is closely related to the field of quality of life. Special emphasis is laid on the fact that people and organizations are becoming more and more involved in aid actions. Although the state has traditionally been the provider of responses to the needs of the population, the past decades have seen an increase in responses coming from non-governmental organizations, religious organizations, and citizens, whether individually, as a family, or as informal social groups. Helping others not only influences the well-being of the people who receive help, but also that of the givers and thus improves their quality of life. To conclude, the chapter highlights the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic globally and the increase in humanitarian actions in this regard. Chapter 7 identifies the obstacles and facilitators in the process of transmission of research results to policy making in order to improve people’s quality of life. It looks at the importance of the methods and techniques used in research and the availability of data when transmitting research results to the policy cycle. The chapter also explores the critical issue of research funding. It then proposes a series of strategies to improve the use of quality of life research results in policy making, reflecting on the role of oral communication and the importance of dialogue between researchers and policy makers. It also contains recommendations for writing quality of life research results that can be translated into a useful input for public policy

Prologue

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formulation. Finally, the chapter describes a step-by-step process to achieve effective communication between researchers and policy makers and bridge the gap between them. Chapter 8, the last chapter of the book, presents the final remarks and formulates proposals for further research. In order to examine how research results can be reflected in the field of policy making, it is necessary to identify the role of the actors involved, together with the obstacles and facilitators in the process, and then propose options to bridge the gap. I hope that this book can provide the readers with a thoughtful and updated proposal on such an important and relevant current topic. If quality of life research results are taken into account and included in policy making, they can make a significant contribution to the implementation of public policies that enhance the population’s quality of life and help to build better and fairer societies with fewer inequalities. Buenos Aires, Argentina August 2021

Graciela H. Tonon

Interview Script

The experts that answered the questions below have authorized Springer to include and publish their answers to the questions in the written interview conducted by Graciela Tonon for the book Key Actors in Public Policy-making for Quality of Life: Facilitators and Obstacles and their names and/or identification by the initial letters, in all formats of the book, and to copyedit language (but not content) of the answers (if needed). The Production of Quality of Life Knowledge. The characteristics of the process of production of quality of life research results. The production of knowledge during the COVID-19 Pandemic The transmission of research results to the policy cycle: facilities and obstacles of this process. The power in the research’s field. The quality of research results in the quality of life field and the possibility of its use in policy making. The Actors of the Process: Researchers and Policy Makers The possibilities of researchers to decide the research: is freedom possible? The possibilities of policy makers to decide and construct public policies. The place of citizens in the policy circle: users, beneficiaries, or clients? The social citizenship Citizenship as an emotional and affective state. Citizens as protagonists of public policies. The different types of aid Aid from non-governmental organizations. Aid from religious associations. Aid from individuals and families. The relation between aid and well-being and quality of life for the actors involved in the process. Aid during the COVID-19 Pandemic International collaboration between researchers for the production of knowledge. The creation of international research networks xi

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Interview Script

The relation between researchers and policy makers: the characteristics of that relationship. The impact of research in policy making. The strategies to improve the use of research in policy making. Using Quality of Life of life theory and methodology for policy making.

Acknowledgments

I wish to thank the editors of the Series Human Well-Being Research and Policy Making, Joe Sirgy and Richard Estes, who gave me the opportunity to write this book and the possibility of writing about issues that concern me in a creative way. To write this book, I have consulted experts and colleagues from different areas and countries around the world. I wish to thank them in particular for their reflections and contributions, which allowed me to enrich my text and open up new paths of theoretical and practical reflection. They are: Daniel Shek (Hong-Kong), Takashi Inoguchi (Japan), Irma Eloff (South Africa), Mahar Mangahas (The Philippines), Tobia Fattore (Australia), Monseñor Gabriel Barba (Argentina), Jon Hall (USA), Paul Anand (UK), Enrique Delamónica (USA), Cornelia Walther (Germany), Francesco Sarracino (Luxembourg), Stacy Kosko (USA), Elaine Unterhalter (UK), María Laura Zulaica (Argentina), Sabirah Adams (South Africa), Marina Paulozzo (Argentina), Christopher Wrathall (UK), Roberto Castellanos Cereceda (Mexico), Jhonatan Clausen and Nicolas Barrantes (Peru) and especially my friend, Franco Lavolpe, who read this book as I was writing it. His comments have allowed me to continue improving my work. I am also grateful to the authorities of Universidad de Palermo for their support of my work: the Dean of the School of Social Sciences, Elsa Zingman; the Rector of Universidad de Palermo, Ricardo Popovsky; and the Academic Secretary of the School of Social Sciences, Luis Brajterman.

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Contents

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The Role of the Actors in the Process of Transmitting Research Knowledge to the Public Policy Field to Improve people’s Quality of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Rethinking the Concepts of Quality of Life and Public Policy . . . . . .

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The Production of Quality of Life Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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The Actors in the Process I: Researchers and Policy Makers . . . . . .

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The Actors in the Process II: Citizen Participation in Public Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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The Relationship between Aid and Quality of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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The Contribution of Quality of Life Research to Policy Making . . . . 115

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Final Remarks for a New Proposal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

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List of Figures

Fig. 3.1 Fig. 7.1 Fig. 7.2 Fig. 7.3

Student’s opinions about the relation quality of life-public policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Summary of how to write for policy makers (Tonon, 2021) . . . . . . . 135 Process of transmission of research results to the public policy cycle: step by step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Distribution of the percentage increase in non-violent deaths (March–December 2019/March–December 2020) and the COVIDrelated multidimensional risk incidence; districts of Lima and Callao Province. Panel A. Percentage increase in non-violent deaths (March–December 2019/March–December 2020); districts of Lima and Callao Provinces. Panel B. COVID-related multidimensional risk incidence; districts of Lima and Callao Provinces. Source: Clausen and Barrantes (2021, p. 119) based on MINSA (2021), INEI (2017, 2020), PNUD (2019) . . .. . . .. . . . .. . 147

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List of Tables

Table 5.1 Table 7.1 Table 7.2 Table 7.3

Proposed goals and their linkage with the SDGs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Recommendations for writing research results to be used by policy makers (Tonon, 2021) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 COVID-risk indicators and deprivation criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 Correlation between the percentage increase in non-violent deaths (March–December 2019/March–December 2020) and different quality of life measures; districts of Lima and Callao Provinces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

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Chapter 1

The Role of the Actors in the Process of Transmitting Research Knowledge to the Public Policy Field to Improve people’s Quality of Life

Abstract This chapter presents the basic concepts discussed in this book and how they relate to each other. It is intended to act as a roadmap and guide the reader through the book. This book explores the role of the actors in the process of transmitting research knowledge to the public policy field in order to improve people’s quality of life. Our theoretical proposal starts from the concepts of quality of life and public policies and then goes on to look at the characteristics of the process of production of quality of life research, the possibility of using quality of life research in policy making and the construction of international research networks based on collaboration between researchers, with a special focus on the current pandemic situation. It then provides an analysis of the actors involved in the process—researchers and policy makers—and the characteristics of their relationship. It also deepens that analysis by looking at the role of other actors in the policy cycle: citizens, considered as protagonists and agents of public policies. From there, our proposal examines the relationship between aid and quality of life, describing current societies, the different types of aid and the relationship between aid and well-being for the actors involved in the process, particularly in times of the COVID-19 pandemic. It then explores of contribution of Quality of Life research to the field of policy making, considering the methods, techniques and the issue of funding. Finally, it proposes some strategies to improve the use of research in policy making, focusing on communication between researchers and policy makers. The reader is also provided with some guidelines on how to write research reports that can be useful when making decisions and a step-by-step process to bridge the gap between researchers and policy makers. Keywords Research knowledge · Public policies · Policy making · Quality of life

1.1

The Theoretical Proposal

Our theoretical proposal views quality of life as a multidimensional concept that integrates a quantitative (objective) and a qualitative (subjective) approach, and comprises a number of dimensions that people evaluate differently according to the importance they give to them in their lives. It is a concept that not only considers © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 G. Tonon, Key Actors in Public Policy-making for Quality of Life, Human WellBeing Research and Policy Making, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90467-8_1

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1 The Role of the Actors in the Process of Transmitting Research Knowledge. . .

individuals’ well-being but also its determinants, relating in this way the personal dimension with the societal one. Quality of life is a theoretical proposal that offers the possibility of a new outlook that includes the analysis of the socio-political context (Tonon, 2003). This proposal takes into account the evolution of the concept of public policy in the past few years, from the traditional perspective centered in government decisions to the inclusion of other actors—citizens, social movements, social groups, NGOs—in the definition of problems and the formulation of alternatives. Likewise, public policies are not independent of the place and circumstances and the historical time in which they are implemented. Thus, public policies need to be considered as contingent responses. Traditionally, knowledge has been the unique claim of higher education, with universities being the institutions that transmit, study and create knowledge. However, the production of knowledge today is increasingly interwoven with society, because research is becoming more contextualized (Bleiklie, 2005). The 1990s saw the emergence of a new form of knowledge referred to as Mode 2, which was characterized by being carried out in a context of application and by being transdisciplinary, heterogeneous, heterarchical and transient (Gibbons et al., 1994, p. 3). Later, Bleiklie and Byrkjeflot (2002) proposed a third type of knowledge called ethic-oriented conception, focusing on risk and protection of human rights. The interaction between theory and practice means that academics must take responsibility for the results they bring to public debates, since these can serve as a guide for social action or produce decisions in relation to social action. The third mission of universities is to transfer knowledge to society in general and to organizations, including contracts with public bodies, participation in policy making, involvement in social and cultural life, and public understanding of science (Compagnucci & Spigarelli, 2020, p. 17). All experts agree that the production of knowledge in the field of quality of life is a dynamic process, in which a variety of methods and techniques are used: quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods, as well as different research techniques. The quality of the research will often determine the credibility of the organization that either conducts or financially supports the research, and it may also determine the credibility and/or integrity of the research field itself as a source of useable knowledge (Nielson, 2001). The twenty-first century has seen an expansion in the construction of international collaborative networks in the field of production of knowledge, involving researchers from different regions and countries. Participation in international research networks allows researchers to find other colleagues working on the same topic, and thus generate possible instances of collaboration between them. Working in research networks creates opportunities to relate the specific knowledge of each discipline, which allows the synthesis and dissemination of key research findings in particular contexts. In this sense, research networks play a role not only of dissemination but also of protection of those products that have been generated. There is a considerable difference between what scientists and policy-makers consider to be knowledge and how that knowledge is developed or obtained. The goal of scientists is to advance science; they are interested in publications, patents, and professorships, and less interested in social policy. Policy-makers are more

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interested in solutions that can be generally applied to a wide variety of problems. According to Sen (2000), quality of life should be assessed not only in terms of an individual’s achievements towards life satisfaction but also in terms of his/her pursuit of freedom to attain such satisfaction. Sen (1999) argues that individual freedom can be regarded as a central value in any appraisal of society and as an integral product of social arrangements, with far-reaching implications for the assessment of social institutions and political decisions. The capability approach (Sen, 2000) views individuals as active agents of change, rather than as mere recipient of benefits; he proposes using the term agent in its older sense, according to which a person acts and brings about changes (Sen, 2000, p. 35). In the case of social researchers, when referring to freedom and contextualization, it should be borne in mind that there are different institutional forms of power which researchers must take into account when they carry out their research work. To speak about the possibilities of policy-makers to decide and construct public policies, we first need to recall that policy is a process characterized by the speed that decision-making requires in a world in permanent change. Worthy of note is also the different language used by each group. However, the most notable difference between researchers and policy-makers is the timeframe they have to carry out their work. Researchers need long periods of time to develop their research projects and write scientific papers, while policy-makers work on tight deadlines, driven by the urgency to produce a result. Time is key to the interactions within and between researchers and policy-makers. As a conceptual category, citizenship is based on meanings, narratives and discourses, and its significance in each historical period depends on the political and cultural conditions in which it develops (Sandoval Moya, 2003, pp. 32–33). At present, citizenship cannot be considered to be only a legal status, defined by a set of rights and obligations, but it must also be considered in terms of identity and the expression of belonging to a political community (Kymlicka, 1996). In this sense, Castillo García (2007) argues that the processes of configuration of citizenship emerge from the ways in which people relate to each other and build their life in community. The notion of community allows us to view individuals as subjects. In this respect, Lechner (2002) points out that politics is also subjective and is a field of intersubjective conflict relationships. In the last decades of the twentieth century, the notion of citizenship underwent a process of redefinition that made recognition and diversity visible. This gave rise to the issue of ethnic and gender identities, thus expanding the debate on the classic notion of citizenship. Our first reflection on the role of citizens in the public policy cycle is whether citizens should currently be conceived as users or beneficiaries of policies. Citizens of current democracies expect to enjoy political as well as social rights. This has given rise to the concept of social citizenship, which requires that security and opportunities be shared by all (Przeworski, 1998). Citizenship is developed in public spaces and this is the reason why the public space has been traditionally associated with the role of the State. However, the present reality calls the citizens’ participation in community issues as well as in decision-making and in putting these decisions into practice. Thus, the public space has become a setting for citizens’ communal participation. Quoting

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Borja and Muxi (2000, p. 7), the public space is the space of representation in which society becomes visible. With features of its own that make it distinguishable from the domestic sphere, the public sphere is the arena where citizens can exercise their rights and debate public issues. Public spaces have undertaken the strategic task of being the place in which nominally democratic systems confirm their egalitarian nature; they are the place where citizens exercise their freedom of speech and assembly and control political powers, and the space in which those powers may be questioned regarding public affairs (Delgado & Malet, 2007, p. 6). Participation is a possibility or opportunity to have more scope for action, power and influence in an unequal society, as well as a possibility or opportunity to escape from a marginal position and achieve social recognition and belonging to that society (Liebel & Saadi, 2012, p. 127). Espinoza (2009) argues that citizen participation is a societystate relationship circumscribed by the notions of democracy and citizenship, and which must be understood as a space for interaction, communication and differentiation between the state and the social system. The author defines citizen participation as a set of actions through which citizens become involved in the design, decision and implementation of public affairs affecting or concerning them. Thus, citizen participation can be viewed as a process of policy intervention pursued by citizens as a basic strategy of organization to defend their rights and satisfy their needs, with the consequent impact on the design of policies, and as a bridge between society and the State that allows seeing these two poles of the relationship, not as antagonistic, but as complementary to each other (Espinoza, 2009, p. 88). The twenty-first century presents us with a dynamic and transitional society affected by different problems such as inequality, conflict and individualization. Therefore, it is important to recognize the role of social support, defined as the perception or experience that one is loved and cared for by others, esteemed and valued, and part of a social network of mutual assistance and obligations. Against this background, aid appears as a concept that refers to help in terms of money, food, medical supplies, tangible objects, among others, that countries or institutions— whether governmental or non-governmental—provide to people in need of such resources, either because they lack them or because they are unable to acquire them. Estes & Zhou (2014, p. 6) identified—besides the government—three additional stakeholders that provide a broad range of social services: the for-profit market sector, the not-for-profit or civil society sector and families and households to which people turn for social care. Different studies about the action of giving have shown that giving is not only influential on the well-being of the people that receive, but also on the well-being of the givers, in terms of satisfaction, reputation and other benefits (Bekkers & Wiepking, 2011; Young et al., 2012; Surana & Lomas, 2014). The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed the need for social distancing, thus causing governments around the world to enact compulsory social isolation measures. These measures continue to be in place and are bound to remain the norm until the world’s population, or at least a large percentage of it, has been vaccinated. Such state of affairs made it imperative to build different channels to provide aid to people in need. Therefore, service professionals, humanitarian aid agencies, Church members and individuals in general began to devise creative ways to make this aid possible,

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mainly relying on the new communication technologies. Thus, different forms of social support emerged as a spontaneous and natural response to the pandemic, especially in neighborhoods. Based on the above, we can state that, whether aid is provided informally by individuals or by institutions, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about changes in the forms of aid, and such urgently implemented changes are likely to be systematized and remain as new forms of aid in the future. A close look at the policy decision-making arena reveals that, when making a decision, policy makers often refer to research results in order to sustain, justify or legitimize such decision. The question then arises as to whether policy makers use research results because they actually find them useful or because it is a way of avoiding responsibility in the event the relevant decision fails. The methods and techniques used in research are one of the important issues to consider when transmitting research results to the policy cycle. In this respect, it should be noted that although it has traditionally been considered that a large amount of quantitative data and statistical analysis produces the only forms of reliable evidence for policy making, statistics provide only one kind of scientific social evidence. Traditionally, work with indicators has been focused on obtaining general measurements and, in most cases, they have been presented as isolated from their sociohistorical context of development. Nevertheless, in the past decades, a trend has emerged towards the construction of indicators by region, generating an outlook that may integrate economic, political, cultural and social aspects. In this sense, it is important to consider that the construction of a new measuring instrument requires an approach that may integrate quantitative and qualitative views, with a clear definition of both perspectives, a clear conceptualization of the relationship among the components, and a solid structure (Maggino, 2009, p. 5). According to Estes (2005, p. 3), social indicators are direct measures of phenomena which they purport to measure and indirectly measure other, ever more complex, phenomena that cannot be measured directly, or at least cannot be easily measured directly. Estes (2005, p. 4–5) characterizes indicators as requiring a prior clear and mutually agreed upon operational definition, to validly measure what they purport to measure; to be reliable; to be representative of the population; to be timely; to have the capacity to be aggregated and disaggregated at various levels of analysis; to be easily interpreted; to be available for purposes of analysis; to reflect changes over time; to have policy relevance, and the capacity to reflect changes. The combined use of scales to assess individuals’ perceptions and attitudes in terms of satisfaction at both the microsocial/personal level and the macrosocial/socio-political level can provide a more thorough understanding of the multiple dimensions of the realities in which people are immersed as citizens of a country and foster the integration of approaches coming from different disciplines such as psychology and political science. If we consider individuals as the real protagonists of processes, then we must not only use quantitative indicators, which inform us of observable realities translated into figures, but we will also need to rely on a qualitative approach, which can inform us of individuals’ opinions, perceptions and emotions, with due respect for their cultural particularities (Tonon, 2010). This will produce interdisciplinary knowledge

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that can help policy makers to develop policies that respond to the population’s social needs. Research funding is another topic worthy of examination. In this sense, aside from economic resources, it is important to consider resources generated by the community itself, including organizational know-how, managerial ability, popular creativity, solidarity and an ability to provide mutual aid, dedication and training provided by supporting agencies. Likewise, oral and written communication between researchers and policy makers is an important issue to be considered in the process of transmission of research results to the public policy circuit. Dialogue plays a key role in the political context, as it has the functions of consolidating democratic processes, making problematics visible and mediating in the assumption of responsibilities by leaders; it is regarded as a fundamental pathway to resolve conflict. The same holds true for written communication, as documents revealing research results need to be focused on how to transmit those results to policy makers so that they can find them useful for decision-making. In line with this, this book offers recommendations for writing research results to be used by policy makers. It also makes a proposal for a step-bystep journey through a process of transmission of research results to the policy cycle, proposing communication and joint work between researchers and policy makers as the main axis. Finally, it should be noted that, in light of the features of current societies, the theoretical proposal of quality of life should be used to inform policy making. And while some governments have stated their intention to use credible and relevant research results to make decisions to enrich their public policy choices, it can still be observed that the relationship between research results and the design of public policies is not a direct one and that more work is needed to achieve a synergistic process.

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Sociales, Niñez y Juventud, Manizales. Vol 5. N
2. Julio-Diciembre 2007. CINDE-Universidad de Manizales. Colombia. pp. 755-810. Compagnucci, L., & Spigarelli, F. (2020). The third Mission of the university: A systematic literature review on potentials and constraints. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 161, 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2020.120284 Delgado, M. Y. & Malet, D. (2007). El espacio público como ideología Jornadas Marx siglo XXI, Universidad de la Rioja, Logroño, diciembre 2007. Retrieved Apr 10, 2016, from http:// sistemamid.com/panel/uploads/biblioteca/7097/7128/7129/83414.pdf Espinoza, M. (2009). La participación ciudadana como una relación socio-estatal acotada por la concepción de democracia y ciudadanía. Andamios Volumen 5, número 10, pp. 71-109. http:// www.scielo.org.mx/pdf/anda/v5n10/v5n10a4.pdf Estes, R. (2005). Global change and indicators of social development. Departmental Papers (SPP) School of Social Policy and Practice. University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved May 25, 2014, from http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article¼1025&context¼spp_papers Estes, R. & Zhou, H.M. (2014). The public-private mix in national and international development. Departamental Services (SPP) School of Social Policy and Practice. University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons. 1-2-2014. pp. 1-51. https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi? article¼1183&context¼spp_papers Gibbons, M., Limoges, C., Nowotny, H., Schwartzman, S., Scott, P., & Trow, M. (1994). The new production of knowledge. In The dynamics of science and research in contemporary society. Sage. Kymlicka, W. (1996). Ciudadanía multicultural. Paidós. Lechner, N. (2002). Las sombras del mañana. La dimensión subjetiva de la política. LOM. Liebel M. Y. & Saadi, I. (2012). La participación infantil ante el desafío de la diversidad cultural. Desacatos, núm. 39, mayo-agosto 2012, pp. 123-140. Maggino, F. (2009). Methodologies to integrate subjective and objective information to build Wellbeing indicators. International Conference From GDP to Well-Being: Economics On The Road to Sustainability, December 3-5. Università Politecnica delle Marche, . Nielson, S. (2001). Knowledge utilization and public policy processes: A Lierature review. Evaluation UNIT IDRC. Przeworski, A. (1998): Democracia sustentable. Bs. As. Paidós. Sandoval Moya, J. (2003). Ciudadanía y juventud: el dilema entre la integración social y la diversidad cultural. Ultima Década., 11(19), 31–45. https://scielo.conicyt.cl/pdf/udecada/v11 n19/art03.pdf Sen, A. (1999). La libertad individual como compromiso social. Ediciones Abya-Ayala. Sen, A. (2000). Desarrollo y libertad. Editorial Planeta. Surana, P. & Lomas, T. (2014). The power of charity: Does giving away money improve the wellbeing of the donor? Indian Journal of Positive Psychology, 1-25. Retrieved from https:// www.researchgate.net/publication/268683931_The_power_of_charity_Does_giving_away_ money_improve_the_wellbeing_of_the_donor Tonon, G. (2003). Calidad de vida y desgaste profesional: una mirada del síndrome de burnout. Buenos Aires. Tonon, G. (2010) La utilización de indicadores de calidad de vida para la decisión de políticas públicas. Polis, Revista de la Universidad Bolivariana, 9, N
26, p. 361-370. Young, L., Chakroff, A., & Tom, J. (2012). Doing good leads to more good: The reinforcing power of a moral self-concept. Review of Philosophy and Psychology, 3, 325–334. https://doi.org/10. 1007/s13164-012-0111-6

Chapter 2

Rethinking the Concepts of Quality of Life and Public Policy

Abstract This chapter reviews the genealogy of the concept of quality of life. It starts from the assumption that the concept of quality of life is conditioned by the social structure in terms of demographic characteristics, cultural traits, psycho-social characteristics of the community and of its institutions. It then goes on to explain the concept of public policy as it has evolved over the past few years, from a conception according to which the government was the sole decision maker to the inclusion of other actors in the definition of problems and the formulation of alternatives to resolve them. It also discusses that at present quality of life offers the possibility of a new theoretical outlook for working on people’s potentialities and which includes the analysis of the socio-political context (Tonon, G., Calidad de vida y desgaste profesional: una mirada del síndrome de burnout. 2003). Thus, we can state that quality of life is a theoretical proposal that needs to be considered in policy making. Keywords Quality of life · Public policies · Policy making

2.1

Quality of Life: The Genealogy of the Concept

The phrase “quality of life” has gained increased popularity in the past decades and it is thus commonly found in country reports, media advertising and in everyday conversation. The question then arises as to whether in referring to “quality of life”, users of the term mean the same thing (Tonon, 2017, p. 358). It is then worth tracing the genealogy of the concept of quality of life and providing some theoretical insights to distinguish this concept from others. The origins of the term can be traced back to 1932, when Pigou argued that it was necessary to quantify services or social costs of government decisions in order to calculate a net social product, and used the concept of quality of life for the first time. Arthur Pigou (1877–1959) was an English economist and a pioneer in welfare economics. His most famous work, The Economics of Welfare, was published in 1920. In that same decade, several Scandinavian researchers proposed linking levels of living with the satisfaction of the population’s social needs. This can be associated with the advanced development of the welfare state in Nordic countries.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 G. Tonon, Key Actors in Public Policy-making for Quality of Life, Human WellBeing Research and Policy Making, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90467-8_2

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In the post-Second World War period, there was a growing interest in measuring welfare across countries. Thus, in 1954, a UN expert group referred to the concept of “standard of living”, defining it as the point at which the population’s global needs reached their satisfaction. This was an attempt to integrate economic and sociocultural development indicators. These basic needs were based on biological and psychological considerations. Thus, the report prepared by the UN in 1961 identified 12 components: health, food and nutrition, education, working conditions and employment status, consumption and saving, transportation, housing and clothing, recreation and entertainment, social insurance and human liberties. Finally, and as an evolution of the concept of standard of living, the term “social welfare” began to be employed as an objective concept that encompassed the ideas of distributive justice and equality among the inhabitants of a territory. In 1972, the Institute for Social Research (ISR) of the University of Michigan held a Conference on subjective indicators of quality of life. Different research studies carried out in various geographical contexts were presented at the Conference. One of the most notable studies was that conducted by Campbell, Converse and Rodgers, who defined quality of life as a function that included not only the objective characteristics of a person’s situation, but also his/her expectations and aspirations. On that basis, the authors argued that measures of material welfare were inadequate if they were not supplemented by subjective measures of quality of life, the most eloquent example being the fact that levels of satisfaction might be found to decline even when the country’s GNP was increasing. Similarly, and in tune with this line of thought, in 1974 Easterlin linked the economy with personal well-being and happiness, and noted that the economic prosperity of a country did not necessarily have an impact on the assessment that individuals made of their quality of life. In 1976, Campbell, Converse and Rodgers edited the book The Quality of American Life: Perceptions, Evaluations and Satisfactions, which became a classic in the field. This study was premised on the assumption that relationships between the so-called objective conditions and psychological states were imperfect and that then, in order to know an individual’s experience of his/her quality of life, it was necessary to ask that person to describe how he/she felt. The study had two objectives: to develop a system of the regularities of the interactions between psychological change and social change and to provide a summary of the most common social and economic indicators in order to have a more accurate representation of society. This research was initiated in 1971 by the ISR, with 2164 individuals, who were asked in an initial stage to assess the neighborhood in which they lived, their housing conditions, job, educational level, family, marriage, friends, and their level of satisfaction with life as a whole, including their feelings of happiness/unhappiness. Eight months later, in a second stage, 285 of the respondents were interviewed again in order to assess the stability of the responses to the questions of the first study and thus identify how changes in the individuals’ level of satisfaction were related to changes in objective conditions. The study considered life satisfaction as a whole and included a scale with 17 indicators that made up a quality of life index. The authors pointed out that the assessment that individuals made of their level of satisfaction stemmed from the comparison they made between

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their measure or pattern of assessment and their current situation. Finally, the authors pointed out that, as this was an initial study, they did not recommend its direct use in the implementation of public policy, and instead suggested that this line of research should be further investigated and proposed that policymakers begin to take into account this new type of studies. In 1979, Morris developed a physical quality of life index (PQLI), which examined variations across time in national rates of children’s mortality, life expectancy and adult literacy. These social development indicators focused on nations’ social accomplishments rather than on the nature, extent or amount of resources required to attain those accomplishments. The indicators were chosen on the basis of their relative theoretical independence from economic development measures and their orientation to results. Morris applied the PQLI to 74 nations at different points in time between 1947 and 1973 and provided evidence of the inappropriateness between GNP and PQLI. In addition, Morris showed that such a simplified approach could yield interesting political results to redirect global development assistance resources to nations with the most urgent social needs. Morris did not intend to devise a measure of total welfare, but to construct an index that could complement GNP and offer the possibility of contributing to international development analysis and planning. Over time the PQLI became a forerunner of the human development index annually published by the UN in its human development report. It was not until the 1970s that the concept of quality of life emerged as a re-conceptualized response that considered well-being to be dependent not only on material aspects but also on human values. This gave rise to the movement of the so-called social indicators as an alternative to the predominant system of economic indicators and, although economic indicators are still prominent in studies on population features, the study of quality of life has likewise achieved scientific maturity. Indeed, it has even been considered as a specific area in the field of social sciences (Tonon, 2017, p. 359). In the same decade, Estes devised the so-called “Index of National Social Vulnerability”, which in 1985 became the “Index of Social Progress” (ISP). The ISP measured the adequacy of social provision, that is, the extent to which basic social needs are satisfied in a nation (Estes, 1999, p. 140). Adequacy of social provision refers to the changing capacity of governments to provide for the basic social, material, and other needs of the people living within their borders (Estes, 1984). The index comprised 44 indicators, notably, health, education, women’s status, defense effort, economics, demography, geography, political stability, political participation, cultural diversity and welfare effort. The ISP was used to study 107 countries in the 1969/70 and 1979/80 periods. One of the author’s conclusions was that there were powerful economic and political forces that systematically served either to promote or to hinder social development patterns worldwide. Such forces worked to the advantage of economically advanced nations and functioned as determinants of global social stratification pushing nations into specific social vulnerability zones. In this respect, vulnerability zones remained relatively stable throughout time and reflected the different capacities of nations to attain their development objectives (Estes, 1999, p. 141).

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In 1980 Moix argued that social welfare is built as a social order that promotes the satisfaction of shared individual needs and of pluri-personal needs. It is characterized by the use of quantitative measures aimed at seeking objectivity, the assessment of external reality and by the fact that it starts from minimum assumptions. Thus, by the late 1980s, the difference between quality of life and social welfare was already established; and then, if social welfare represents the objectively observable material conditions of quality of life, it is a concept that is included in quality of life. During 1980–1982, Michalos carried out The North American Social Report that compared quality of life in Canada and in the United States, from 1964 to 1974. The study used 126 social indicators grouped into 12 domains: population structure, death, illness and health, crime and justice, politics and organizations, science and technology, education, recreation, environment and natural resources, transportation. Stock and annual flow indicators were used. A stock indicator is the current quantity of an indicator, while a flow indicator is the current change in the stock. In this way, the general index was calculated by weighting all the indicators equally, each country receiving one point for each indicator in which it obtained a better score than another country (Hagerty et al., 2001, p. 57). In 1985, Mahar Mangahas created the Social Weather Station in the Philippines, an NGO that conducts survey research and keeps a database of Philippine surveys. Its purpose is to generate survey data for social promotion. General surveys were conducted biannually from 1986 to 1990 and quarterly since 1991. Topics include indicators of quality of life, poverty, criminal victimization, satisfaction with government performance, and voting intentions. Over the years, the accuracy of his political predictions has earned the public trust in his polls (Hagerty et al., 2001, p. 58). Along the same lines, Feinstein (1987) argued that quality of life had become an umbrella term for different indexes that varied in accordance with the researcher’s focus of study. Similarly, Dasgupta and Weale (1992) pointed out that quality of life included not only the constituents of well-being (health, social welfare, freedom of choice, basic freedoms) but also its determinants (access to food, clothing, potable water, education, health care, income). We can then state that the fundamental difference between social welfare and quality of life is that the former refers to material factors, while quality of life integrates material aspects with psychological, social and political ones (Tonon, 2017 pp. 359–360). In 1995, the International Society for Quality of Life Studies (ISQOLS) was established for the general purpose of promoting the conduct of quality of life studies worldwide and encouraging interdisciplinary research in the fields of politics, social and behavioral sciences, medicine and other disciplines related to development and the environment. The ISQOLS has become an international forum for researchers from different parts of the world working in the field, with the goal of coordinating their cooperation efforts in order to develop theory, measurement methods and intervention programs to enhance quality of life and have an influence on the policymaking circuit of countries. In 1998, the ISQOLS prepared a document originated in the discussion of pioneering researchers in the field, in which it was

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recognized that quality of life can be measured at both a subjective and an objective level. Worthy of note in the same decade was the work carried out by Casas, who organized in 1997 the Quality of Life Research Institute (Instituto de Investigaciones sobre Calidad de vida—IRQV) at the University of Girona, Spain, with the aim of advancing and developing interdisciplinary research in the field of well-being and quality of life. Casas (1996) argued that quality of life concerned the relationship between a given reality and purposes, and when these purposes were shared collectively, a standardized reference–known as social quality of life–was obtained that was common to a group of persons, one of its exponents being human rights. The author defined quality of life as the notion that gave an entity to the experience that people have of their own way and conditions of life, and where people attach the same or a greater value to that experience than to the material or objective conditions defined as appropriate by experts (Casas, 1996, p. 96). In addition, he noted that quality of life refers to the social perceptions, aspirations, needs, satisfactions and representations that the members of a social body experience in connection with their environment and the social dynamics in which they are immersed, including the services they are provided with and the social interventions of which they are recipients and that emanate from social policies (Casas, 1996, p. 100). In the same decade Cummins organized the Comprehensive Quality of Life Scale (ComQol), which includes measures for seven domains: material well-being, health, productivity, intimacy, safety, community and emotional well-being. Each domain has three objective and two subjective measures, the three objective measures for each domain can be summed, and the domain sums can also be summed to obtain a single measure of objective well-being (Hagerty et al., 2001, p 55). Moving forward into the twenty-first century, Gullone & Cummins et al. (2002) recognized that the effects produced by a change in a person’s life circumstances are perceived differently by the person that has undergone the experience than by those that have been passive observers. And, to the extent that people assess the circumstances in their lives differently, on the basis of their expectations, values and prior experiences, quality of life studies recognize the importance of such differences (Bramston, 2002). Cummins organized The Australian Centre on Quality of Life (ACQol) to study evidence-based measures for quality of life considering that Quality of life is both objective and subjective. Each of these two dimensions comprises several domains which, together, define the total construct. Objective domains are measured through culturally relevant indices of objective wellbeing. Subjective domains are measured through questions of satisfaction (ACQOL, 2017).

In 2001 Cummins organized the International Wellbeing Group (IWG) as an international collaborative network, where members use the Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI). The PWI scale contains seven items of satisfaction, each one corresponding to a quality of life domain as: standard of living, health, achieving in life, relationships, safety, community-connectedness, and future security. These seven domains are theoretically embedded, as representing the first level of deconstruction of the global question: “How satisfied are you with your life as a whole?”. The PWI has

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been adapted and validated with adults, children, and persons with an intellectual or cognitive disability. The International Wellbeing Group is working toward developing the PWI into a valid cross-cultural instrument. At the time of constructing the PWI fifth edition, over 150 researchers from more than 50 countries were engaged in this international collaboration (http://www.acqol.com.au/instruments). I joined the ACQOL in 2002 and since then I have used the PWI in research projects that I have directed at Universidad Nacional de Lomas de Zamora (2004–2007 and 2016–2017). Some doctoral theses that I have directed at Universidad de Palermo have also used the PWI (International Well-Being Group, 2016). In addition, I have translated the PWI into Spanish-Argentine (Tonon & Aguirre, 2009) and PWI-School (Tonon, 2009). Other authors refer to the social dimension of quality of life. This is the case of Ferris, (2006) who points out that quality of life is also conditioned by the social structure considered in terms of demographic characteristics, cultural traits, psychosocial characteristics of the community and of the institutions which develop their action in this context. “Quality of life is the perception each person has of his/her own place in life, within a cultural context and the system of values he/she conforms to, in relation to his/her expectations, interests, and achievements” (Ferris, 2006, quoted in Tonon, 2015, p. 5). One of the experts consulted stated that I intend quality of life in its broader meaning, an umbrella term that includes people’s relationships with themselves, with others and with the surrounding environment. This is necessarily an anthropocentric definition, as I maintain that there is no quality of life without humankind being part of it. Quality of life is a difficult target to achieve: it is a moving target; it is relative in many aspects; it is multi-dimensional and it spans across disciplines. (F)

I have defined Quality of Life as an interdisciplinary concept that offers the possibility of a new theoretical outlook for working on people’s potentialities with a community anchorage that includes the analysis of the socio-political context, and where each person is considered a protagonist. Thus, we can state that quality of life presents a social and political reality that must be necessarily based on an integrated respect for human rights (Tonon, 2003, p. 20). In this connection, in 2004 I organized the “Quality of Life Research Program” in the School of Social Sciences of Universidad Nacional de Lomas de Zamora (UNLZ), Argentina, with the aim of developing studies on children and young people’s quality of life. The Program expanded over the years and in 2011 it became “UNICOM- Institute of Social Studies” of UNLZ, (https://www.sociales.unlz.edu.ar/index.php/programa-deinvestigacion-en-quality-of-life-childhood-and-youth/). The Program features a “Post-Doctoral Degree in Quality of Life”. At the same time, in 2009, I lectured a postgraduate course in “Research on quality of life”, which is part of the PhD program in Psychology at Universidad de Palermo, Argentina. Later, in 2016, I set up a course in “Quality of life and the wellbeing of nations” as part of the Master’s Program in Social Sciences at the same university https://www.palermo.edu/cienciassociales/maestria-ciencias-sociales/. In 2018, I set up and lectured the first online course in “Quality of life and Happiness:

2.2 Public Policy: Evolution of the Concept throughout the Times and the Role. . .

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building better societies” which can be taken by students of all the programs offered at Universidad de Palermo. Finally, the university asked me to organize two online courses in English and I thus designed the courses “The Path to Happiness and Good Quality of Life” and “Quality of Life and Public Policies”. Since the concept of quality of life was adopted in a systematic way in the 1970s, it has been subject to changes and redefinitions, while maintaining its relationship with the notion of good living. Today there is consensus among the scientific community that quality of life involves both an objective and a subjective assessment of people’s lives (Tonon, 2017, p. 358). It has now become clear that quality of life is a multidimensional concept that comprises a number of dimensions that people evaluate differently according to the importance they attach to each dimension in their lives. The concept integrates a quantitative-objective approach (what people have and can be observed directly) and a qualitative-subjective approach (what people feel/perceive and can be observed indirectly).

2.2 2.2.1

Public Policy: Evolution of the Concept throughout the Times and the Role of the Actors The Genealogy of the Concept

Public policy may be defined as the response governments give to problems as they arise. The conception of public policy has seen an evolution in the past few years, from the traditional perspective according to which decisions flowed from the top downwards—with the designs dominating and determining the results—to the inclusion of the influence of other actors different from the government in the definition of problems and the formulation of alternatives (Iguiñiz Echeverrìa & Tonon de Toscano, 2014, p. 303). Two approaches have been traditionally identified in policymaking: the so-called top-down and bottom-up approaches. Under the top-down approach, policies are viewed as governmental action programs targeted at a specific sector of society, with the action oriented to a public concern having a strictly institutional origin. Experts and policymakers have a central role, based on the assumption that policies arise from the technical, legal and administrative performance of bureaucracies and that the relevant program is a consumption product for a passive or acquiescent society (Canto Chac, 2008, p. 14). In contrast, the bottom-up approach originates in the population’s social demands, which prompt the government to act as result of pressure from the relevant groups and in response to such demands. As early as in the 1970s Oszlak and O’Donnell (1976, p. 21) had already defined public policies as “a set of actions-omissions which reveal a certain form of state intervention regarding an issue that may claim the attention, interest, or mobilization of other civil society actors”. The authors further noted that this process included successive and simultaneous decisions adopted by different governmental

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bodies, thus ensuring that the position adopted would not necessarily be univocal, homogeneous, or permanent. Public policy studies have foregrounded the importance of state institutions as organizations through which public agents pursue goals that are not exclusively responses to social demands; it is in this sense that public policies become a means to describe institutional behavior (Meny & Thoening, 1992, p. 35). However, at the same time, policies are the governmental device “through which the governmental machinery is set in motion at a given speed” (Medellìn Torres, 2004, p. 16). According to Bonetti (2017, p. 13) public policies “are actions that emerge from the social context, but which enter the sphere of the state in the form of a decision of public intervention in a specific social reality, whether it is to make an investment or to merely issue administrative regulations”. Knoepfel, Larrue, Varone & Hinojosa (2007, p. 12) define public policy as: “a concatenation of intentionally coherent decisions or actions adopted by different actors, both public and occasionally private–with varying resources, institutional links and interests–in order to provide a specific solution to a problem politically defined as collective”. A policy is not independent from the place and circumstances in which it is implemented and, as such, it is contingent on the characteristics of the historical time in which it is adopted. In the past few decades, three levels have been found to interact in a policy decision: the global international, the national and the local level (Bonetti, 2017). Policies are contingent responses, and what might work in one country at a given time might not be effective elsewhere at a different time (Scartascini, Spiller, Stein and Tommasi, 2011, p. 9). While a policy is carried out in a formal delimited space, there are also “areas of uncertainty”, defined by Knoepfel et al. (2007, p. 13 quoting Crozier, 1965) as spaces inherent in the internal operation of political-administrative organizations, in formal rules and social norms, which are identified by actors in order to advance their own values, ideas and interests. Such areas become particularly relevant in times of crisis, as there are no prior procedure manuals showing actors how to operate. Any quality public policy must include orientations or contents, instruments or mechanisms, institutional definitions or modifications, as well as a forecast of their outcomes (Lahera, 2004, p. 8). Public policy as a state action is aimed at transforming reality from a future-looking perspective (Bonetti, 2017). In countries with stable public policies, changes tend to be gradual, they consolidate the achievements of prior administrations and tend to be made by consensus (Scartascini et al. (2011). Along the same lines, it is important to reflect on the credibility of policies. In this respect, Scartascini, Spieller, Stein and Tomassi (2011, pp. 10–13) have identified five different features, namely: policy stability, policy adaptability, quality of implementation and enforcement, coordination and coherence, and orientation toward public interest. Policy stability does not mean that policies cannot change, but instead that changes should respond to changing conditions or to the failure of previous policies, instead of changes of administration or in the government party. Policy adaptability requires countries to be able to adjust their policies to changing conditions, or to the failure of current policies, although on some occasions

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governments abuse this discretion and adopt opportunistic unilateral policies, which are closer to their own preferences or to those of their voters than to changing conditions. Quality of implementation and enforcement shows that a given policy might be well designed and still be ineffective if it is not properly implemented and enforced. This evidences that quality of implementation and enforcement is contingent on the extent to which politicians have incentives and resources to invest in their own capacities. The coordination and coherence of a policy implies that the different agents acting in the policymaking process must coordinate their actions, as the lack of coordination would be reflective of the uncooperative nature of political interactions. The orientation of a policy toward public interest refers to the extent to which policies promote general welfare in terms of public goods and do not tend to channel private benefits for certain groups. Public policies, however, have not always been aimed at satisfying the population’s needs, as sometimes a false need is created in order to serve the private interests of different economic, professional and/or political groups, among others. Additionally, as argued by Bonetti (2017, p. 27) public policies can also be aimed at maintaining the dominant group in power, strengthening regional elites as a strategy to bolster the national dominant group. It is worth mentioning that governments’ responses to the population’s needs usually depend on the pressure exerted on them; it is here where political rights afford individuals the opportunity to bring attention to their needs and demand the implementation of measures. This is what Sen (2000, p. 189) calls the instrumental part of democracy. Likewise, Drèze and Sen (1995) have pointed out that the relationship between individuals’ freedom and the set of activities involved in the exercise of public policies includes the process whereby such policies are decided and the degree of freedom existing in that exercise. Although traditional public policies have been designed in terms of the satisfaction of social or collective rights–as an external activity provided by the state–a change of focus has recently been advocated in favor of an approach based on human rights. This shift seeks to build a reflective capacity for the development of a type of citizenship that recognizes not only its political dimension but also its socio-cultural one. In other words, a trend has emerged to promote a public policymaking process characterized by an interaction between its different phases and the possibility of a permanent adjustment between its decisions and actions with the purpose of enhancing results (INDES, 2006).

2.2.2

The Actors in the Public Policy Field

Public policies are not merely the objects of choice of a social planner attempting to maximize the well-being of the population, but they emerge from a decision-making process involving a multiplicity of political actors that interact in a variety of scenarios (Scartascini et al., 2011, p. 2).

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In 1986 Mayntz pointed to the importance of the role played by the actors in the public policy circuit and highlighted the significance of considering the ideological orientation of policymakers, their political party affiliation and their social origin. The author further recognized the importance of the actions of the so-called collective actors, who are characterized by their development of informal practices related to their identification as a group and by their interest in their own survival, growth and expansion (Mayntz, 1986, p. 19). In the public policy circuit, the state has traditionally been an agent of organization and institutionalization, based on the establishment of rules and decisions originated in the public debate between the different agents and their demands or interests (Bonetti, 2017, p. 13). However, the twenty-first century has witnessed innovative public policy proposals based on human rights, which allow for the possibility of a permanent interaction and adjustment in accordance with the situations and contexts in which individuals live (Tonon, 2012). It should not be assumed that policy formulation can only be conceived in terms of a determination grounded in the law, as if the state were a neutral institution. Indeed, this approach denies the possibility of the emergence of conflicting dynamics, which entail a balance of forces between the interests of different social groups (Bonetti, 2017, p. 10). The genesis of public policy lies in the social debate between the different agents, such as social classes, political parties, social movements and individual interests (Bonetti, 2017, p. 29). Actors interacting in the public policy cycle usually have a formal character. However, other actors may also be involved that emerge in specific situations arising in social reality. This means that some actors may appear unexpectedly. In this connection, Bonetti (2017, pp. 40–41) identifies two types of agents: international elites on the one hand and civil society organizations and social movements on the other, the latter having acquired a leading role, especially in Latin America. Stein & Tomassi (2006, p. 400) identify the following actors in the public policy circuit: on the one hand, the president, Congress, political parties, the Judiciary, the cabinet and regional governments and, on the other, civil society, comprised by businesses, labor unions, the Church (and other religious groups), the media, research centers and social mobilizations. Below we describe the most relevant features of each of these actors. The president has institutional and partisan powers. He/She can issue decrees when the need arises and appoint public officers. Despite the fact that a president faces restrictions, the office of the president enjoys what has been characterized as “institutional charisma”— a sort of influence originated in the perception that others have of this office and which often affords the president a broader scope of action, especially in times of crisis (Stein & Tommasi, 2006, p. 403).

Political parties also have a significant role in public policy design, whether or not they are in government. Legislative bodies are actors that can supervise the policy cycle or simply operate as a mechanism of approval of policies. They can also hinder legislative proposals or take part in the reformulation or amendment of bills introduced by the Executive. In this connection, Stein and Tommasi point out that:

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The nature of the role of legislative bodies is shaped in part by their capacities, including the experience and credentials of lawmakers, the strength and specialization of the committees and the availability of a professional support staff and research units (Stein & Tommasi, 2006, p. 405).

In the late twentieth century a new actor emerged in the landscape of the policy cycle. We refer to social movements, which have surged in response to the general perception that public policies do not respond to citizens’ needs. In this respect, Santos (2001, p. 181) points out that the distinguishing feature of the new social movements is not their rejection of politics but, quite on the contrary, their expansion of politics beyond the distinction between state and civil society. At the same time, social mobilizations manifest themselves in concrete and critical social situations; however, in reality, they originate in structural conditions such as poverty, unemployment and corruption. Such conditions act as catalysts through which social leaders mobilize the population into the streets (Stein & Tommasi, 2006, p. 409). In addition, it is worth mentioning that a public policy decision will benefit certain actors while it will adversely affect others. Public policy studies have foregrounded the importance of state institutions as organizations through which public agents pursue goals that are not exclusively responses to social demands. It is in this sense that public policies describe institutional behavior (Meny & Thoening, 1992, p. 35). One of the experts consulted stated in this respect: Public policies depend on agreements and consensus at the level of the institutions or agencies involved. Decisions about the public policies to follow are often limited by dissent, political confrontations or corruption agents. Finally, public policies often hit some interests; public or private actors could be damaged or displaced from business. Experience shows that these sectors end up confronting or even preventing the deployment of planned public policies. Other times, they don't find the necessary balance between needs and resources. (FL)

Finally, we may state that the capacity of political actors to cooperate over time is a key factor impacting on the quality of public policies (Stein & Tommasi, 2006). Thus, better policies are more likely to be implemented if the actors cooperate with each other and sustain their interactions over time, as this allows current governments to make progress based on the achievements of prior governments. The continuous dialog between actors has tended to ensure sustainability in the achievement of results, and, in this sense, public deliberation is considered as an essential element of the public policy process (Iguiñiz Echeverrìa & Tonon de Toscano, 2014, p. 303).

2.3

Conclusions

The concept of quality of life underwent significant changes until it was finally defined in the last decade of the past century as we know it today, that is, as a re-conceptualized response that considers well-being to be dependent not only on

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material aspects but also on human values, thus prompting the use of the so-called social indicators as an alternative to the prevalent system of economic indicators (Tonon, 2008, p. 25). As pointed out by Michalos, the concept of quality of life has been used in two different senses, the descriptive and the evaluative one, and both senses are important. “Today nearly everyone agrees that both kinds of measures should be used, although there is no agreement on exactly which and in what proportion” (Michalos, 2006, p. 347). Public policies are responses given by governments to the population’s problems. However, they are not independent of the place and circumstances and the historical time in which they are implemented. In this sense, public policies are contingent responses, so what could work in one country at a given time might not work in another country at a different time. In this respect, following Inoguchi (2021), we can point out that Quality of Life studies have become one of the fashionable areas of study. To encourage more policy makers and business executives to make such theory and methodology be profitably used in government and business to consolidate labor productivity, the use of excellent virtual lectures should be made available to world citizens. (TI)

Current studies on quality of life include data that integrates social and environmental indicators from economic reports of countries and that allows building a holistic view that can prove useful for public policy decision making. As stated by Ferris (2006, p. 364) “Quality of life study arose within the movement to advance the use of social indicators in research and in informing public policy”.

References Australian Centre on Quality of Life. (2017). What is quality of life? Deakin University. Bonetti, L. (2017). Polìticas pùblicas por dentro. San Pablo. Bramston, P. (2002). Subjective quality of life: The affective dimension. In E. Gullone & R. A. Cummins (Eds.), The universality of subjective wellbeing indicators. Social indicators research series (Vol. 16). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0271-4_4 Campbell, A., Converse, P., & Rodgers, E. (1976). The quality of American life: Perceptions, evaluations and satisfactions. Russel Sage Foundation. Canto Chac, M. (2008). Gobernanza y participación ciudadana en las políticas públicas frente al reto del desarrollo. Política y Cultura, otoño 2008, núm. 24, pp. 9–37. Casas, F. (1996). Bienestar social. Una introducción psicosociológica. PPU. Crozier, M. (1965). Le phénomène bureaucratique. Seuil. Cummins, R., Gullone, E., & y Lau, A. (2002). “The universality of subjective Well-being indicators”. En social indicators research (Vol. 16). Kluwer Academic Publishers. Dasgupta, P., & Weale, M. (1992). On measuring quality of life. World Development, 20(1), 119–131. Drèze, J., & Sen, A. (1995). India. Economic development and social opportunity. Oxford University Press. Estes, R. J. (1984). The social Progress of nations. Praeger.

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Estes, R. (1999). “Hacia un índice de calidad de vida: enfoques empíricos para la evaluación del bienestar humano a nivel internacional” En Klisberg, B (comp) Pobreza: un tema impostergable. CLAD-Fondo de Cultura Económica. pp. 131–148. Feinstein, A. (1987). Clinimetric perspectives. Journal of Chronic Diseases, 40, 635–640. Ferris, A. (2006). A theory of social structure and the quality of life. ARQOL, 1(1), 117–123. Hagerty, M., Cummins, R., Ferriss, A., Land, K., Michalos, A., Peterson, M., Sharpe, A., Sirgy, M. J., & Vogel, J. (2001). Quality of life indexes for National Policy: Review and agenda for research. Social Indicators Research, 55, 1–96. Iguiñiz Echeverrìa, J., & Tonon de Toscano, G. (2014). Polìticas pùblicas y libertad. In M. En Nebel, P. Flores-Crespo, & M. T. Herra (Eds.), Desarrollo como libertad en Amèrica Latina. Fudamentos y aplicaciones (pp. 297–305). Universidad Iberoamericana. INDES. (2006). Documento de trabajo Medición del desarrollo y políticas públicas. BID. International Well-being Group. (2016). Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI). https://www.acqol.com. au/uploads/pwi-a/pwi-a-english.pdf Knoepfel, P., Larrue, C., Varone, F., & Hinojosa, M. (2007). Hacia un modelo de análisis de políticas públicas operativo. Un enfoque basado en los actores, sus recursos y las instituciones. Ciencia Política n 3 enero-junio 2007. págs. 6–29. Lahera, P. (2004). Polìticas y polìticas pùblicas. Serie Polìticas Sociales 95. Divisiòn de desarrollo social. CEPAL-ONU. Mayntz, R. (1986). Corporate actors in public policy: Changing perspectives in policy analysis. Norsk Statsvitenskapelig Tidsskrift, 2(3), 7–25. Medellìn Torres, P. (2004). La política de las políticas públicas: propuesta teórica y metodológica para el estudio de las políticas públicas en países de frágil institucionalidad. CEPAL. Meny, I., & Thoening, J. C. (1992). Las polìticas pùblicas. Editorial Ariel. Michalos, A. (2006). Conceptual and philosophical foundations. In M. J. En Sirgy, A. Michalos, A. Ferriss, R. Easterlin, D. Patrick, & W. Pavot (Eds.), The quality-of-life (QOL) research movement: Past, present, and future. Social indicators research (Vol. 76, pp. 343–463). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-005-2877-8 Moix, M. (1980). El bienestar social: ¿mito o realidad? Almena. Morris, D. (1979). Measuring the condition of the world’s poor: The physical quality of life index. Pergamon. Oszlak, O & O’Donnell, G. (1976). Estado y políticas estatales en América Latina.: hacia una estrategiande investigación. Documento CEDES/G. E. CLACSO 4. Buenos Aires. Pigou, A. (1932). The economics of welfare. Macmillan. Santos, B.S. (2001). Los nuevos movimientos sociales. Observatorio Social de Amèrica Latina (OSAL) N ª 5. septiembre. pp 177–184. https://eg.uc.pt/bitstream/10316/44128/1/Los%20 nuevos%20movimientos%20sociales.pdf Scartascini, C., Spiller, P., Stein, E., & y Tommasi, M. (2011). El juego político en América Latina: ¿Cómo se deciden las políticas públicas? Colombia. Sen, A. (2000). Desarrollo y libertad. Bogotà. Editorial Planeta. Stein, E., & Tommasi, M. (2006). La política de las políticas públicas, Polìtica y gobierno, XIII(2) II Semestre, 393–416. Tonon, G. (2003). Calidad de vida y desgaste profesional: una mirada del síndrome de burnout. Buenos Aires. Espacio Editorial. Tonon, G. (2008) Los estudios sobre Calidad de Vida en la Aldea Global, en América Latina y en Argentina. Revisión conceptual, avances y desafíos. en: Lucero, P. (editora), Territorio y Calidad de Vida, una mirada desde la Geografía Local, Mar del Plata. EUDEM. pp 25–40. Tonon, G. (2009) Personal well-being index (PWI school). Argentina translation. https://www. acqol.com.au/uploads/pwi-sc/pwi-sc-argentina.pdf

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Tonon, G. (2012). Las relaciones universidad-comunidad: un espacio de reconfiguración de lo público. Polis, 32. https://doi.org/10.4000/polis.6691 Tonon, G. (Ed.). (2015). Qualitative studies in quality of life methodology and practice. Social Indicators Research Series (Vol. 55). Springer. Tonon, G. (2017). Estudiar la calidad de vida de niñas, niños y jóvenes desde una mirada cualitativa. In L. En Mantilla, A. Stolkiner, & M. Minicelli (Eds.), Biopolitica e infancia, niñas, niños e instituciones en el contexto latinoamericano (pp. 357–368). Universidad de Guadalajara. Tonon, G. & Aguirre, V. (2009). Personal wellbeing index (PWI). Argentina Translation. https:// www.acqol.com.au/uploads/pwi-a/pwi-aspanish-argentina.pdf

Websites Australian Center on Quality of Life. http://www.acqol.com.au/instruments

Chapter 3

The Production of Quality of Life Knowledge

Abstract This chapter explores the process of transmission of quality of life research results to the field of public policy and looks in particular at one of its stages: the production of knowledge. It analyses the process of construction of knowledge and the characteristics of the academic field, recognizing the difference between what scientists and policy makers consider to be knowledge. In addition, the chapter discusses the importance of creating international research networks as an opportunity for researchers to work jointly and show their research results, particularly in light of the exceptional circumstances arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic. The chapter presents three cases: the experience of a university professor holding a political office; the creation of an international research network; and an analysis of the opinions of university students who attended a course in quality of life and happiness for the construction of better societies concerning the relationship between quality of life and public policies. Likewise, the chapter addresses the possible ways in which research results may be reflected in the policy making arena and explores the need to identify the obstacles and facilitators in this process. Keywords Production of knowledge · Academic field · International research network

3.1 3.1.1

The Characteristics of the Process of Production of Quality of Life Research Results The Process of Knowledge Production

If we look back, we can see that knowledge has been the unique claim of higher education (Marginson, 2011), with universities being the institutions that transmit, study and create knowledge. Traditionally, knowledge has been seen as a matter of rational, cognitive, and technical procedures undertaken by scientists and unrelated to culture (Knorr Cetina, 2005, p. 66). And although science has traditionally been regarded as inner directed, it is now increasingly interwoven with society, because research is becoming more contextualized (Bleiklie, 2005). © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 G. Tonon, Key Actors in Public Policy-making for Quality of Life, Human WellBeing Research and Policy Making, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90467-8_3

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If we analyze the concept of knowledge, we can identify two definitions: practical/utility-oriented knowledge—usually called knowledge as outcome—and knowledge as a procedure (Knorr Cetina, 1999). In the 90s, Gibbons et al. (1994) pointed in their book entitled The New Production of Knowledge of to the emergence of a new form of knowledge, conformed by a distinct set of cognitive and social practices, entitled Mode 2. They argued that this new type of knowledge was characterized by being carried out in a context of application and by being transdisciplinary, heterogeneous, heterarchical and transient (Gibbons et al., 1994, p. 3). Their work was commissioned by the Swedish Council for Research and Planning to get a view on the future of universities and the main conclusion of the study was the emergence of a socially distributed knowledge production system. As the book was the subject of extensive commentary, both for and against, the authors continued studying the topic and later, in 2001, Nowotny, Scott & Gibbons published a second book: Re-thinking Science: Knowledge and the Public in an Age of Uncertainty. In this new text, the authors supported their proposal with the sociological concepts of the knowledge society and the risk society, and they also referred to new scientific practices introducing the concept of ‘contextualized science’, which basically means that society now “speaks back to science” (Nowotny, Scott & Gibbons, 2001, p. 50). Mode 2 knowledge is generated in a context of application that implies a transfer of knowledge; it is transdisciplinary as it is produced in a variety of organizations linked through communication networks and research is conducted in mutual interaction. Another feature is its reflexivity, as it involves a rather dialogic process which has the capacity to incorporate multiple views, and it presents a form of quality control that is not only limited to the judgement of disciplinary peers. However, this does not imply that Mode 2 research is generally of a lower standard (Hessels & van Lente, 2008, p. 742). This new proposal for the production of knowledge gave rise to other approaches, among which we will mention the so-called strategic research and post-normal science, since they are more closely related to the purpose of this book. The notion of strategic research was mainly used for descriptive purposes, often translated into policy goals in a prescriptive way. The term was first defined by Irvine and Martin (1984) as basic research expected to produce a broad base of knowledge for the solution of current and future practical problems (Hessels & van Lente, 2008, p. 743). With respect to post-normal science, it is a prescriptive approach, first proposed by Funtowicz and Ravetz (1993), which has led to the development of an extended peer community, consisting of all those with a stake in the dialogue on the issue (Funtowicz & Ravetz, 1993, p. 739). The concept originates from policy-relevant science fields and starts from an acknowledgement of the limitations of rational decision-making with the idea of supporting policy makers and giving a preponderant role to public participation (Hessels & van Lente, 2008, p. 745). It is thus important to notice that post-normal science is only relevant for policy-supporting research; it does not deal with the university–industry interactions (Hessels & van

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Lente, 2008). Finally, as explained by Funtowicz and Ravetz (1993, p. 739), postnormal science can provide a path to the democratization of science, and also a response to the current tendencies of post-modernity. In the same decade, Bleiklie (2005), in referring to the two types of knowledge, explained that knowledge as outcome comprises practical knowledge and utilityoriented knowledge, and that knowledge as a procedure is a set of cultural activities or a specific procedure like in traditional definitions of scientific method. The author added that “. . . the extended concept of knowledge means that we are facing a new ideological climate that moves the emphasis in knowledge production from procedure to outcome” (Bleiklie, 2005, p. 46). Later, Bleiklie and Byrkjeflot (2002) proposed a third type of knowledge called ethic-oriented conception, focusing on risk and protection of human rights. In this way, the discussion about knowledge production, when it comes to knowledge application, turns on the relationship between ethics and utility (Bleiklie & Byrkjeflot, 2002, p. 528). In this connection, one of the experts consulted pointed out: An additional characteristic in producing QoL research results is ethics considerations and engaging key stakeholders: to engage with children on QoL. Within South Africa, accessing children requires active consent by parent/guardian and children themselves; awareness and upholding ethics in research principles of the institution one presents and children’s rights emphasising the UNCRC and other UNICEF guidelines. Capacity development and training among emerging researchers is crucial to the research process and producing robust, rigorous, and quality data on QoL. For example, in working with children in exploring various aspects of their QoL, it is crucial to train emerging and early-career researchers about the contextual realities of children’s lives, but also on how to engage with children, whether using qualitative or quantitative approaches. Crucial to working with children is rapportbuilding, as the quality of data is dependent on the rapport built, including ethics principles to maintain and the importance of researcher ethics. Given the high levels of crimes and violence against children in South Africa it is essential for the researcher to receive training in and be prepared for participants potentially disclosing information about experiences of domestic or sexual violence, and how to navigate this in a group setting, if for example using focus group interviews or during survey administration. This practical experience in working with children is key in producing QoL research results. (S).

In the case of Social Sciences, Keim (2014) described the importance of the circulation of knowledge and noted that it is not possible to “imagine social science knowledge production to happen in closed uncommunicated places; it is always a collective endeavour and thus necessarily includes exchange between individual researchers” (Keim, 2014, p. 3). The author proposes an analytical distinction between centers and peripheries in the international social sciences field, considering three dimensions of analysis: the dimension of material and institutional infrastructures, which shows the difference between developed and underdeveloped social sciences; the dimension of conditions of existence and reproduction, which allows distinguishing between autonomous and dependent social sciences; and the dimension of international recognition and prestige, which leads to the difference between central and marginal social sciences. The author argued that the three dimensions affect the circulation of knowledge between places that occupy unequal positions within the international social sciences (Keim, 2014, p. 6).

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In addition, it is necessary to consider the interests of the actors involved in the knowledge production process—researchers, students, opinion leaders, politicians, etc.—and the relationships that arise between them, producing different types of alliances. These are the driving forces behind the development of the process of knowledge production (Bleiklie & Byrkjeflot, 2002, p. 528). With reference to the actors, Keim (2014, p. 14) proposes a negotiation between theory and practice, and argues that to speak about theory and practice takes up rather common sense notions of what is done inside and outside of academia, and what is negotiated is the practical, social, economic or political relevance of social science production on the one hand, and the implications of social experiences on the ground for theorizing on the other hand. Negotiating theory and practice means that academics must take responsibility for the results they bring to public debates, since these can serve as a guide for social action or produce decisions in relation to social action; meanwhile, the experience and knowledge of non-academic actors and their responses to the theorizing of social sciences functions as a reality check for the theories held by academics (Keim, 2014, p. 15). Dr. Adams reflects on the researcher’s pedagogical and theoretical approach and proposes the use of emancipatory pedagogy, on the basis that capacitating emerging researchers contributes to students’ successful and sustainable career trajectory. Paulo Freire, a Brazilian pedagogue, enunciated the emancipatory pedagogy approach in the 70s. For Freire (1970–2005), emancipatory pedagogy considers people as historical beings, in relation to the world, which constitutes the situation in which they are immersed and which challenges rather than limits them. That search cannot be carried out in an individual and isolated form, but must be done in solidarity with others. The emancipatory pedagogical process entails the oppressed reflecting upon, and sharing, emancipatory knowledge in a way that not only deposits information but provokes acts of cognition and action (Young, 2018 p. 4, quoting Freire, 2000). A researcher’s pedagogical and theoretical approach are crucial in the process of capacitating emerging researchers on QoL research. Emancipatory pedagogy is crucial in this regard, to teaching, training, and is aligned to researcher ethics. It advances a commitment to social justice and redress, which is particularly relevant within the South African context, notes the value of knowledge products, and aims to enhance scientific research. This contextual awareness aligns to the key principles of this pedagogical approach, namely that education: broadens the students’ view of reality; is transformative; is political; is empowering; and is based on true dialogue. Similarly, the politics of knowledge are imperative to take into account, as education is not neutral. Essentially, the purpose of capacitating emerging researchers contributing to students’ successful, sustainable career trajectory and improved QoL. The mode of knowledge production and dissemination are important in this regard, including science engagement and communication strategies employed toward policydriven and practical change—with the aim of contributing to the ‘bigger picture’ and ‘social good’. Similarly important is liaising with key stakeholders, education departments, schools, parent/guardian, and children themselves. (S).

The context and the culture are also worthy of consideration. In this respect, Knorr Cetina (2005) proposes the concept of epistemic cultures, considering these as the

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cultures of knowledge settings. The author recognized that the process of construction of knowledge is social and symbolic as well as technical, and pointed out that the notion of epistemic culture refers to “the sets of practices, arrangements and mechanisms bound together by necessity, affinity and historical coincidence that, in a given area of professional expertise, make up how we know what we know” (Knorr Cetina, 2005, p. 67). At the same time, Knorr Cetina (2005, p. 68) understands epistemic cultures as a nexus of “lifeworld’s—contexts of existence that include material objects—and lifeworld processes rather than as practice per se”. In referring to the process of production of quality of life knowledge, one of the experts stated that: The production of quality of life (QoL) knowledge and results, is premised on a strong foundation of the conceptual, theoretical, and empirical debates that exist in the field. In order to contribute to QoL research results, being embedded within the literature, and also having first-hand experience within the field with grassroots communities and a contextual understanding is crucial. The key role players in this regard are senior research mentors and supervisors, emerging researchers/postgraduate students, and the participants. When we consider the process of producing and disseminating QoL research results it essentially involves two overarching components, namely the academic sphere, which encompasses the research process and contextual situatedness, and science engagement, which is contributing to audiences beyond academia in modes other than scientific publications. Higher education institutions are a fertile ground for training and capacitating university students and emerging researchers on the research and knowledge production process, and engaging in QoL research dissemination. Academics, researchers, and postgraduate students are the producers of knowledge and addresses capacity development as ‘third mission’ of universities.(S)

The third mission of the universities is a concept defined as the extensive array of activities performed by higher education institutions which seek to transfer knowledge to society in general and to organizations, as well as to promote entrepreneurial skills, innovation, social welfare and the formation of human capital (Compagnucci & Spigarelli, 2020, p. 1)

These activities are classified into teaching, research and participation of the university in the community life. The societal dimension of the third mission includes contracts with public bodies, participation in policy making, involvement in social and cultural life, and public understanding of science (Compagnucci & Spigarelli, 2020, p. 17). In this line, universities can contribute to the social, economic and cultural development of the regions in which they operate (Agasisti et al., 2019). A proper alignment between the three dimensions is critical for universities, policy makers and society (Compagnucci & Spigarelli, 2020, p. 16). Indeed the knowledge production process has seen a shift in the past few decades, from a basic and disciplinary research mode in which the researcher defines the research problem, directs the research process and communicates findings to the public through scientific publication, to a model in which the research problem may be defined by wider teams of people and where the customer or end-user takes part in the definition of the research problem, monitors and takes part in the research process and may influence when and how the results are communicated (Bleiklie, 2005, P. 48).

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3.1.2

Quality of Life Knowledge Production

In order to discuss the characteristics of the quality of life knowledge production process, we consulted academic experts in knowledge production processes and university leadership. The experts all agree that the production of knowledge in the field of quality of life is a dynamic process, in which a variety of methods and techniques are used: quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods, as well as different research techniques. It is a very dynamic field. Some of the knowledge that is created is from being able to capture data that is already there (existing data-bases, artefacts, ongoing projects). Some of the other knowledge needs to be collected in interaction with others—to really get insights into the dynamics that influence quality of life (interviews, focus groups, observation). (I) We can produce quality of life knowledge via systematic and rigorous research, including quantitative research (e.g., survey of happiness in young people), qualitative research (e.g., case study of the personal journeys of people suffering from depression) and mixed-methods research (e.g., qualitative interviews of the subjective quality of life in substance abusers followed by a large-scale survey). (D) Another characteristic in producing QoL research results is engaging in data management and analysis. Within South Africa, there is a stark dearth research on children’s perspectives of QoL. Training in the management of data is crucial in this regard in order to present accurate QoL research results. This requires substantial investment in working with and becoming familiar with the data. For example, when training emerging researchers in managing QoL data in the South African context it requires capacitating them in both qualitative and quantitative data management and analysis. These skills are especially relevant given the emerging research base developing in this context forming part of multinational studies on children’s well-being (Children’s Worlds Survey and the Children’s Understanding of Well-Being Study). Essentially, this entails digital, statistical, and data literacies. Noting the high levels of poverty and inequality in South Africa and other low-tomiddle income countries, which has been further highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic, developing this capacity has been compounded by distance learning and inequities in access to necessary software. Making sense of this data necessitates a comprehensive understanding and knowledge about the broader country and research context and situated realities of children’s lives. (S)

One of the experts points out that the production of knowledge in the field of quality of life is characterized by being linked to the context; therefore, changes take place as to the time and space in which it develops. It varies over time and it is often specific to a context or country or region (I)

Another of the experts referred to situated knowledge, a concept defined by Haraway (1988) that recognizes the importance of local and specific knowledge in each particular situation. For Haraway (1988, p. 590), “situated knowledge is about communities not about isolated individuals”. In discussing situated knowledge, Gherardi (2006, p. 521) notes that situated has a multiplicity of meanings: situated in the body, recognizing that the body is sexed; situated in the dynamics of interactions; situated in language, recognizing that expressions change their meaning according to the subject who utters them and the context in which they are used; and

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situated in a physical context, since space is not an empty container for situations, nor is it a passive receptacle for the organized activities of actors-in-situation. Considering knowledge production in relation to QoL empirical research in South Africa necessitates an emphasis on the effect of the quality of academic human capital on economic growth. In the South African context economic growth cannot be considered without considering inequality, poverty, and social exclusion. The access to the means of knowledge production should be grounded in the “scant consideration towards existing indigenous epistemologies” (du Plessis, 2017, p. 1). Thus, the quality of human capital can be improved by a training on specific skills and life-education, and involvement in research activities (engagement with the literature; learning new methods, and producing research outputs). Contemporary higher education in South Africa has challenges and concerns, with key considerations including: historical oppression that is experienced inter-generationally, language, prior learning, understanding student learning needs, student’s contexts, social support, transport, lack of resources and access to basic needs, and students ‘situated knowledges’(S)

In addition, the experts identified the relevance of the different cultures in knowledge production processes throughout the centuries, with each particular culture having its own conception of quality of life. In this respect, Sotolongo Codina and Delgado Diaz (2006) point to the importance of dialogue between different cultures and their different knowledge. The authors note that in some of the non-Western cultures, holistic and transdisciplinary understanding, non-linear interactions and networks have been maintained (Sotolongo Codina & Delgado Diaz, 2006, p. 71). It can be achieved via two ways. First, indigenous culture in different societal contexts generates knowledge about quality of life. For example, in the traditional Chinese culture, it is strongly emphasized that “abundance in clothes and adequate food” is the basis of a good life. Different notions of good quality of life can also be seen in different social philosophies such as Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. (D) Within the South African context knowledge production is fundamentally linked to the socio-political—evidenced in the history of oppression, disenfranchisement, and segregation owing to apartheid the enforced inferior system of ‘Bantu’ education for ‘Black’ people (term that refers to all those population groups, namely Black African, Coloured, and Indian who were disenfranchised during the racist regime of apartheid in South Africa; used by the interviewee for descriptive purposes and does not imply endorsement of race categories). This resulted in ‘epistemological deprivation’ (Morrow, 2007), whereby the majority of the population who was deprived of fair opportunities to access knowledge still experience the corollaries thereof. Furthermore, the scientific arena and types of knowledges and results that were reported on in national research only included one population group that oppressed the masses. The history of what was considered ‘scientific knowledge’ was premised on Western values and was science that served to uphold the subjugation that institutionalised racism enforced on ‘Black’ people. This is crucial to highlight given the activism against apartheid from the educational, political, and social spheres. For this reason, we cannot consider the production of QoL in South Africa without acknowledging and contributing to social justice and redress, transformation, and evidence-based policy decisions (S).

In referring to the characteristics of the process of production of quality of life research results, the first of the experts mentions the possibility of using different methods (both quantitative and qualitative), and makes reference to their usefulness in this field:

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3 The Production of Quality of Life Knowledge It is a field that easily uses both quantitative and qualitative data in order for it to be really useful.(I)

The second expert highlights the importance of carrying out quality research, using rigorous methodologies for collecting information, as well as indicators based on interdisciplinary, multi-agency, and service cross-cutting criteria, so that researchers can turn subjects’ perceptions into evidence that can be used by policy-makers. It is therefore crucial to convey relevant research results to influence the development of policy, allocation of resources, services, and advancing public awareness in terms of children’s needs and contextual circumstances. Further, this enables the evaluation of policies, services, and programmes for children. Social policy is particularly important for children as it impacts their overall well-being and QoL life trajectory that is largely determined during childhood (Ben-Arieh et al., 2014). The development of child QoL indicators should be ‘interdisciplinary, multi-agency, and service cross-cutting’ to be most effective. In order for child subjective well-being and QoL research to significantly influence policy initiatives necessitates the development of rigorous methodologies to collect information with children, and importantly how we translate findings of children’s subjective perceptions into evidence that can be used by policy-makers.(S)

The third expert describes the importance of the processes of socialization and the different cultural productions, and emphasizes the need to identify the philosophical differences that support the operationalization of the methods used: For indigenous knowledge and cultural beliefs about quality of life, the process of production is through socialization and cultural transmission through writings, paintings, cultural practices and rituals. For research-based quality of life knowledge, different research methods have different processes. For quantitative research, the process is characterized by positivistic assumptions and principles, assuming that the reality exists independent of the researchers. For qualitative research, the process is characterized by constructionist or interpretive assumptions and principles, assuming that the reality is fluid and subject to interpretations. (D).

3.2

Power in the Research Field

The production of knowledge is accompanied by processes of institutionalization and the creation of mechanisms of power that privilege certain types of research and allow the circulation of certain knowledge and perspectives on theory, while fostering the prevalence of discourses that are naturalized and reproduced in the classrooms (Sotolongo Codina & Delgado Diaz, 2006, p. 225). In a previous study, Tonon (2019, pp. 999-1012) summarized Bourdieu’s (2000) views on the existence of two forms of power in the scientific field: an institutionalized political power exerted by those who hold decision-making positions; and a specific power based on personal prestige, with a lower degree of institutionalization, exerted by invisible colleges of scientists united by mutual recognition. Bourdieu (2000, p. 90) argues that the former type of power is achieved through political strategies which respond to the rules of bureaucratic capital, while the latter is achieved by purely accumulating science capital and is generated through personal

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effort and scientific work—which explains why, in general lines, those who are the most prestigious are not the most powerful. Furthermore, the struggle in the scientific field described by Bourdieu (1984, p. 135) becomes more complex according to each context, for it leads to a conflict of interest among the protagonists, since both evaluators and subjects of assessment turn out to be colleagues and competitors. If this situation becomes still more complex, the research field may become an “apparatus”, thus giving rise to pathological situations (Bourdieu, 1984, p. 158). In distinguishing between the research field and the research apparatus, Bourdieu (1984, pp. 157-158) states that the research field is the arena in which agents and institutions are engaged in struggles, each with different forces, in accordance with the constitutive rules of the space. And while those who exert power also have the means to do so, they are also resisted by the rest. On the other hand, when those that dominate the field possess the means to counteract resistance, the field becomes an “apparatus”. It is therefore necessary to uncover the power mechanisms deriving from established knowledge and examine the institutional fabric of this type of research work, by drawing on the so-called science of institution (Bourdieu, 2008). The science of institution tends to establish as a model of scientific activity a routinized practice, where scientifically more decisive operations can be carried out without reflection or critical control, as the apparent impeccability of visible procedures diverts all interrogations capable of questioning the respectability of the scientist and of science (Bourdieu, 2008, p. 47). Along these lines, Carrizo (2003) suggests conducting a political analysis of institutional relations, considering the distribution of power, as this can reveal certain factors that constitute limitations on outlooks and practices of researchers as well as of others with whom, and for whom, they work. When asked about this topic, one of the experts pointed out that The ‘power’ within the researchers’ field is closely related to the politics of knowledge, and the types of knowledge that are favoured and considered priority areas. Within the South African context for example, the natural sciences have been inherently valued aligning to the metatheoretical assertions of the positivist paradigms. Even the concept of ‘science’ is connoted with the ‘hard’ sciences including natural science, engineering, and health sciences. Historically, these disciplines were afforded better opportunities for research and postgraduate student funding. However, the Department of Science and Innovation in South Africa defines science in a broad sense as encompassing “. . .systematic knowledge spanning natural and physical sciences, engineering sciences, medical sciences, agricultural sciences, mathematics, social sciences, technology, all aspects of the innovation chain and indigenous knowledge.” Yet, the value and power assigned to the different sciences are not equal. For example, current research on children’s perspectives of their well-being and QoL has gained traction and attention of national departments (such as the Department of Social Development), which has resulted in frameworks, policy briefs, and campaigns to improve children’s lives. These efforts inevitably focus on the prevention of crime and violence against children, which is amongst the highest in the world. These social problems evince the structural and historical embeddedness of oppression and violence that was metered out against the majority of South African citizens, and impacts all aspects of people’s daily lives. (S).

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Finally, and even though the transmission of research results in the scientific field has been traditionally conducted by researchers in the presence of their peers and/or their students and post-graduates, the twenty-first century calls for a further step in this line of work in order to secure the transference of those results to the field of public policy. (Tonon, 2019, p. 1001).

3.3

The Importance of the Quality of Research Results in the Quality of Life Field for their Use in Policy Making

We begin this section by discussing the concept of research quality, quoting Seck and Phillips (2001, p. 4), when they point to rigor as a primary quality or characteristic that may help to determine the quality of research. The notion of quality can be defined in different ways. Gallagher (2010, p. 129, quoting Harvey, 1995) identified four different views about quality: quality as perfection, which is based on obtaining a consistent or flawless result—this democratizes the concept of quality and, if consistency can be achieved, then quality can be achieved by everyone-; quality as fitness for purpose, which sees quality in terms of fulfilling a customer’s requirements, needs or desires; quality as value for money, which sees quality in terms of return on investment; and quality as transformation, which is a classic notion of quality that sees it in terms of change from one state into another. From another point of view, Scott (2008, p. 58), in a study on university student engagement and satisfaction with learning in Australia, defined quality with reference to judgements that can be made about the design, support, delivery, and impact of a program and pointed out that: Judgements of quality can be about inputs: 1) the relevance, desirability, feasibility, fitnessfor purpose of a learning program’s design or 2) its resourcing or about its outcomes 3) the quality and consistency of implementation of the learning program and its support system or 4) the extent to which the impact on learners and other stakeholders has been positive. Judgements of quality can be about the ‘fitness for purpose’ and/or ‘fitness of purpose’ of what is designed and delivered (Scott, 2008, p. 57).

In terms of research, quality can be associated with rigor, and rigorous research is that which is free of faults in design, method and interpretation. It is not synonymous with academic or path-breaking theoretical research. Seck and Phillips (2001, p. 4) argue that another important characteristic is completeness, which is a concept related to the exploration of all potential options, and making available all relevant facts and figures that research can uncover in the search for intrinsically good policy options. Regarding the possibility of using the results of quality of life research in the field of policy making, the experts we consulted highlighted the importance of the quality of research processes—both for quantitative and qualitative methods—and of raising

3.3 The Importance of the Quality of Research Results in the Quality of. . .

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awareness about quality of life research findings, since the use of quality of life research results can enable governments to identify the needs of society and design public policies that can generate programs to promote people’s quality of life. . . .the main task is to raise awareness about research findings from QOL. Often policy makers are not aware of the research findings, and sometimes outdated perceptions about QOL are perpetuated because of the lack of awareness. If policy makers are made aware of the research findings, the policies should follow.(I) Research in the field of (children’s) QoL has made substantial gains and contributions from a variety of geographical contexts. The quality and robustness of these results are demonstrated in the contributions these results have made in relation to social policy, decisionmaking, and monitoring and evaluation. In particular, the influence of objective indicators of children’s QoL on social policy is well-established. For example, the development of measuring and monitoring systems, as an obligation to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the subsequent investment in the collection of data on children has afforded policy-makers opportunities to develop ‘evidence-based’ policies relevant to improving children’s overall QoL. There have also been dedicated initiatives aimed at developing indicators to monitor the various domains of well-being and QoL. Researchers thus need to engage in the process of translating research evidence into effective practice, policies and social programmes (S).

Some authors have noted that an additional mechanism to help maintain scientific credibility and demonstrate strong technical quality is the publication of findings in peer-reviewed journals (Uzochukwu et al., 2016). These authors had also previously analyzed in their article entitled The challenge of bridging the gap between researchers and policy makers: Health Policy Research Group in engaging policy makers to support evidence informed policy making in Nigeria, that the failure of take-up of high-quality research evidence by decision makers has been called the gap between research and policy. They identify four misunderstandings between the evidence production and the policy-making effort. The first misunderstanding is that researchers and policy makers consider each other’s activity as generating products instead of engaging in processes; the second is that scientific research attempts to focus the question so that a clear and crisp answer can be provided whereas policy making take other variables such as interests, ideology, values, or opinions into account; the third is that decision makers are not sensitive to the incentives that drive researchers like attracting grant money and publishing in peer-reviewed journals and not responding to a current issue before the government policy makers; and the fourth is that researchers rarely take into account the different audiences that would be audiences for their research (Uzochukwu et al., 2016, p. 2).

Traditionally, a larger number of citations often imply higher quality and, in this sense, it is expected that the role of collaboration between researchers will result in a higher quality of the product thus generated. The study of Rigby & Elder (2005, p. 784) with 22 scientific research networks in Austria concluded that “collaboration at the level of the research network acts upon research quality qua peer review and that this peer review effect is inherent throughout the research process”. In this respect, two of our experts noted that The final characteristic in producing QoL research results is making sense of the implications of the key findings in relation to relevant and seminal literature on the topic, both nationally

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3 The Production of Quality of Life Knowledge and internationally. Important in this regard is to consider the potential policy implications of the results and the unique contribution that it makes to the literature base on the topic. (S) The quality of quantitative quality of life studies varies in the field. It depends on the employment of validated QOL measures and the use of rigorous methodological procedures (such as random sampling and advanced statistical analyses). For qualitative QOL studies, their quality also varies in the field. The quality of qualitative QOL studies depends on the discipline of researchers and authenticity in the data collection, analyses and interpretation steps. Regarding the possible use of QOL research findings in policy making, it is an exciting possibility. Through utilization of QOL research findings, the Government can identify needs of the society, devise appropriate policies and develop relevant programs to promote the QOL of the citizens. (D)

The quality of the research will often determine the credibility of the organization that conducts or funds the research, and it may also determine the credibility and/or integrity of the research field itself as a source of useable knowledge (Nielson, 2001). Finally, one of the experts noted Quality of Life studies has become one of the fashionable areas of study. To encourage more policy makers and business executives to make such theory and methodology be profitably used in government and business to consolidate labor productivity, the use of excellent virtual lectures should be made available to world citizens. (TI)

3.4

International Collaboration Between Researchers for the Production of Knowledge: The Creation of International Research Networks

The twenty-first century has seen an expansion in the construction of international collaborative networks in the field of production of knowledge, involving researchers from different regions and countries. Adams (2012) points out that a fundamental change is taking place in the geography of science, as collaborative research networks are expanding in all regions of the world. In this way, knowledge is better transferred and combined through collaboration, since co-authored articles offer more frequent citation, are readily available and cover many countries and disciplines. The interaction between researchers is expected to lead to the creation of new knowledge (Nahapiet and Ghoshal, 1998 quoted by Defazio et al., 2009, p. 295), which in turn will enhance researcher productivity. Along these lines, Moody (2004) has stated that The set of ideas one holds to be true is largely a function of the group of people one interacts with and references to authorities recognized by the group. Scientists embedded in collaboration networks share ideas, use similar techniques, and otherwise influence each other’s work (Moody, 2004, p. 213).

In this respect, one of the experts stated that this collaboration could lead to trans disciplinarity.

3.4 International Collaboration Between Researchers for the Production. . .

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The cross-pollination of discipline-specific knowledge in synthesising and disseminating the key findings of research within particular contexts. It also enables capacity-development across researchers across the spectrum, from early-career and emerging researchers to more senior researchers. It further enables collaboration across the knowledge-chain such as crosscutting scientific disciplinary boundaries through interdisciplinarity, and integrating scientific and practitioners’ knowledge in joint research through trans disciplinarity.(S)

Pohl (2010) identifies different definitions of trans disciplinarity. The author (2010, p. 65) presents the four characteristics of this concept: to relate to socially relevant issues, to transcend and integrate disciplinary paradigms, to do participatory research, and to search for a unity of knowledge. For Sotolongo Codina and Delgado Diaz (2006, p. 66) trans disciplinarity seeks to obtain analogous quotas of knowledge about different disciplinary objects of study in such a way that they form a body of knowledge that transcends disciplines. Participation in international research networks allows researchers to find other colleagues working on the same topic, and thus generate possible instances of collaboration between them. “Network members have ties—connections, relationships—within and between networks for particular purposes, according to what they can contribute and what resources they seek” (Polodny & Page, 1998 quoted in Curry & Lillis, 2010, p. 283). Curry and Lillis (2010) identified two types of networks: formal networks and informal networks. They define formal networks as those intentionally fostered or supported by official bodies such as academic associations, including special interest groups or scientific commissions, institutions of higher education, governments, and supra-governmental bodies. On the other hand, informal networks are defined as those arising from shared interests and goals of individual scholars, who may or may not be colleagues in a department, institution, or local context, and whose networks are typically not officially or institutionally supported (Curry & Lillis, 2010, p. 284). Melin argues that personally created networks are more likely to be productive than formally constituted networks. Similarly, Defazio et al. (2009) point out that networks sponsored by formal initiatives may take longer to “achieve effective collaborations when compared to networks with pre-funding collaborative relationships” (p. 296) as the authors consider that a condition for effective collaboration is balancing the integration of new knowledge with the management of existing relationships (Porac et al., 2004, quoted in Defazio et al., 2009, p. 293). Yaqub (2018) discusses the link between networks and serendipity, a concept introduced in the 40s by Merton, reflecting the contribution of discoveries obtained from unexpected results. Yaqub (2018) identified three ways in which networks are pertinent for serendipity, as follows: Firstly, networks play an informational role, bringing discoveries to the attention of researchers who can exploit them. Secondly, networks play a teamwork role, where exploitation of an observation may require the skills and resources of multiple people. Thirdly, networks could discourage serendipity via ‘groupthink’ or ‘echo-chamber’ effects (Yaqub, 2018, p. 174).

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One of our experts engaged in child research reflects on the issue and states that: Multi-partner multinational collaborative research affords mitigation efforts and action from various stakeholders within different levels of governance, ranging from children themselves, the household and community level, to the national and international levels. The advantage of this approach is that it integrates perspectives and involves a process of co-design and creation with experts. An example is The Children’s Worlds Study, the largest study on children’s subjective well-being ever conducted, and the Multinational Qualitative Study on Children’s Understandings of Well-Being, which explores children’s perspectives of their well-being from various geographical contexts. These types of collaborations on QoL research further address SDG 3 (Good health and well—being), 16 (Peace, justice and strong institutions, and 17 (Partnerships for the goals). It advances multi-stakeholder partnerships and civil society. Target 17.16 and 17.17 are further relevant, as it accentuates global partnerships that leverage and share expertise, knowledge, technology, financial resources, and civil society partnerships to achieve the SDGs. This can be accomplished through research consortiums composed of multi-stakeholder collaborations that intersect interdisciplinarity and trans disciplinarity. International collaborative research harnesses the complementarity of the researchers’ collective expertise and experience in working within particular areas of research, for example within the sphere of child well-being research, and to gain synergy from the study conceptualisation and design. (S)

Through their participation in international research networks, researchers find a space in which they can show and share their productions and findings, and where such productions and findings can be valued and recognized, which is not always the case in their local contexts. In connection with local contexts of transmission of knowledge, the question arises as to why the above-described phenomenon is so common across different contexts. And here it is worth recalling the biblical expression: Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown” (Luke 4:24). We have noted that it is difficult for researchers to find a local environment in which to show their findings and where such findings can be valued and recognized. This is due to the existence of local power mechanisms that condition such environments and are aligned with the political and economic powers in each country. Therefore, in order to ensure a more preserved space for the transmission of research results, researchers seek in the first place to show their products in other contexts, and then use that basis to present their products in their local contexts. Thus, research networks play a role not only of dissemination but also of protection of those products that have been generated. Indeed, they help to make local productions visible in the international arena, which has also been made easier by the new technologies. However, it is also important to point out that problems may arise when working in research networks that are related to languages and different worldviews. In this regard, one of the experts pointed out that There are some long established networks, but also difficulties around epistemic exclusions, hierarchies and language questions.(E)

Our final reflection is that an international research network should be characterized by the participation of research teams from different countries and different disciplines. In addition, it should allow for information exchanges and collaboration in publications, as well as support between the teams.

3.6 Conclusions

3.5

37

The Production of Knowledge in Times of COVID-19

The production of knowledge during the current COVID-19 pandemic, which was declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020, deserves a special mention. The pandemic has led to a regime of preventive and compulsory social isolation for the entire population, and multiple government organizations and civilians have decided to readjust their activities, opting for some technological tools to transfer their initiatives to virtual platforms (Tonon et al., 2021). One of the experts commented on this issue, pointing out that this situation has generated different types of options for people to participate in knowledge spaces such as webinars and lectures for free The year of Covid-19 infectious disease diffusion the world over has turned out to heighten the awareness of quality of life. It has also made the need to use digital lectures and seminars at university teaching. Most university teaching in 2020 was carried out in virtual and real forms combined. The student voice increased about the course teaching to improve its level and content higher and deeper so that not just students but also citizens in general could benefit from taking courses of such virtual lectures with cheaper tuition rate (TI).

Another expert also provided her views about participation in research networks on topics such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. She noted that Current and future international collaborations further enable the exploration and development of new knowledge into the current impact of COVID-19 on children’s life worlds and QoL. Within the South African context, it is crucial to disseminate this research through: key stakeholder presentations, such as to relevant Education Departments and local government, public seminars; peer-reviewed articles in high impact journals; and conference presentations (local and international).(S)

In discussing the COVID-19 pandemic, Manley (2020, p. 287) stressed the importance of intellectuals proactively engaging (Collins, 2013) in this process of change, by advocating for policies to improve the lives of people across the globe and playing a leadership role to promote the goal of human development. The pandemic situation has also become an opportunity for the transmission of knowledge from the research field to the field of public policy. This topic will be elaborated on in Chap. 6 of this book.

3.6

Conclusions

Plascencia Castellanos (2006, p. 31) pointed out that the university structure has been historically based on scientific knowledge, and that the science system is formulated through basic research premised on the development of knowledge. In addition, the author highlighted the usefulness and social relevance of science (Plascencia Castellanos, 2006, p. 25).

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The knowledge production process has seen a shift in the past few decades, from a basic and disciplinary research mode in which the researcher defines the research problem, directs the research process and communicates findings to the public through scientific publication; to a model in which the research problem may be defined by different groups of society that participate in the definition of the research problem and the monitoring process and can influence the communication of the results. The knowledge production process needs to be premised on quality research that uses rigorous methodologies to collect information and takes into account the different processes of socialization of knowledge and the different cultural productions. In addition, it is crucial to identify the philosophical differences that support the operationalization of the methods used, since the use of quality of life research results can enable governments to identify the needs of society and design public policies that can generate programs to promote people’s quality of life. The development of research networks in the past few decades has allowed researchers to find environments for joint and collaborative work on the same topic. For collaboration to be effective, the integration of new knowledge must be balanced with the management of existing relationships (Porac et al., 2004). Working in research networks creates opportunities to relate the specific knowledge of each discipline. This allows the synthesis and dissemination of key research findings in particular contexts. In this sense, research networks play a role not only of dissemination but also of protection of those products that have been generated. Global knowledge goods like research rest on a larger systemic context that is communicative, collaborative and collective (Marginson, 2011, p. 417). The COVID-19 pandemic has created a new landscape with a significant impact on knowledge construction processes, which has resulted in more people having access to knowledge in virtual formats. Finally, local, regional, and central agencies should be provided with policy recommendations based on the connection between development policies and transdisciplinary research practice.

Cases Case 1. When a University Professor Holds a Political Office: The Case of Secondary Education Curriculum Design by Marina Paulozzo This case narrates the construction of the curriculum design for secondary education in the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, for which I interviewed the university professor in charge of said process in her role as political officer. Firstly, it is worth highlighting that, according to data from the latest national census (2010), the province of Buenos Aires has a population of 15,625,084

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inhabitants. It is divided territorially and administratively into 135 districts. The Province is made up of two different areas: the districts that comprise the Great Buenos Aires, with around 9,916,715 inhabitants, and the districts in the interior of the province of Buenos Aires, with a population of 5,708,369. The following is a summary of the story of the Director of Provincial Secondary Education, who held that office for 7 years. I started this process in the Province of Buenos Aires at the time when the Provincial Education Law was enacted. That was also the time of enactment of the National Education Law, which abrogated a highly controversial law—the Federal Law. The National Education Law changed the structure of the system, put an end to what until then was known as Basic General Education (EGB), which comprised 9 years, and restored the primary and secondary school scheme. However, the Law introduced an addition: it made secondary education (which could last for 5 or 6 years, depending on the province) mandatory, which was not until then. The curriculum proposal for mandatory secondary education was intended to ensure the continuity of studies, democratic formation and preparation for the world of work. This entailed changes in the curriculum—such are the big issues that emerge from a decision like that one. If secondary school is for all, until that moment secondary school in our country had only been for some. Kids would finish primary school, and if they did not start secondary school, that was not a serious problem because after ninth grade, secondary school was not mandatory and millions of kids did not continue their studies. Then, as secondary education became compulsory, legal changes had to be introduced in connection with the structure, the number of school years, the functions and purposes of secondary education. And that put some pressure on curricular decisions, because these young people who now had to attend secondary school for 6 years, and who were expected to be very democratic and to keep on studying and prepare for the world of work, had to receive proper training. This triggered the decision to undertake a process for changing the curriculum; in other words, to start to think about what things a citizen from the Province of Buenos Aires should be taught and should learn when he/she studied at secondary school. That was the big decision, the origin of the decision to change the curriculum: shifting from secondary education for a few to secondary education for all. In this sense, the political value of the curriculum is self-evident. Subsequently, changes had to be introduced to the structure and to teaching positions, and new buildings had to be put up because there was no space. The gap has now been bridged, but compulsory secondary education legislation is still not enforced—not all kids continue to study. The fact that each province was empowered to choose between 5 and 6 years for secondary school was an important issue, because it involved rethinking the structure of the educational system and the curriculum structure. The duration of that period was an important decision for our work. So, what were the first decisions?: to explain the curriculum perspective, that is, how we interpreted the curriculum; to choose a theoretical definition to work on; to define the curriculum. We said: “for us the curriculum is”: a political project that is negotiated, that is subject to an internal dispute and defines a cultural synthesis, a synthesis of cultural elements, and that will

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be developed through negotiation with the different actors, in that space of dispute, that will have a methodology and that will be defined in that discussion. The most important definitions involved a political dispute. We needed a technical team because we had to define the methodology of work and decide the political and technical levels of participation for the discussion that we were going to have. We also needed to define which actors would participate in that discussion; who we were and were not going to talk to. And what we were going to talk about with each of them. We had to define the cultural synthesis—what people usually call the study plans. We had to put in writing what teachers, professors, were going to teach and what kids (we hoped) were going to learn. We needed to make that definition, but in order to do so, we had to talk to many people and work things out. And we needed to do that on an appropriate scale. Because we had to define the curriculum designs for a certain level, for the Province of Buenos Aires, involving a million and a half students. Just picture thinking of a design for a million and a half young people starting secondary school every year in a province. As the minister in office at the time said: “It impresses me every morning, when I get up and read the newspaper, to think that 5 million students will be leaving home for school”. In the Province of Buenos Aires—not now, because of the pandemic, but in non-pandemic times—we know that at 8 am, there begins a movement of five million students and, at least, a quarter million teachers who leave home for school to teach. That is a very powerful image. So, how do you approach this? We had to think about a million and a half students starting secondary school, and how to design a curriculum proposal, a cultural synthesis, or—in the parlance of some authors—a cultural arbitrary, which can cover the interests, concerns and worldviews of the citizens of the province, of future adults, of these young people with interests of their own in a school that had just been decided it was mandatory. What were the things that had to be done as mandated by the law? Some things were already defined: school would last for 6 years, it would have two cycles (a basic and a higher cycle), and we would respect the functions of mandatory secondary school, as I was telling you, students were expected to continue their studies, prepare themselves for the world of work and value democratic life. Our first discussion was with the teachers’ unions. When we began to define who we were going to talk to and what issues would be subject to negotiation, it was clear to us that we had to prepare a six-year design, which would be divided into two cycles (first and second cycle). At stake here would be the defense of teachers’ positions. While we had to think about that cultural arbitrary, that synthesis that was connected with what had to be taught and learnt, we never forgot what we had to do with teachers, as none of them could lose their job. Because, on top of that, there was an article in the teachers’ collective wage agreement that stated that no change in the curriculum could affect teachers’ positions. . . just like that. That is why I was telling you before that some things were not subject to discussion. I was bound by certain limitations. . . it was like painting a picture with your hands half tied and figuring out how much of it you could paint.

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Another actor that I like to mention quite a lot, also in my lectures at University, is the Minister of Economy. One of the decisions concerned the inclusion of a space for citizen formation in the first cycle of secondary school, as it was one of the axes of secondary school—the three axes being citizenship, continuity of studies and preparation for work. So, we designed a course called Construction of Citizenship. In that opportunity, the first comment of the governor was: “let’s budget this”. In other words, the first one that could tell us whether we could include a new course was the Minister of Economy. Here the issue of financing was crucial. To give you another example, it was not only important to work out how much that cost in salaries, but also in what classrooms the subject was going to be taught. And in fact, that was a subject that was challenged by many people, because it was related to the democratization of secondary school. Some schools said that they were not going to implement it because they had no physical space. They scheduled the subject after regular school hours and told the students it was not compulsory. We had all kinds of scenes. That’s why I say that financing not only involves having the funds to pay teachers’ salaries, but also having the appropriate space and equipment. Another clear illustration of this was our discussion of whether we should keep the course of ICT. I said that we could not teach ICT because there were no computers. Private schools had computers, but state schools did not. State schools had computers that had been donated to them and I asked, “why are we going to teach a course like that, which needs that equipment, if we don’t have it?” What was the problem? There were 20 thousand teachers teaching that ICT. So I was told, “ok, let’s remove it. What do we do next?” It was a big discussion. Fortunately, the national government implemented the Program “Conectar Igualdad” (Argentina’s national scheme to bridge digital, educational and social gaps) and that sorted out the problem. Another actor was private education. According to law, the Province has public schools, which can be either state-managed or privately-managed. That means that the provincial State has responsibility over all of them, and it funds, or subsidizes, a large number of privately-managed schools. One of the reasons for this is the lack of state schools. And as secondary education was not compulsory, there were no statemanaged secondary schools in many parts of the Province. Secondary schools were privately-managed. Thus, state-managed schools had to be opened in those locations. And, of course, private secondary schools in those locations are subsidized by the state, as they were the ones making up for the lack of state schools, although it is worth mentioning that expensive private schools are not subsidized. The most important actor in private schools is the Catholic Church, which in many cases runs free-of-charge schools that are subsidized by the state to pay for teachers’ salaries. We had a serious and interesting dispute with the Church, because a bishop argued that, with the new design, we did not respect the family because it includes the issue of sexuality, which incorporates freedom of sex choice. This project falls under the scope of the national comprehensive sex education Program (ESI). In this sense, the consultations we held with the actors involved in the first cycle and those involved in the second cycle of secondary school were different. The Province of Buenos Aires is divided into 25 educational regions. When we were

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preparing the curriculum design for the first three years of secondary school, we asked ourselves: “how do we have the whole Province represented?” Well, we said, there will be representatives of the schools of the 25 regions. In some cases, this was quite unequal, because the regions in the Greater Buenos Aires have far more schools than the regions in the interior of the Province. But even so, we made the attempt and what happened was that the schools from the Greater Buenos Aires— which are quite a lot—said they were underrepresented, while those from the interior—which are much fewer—said they had the right to have a representation. We then decided that there would be three schools per educational region, taking into account the percentage of private schools (30%). Thus, one of the three schools was private. That was the structure of the consultation and participation in the design for the first cycle. They were the so-called 75, the 75 pilot schools that took part in the implementation of the design. A massive and highly technical device was put in place. But the important thing is that we thought about everything—the representations of the different types of schools, the different districts, the types of school: we made sure that rural, small urban and large urban schools were represented, taking into account the percentage of state—and privately-managed schools. The higher cycle followed a different logic because the curriculum structure of the higher cycle is based on orientations. So, we decided to meet with representatives and we had up to a thousand teachers in a meeting discussing the different orientations. Coming back to the key actors, then: teachers’ unions, the private sector, the Church; we obviously sat on the private education commission, which is overseen by a private education agency with which we met to discuss the designs. I took drafts to those in charge of private education in the Province, I took drafts to the teachers’ unions and we also took drafts to the opposition parties. At that time, we had meetings with representatives of the other political parties, because the minister considered that this was a state policy and that we had to ensure its continuity beyond our administration. So, we had meetings with people that later held senior positions in subsequent administrations. Another actor that we engaged with—perhaps the toughest one in terms of the curriculum—was academia and professors’ associations. We consulted a group of academics chosen by the minister —upon the recommendation of the provincial director in office then—with whom we discussed the curriculum logic, especially for the higher orientation cycle. We had famous pedagogues. They were keen to meet with us, they participated in some meetings, but their participation made no difference at all. I would say that I do not remember any contributions by them having had an impact on the design process. They made no proposals. At most, they would give their opinion about what they thought was more convenient from what we showed them. But since this was only a consultation, I interpret that, as we asked them to meet with us every once in a while, they were not given a protagonist role in the sense of making their participation more formal, they had no place in the process. So, they were keen to meet with us and give their opinion about what we showed them, but they did not work on that, they just said what came to their mind.

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With respect to professors’ associations, I remember that the Philosophy and Geography associations took very strong actions. We had a few disputes over the academic/scientific approach that we had adopted for these academic fields. The first thing they demanded was that the topics were kept in the curriculum because they involved teaching positions held by their members. It was the same as with teachers’ unions, although obviously they did not have the power of a union in negotiations, as a union defends everyone’s job, not just jobs related to a specific field. In the case of universities, we had a heated dispute with some schools such as the school of Journalism. At the beginning they thought we were going to remove the field of Communication and they wrote protest graffiti and posted signs on the walls of the ministry. Then they ended up taking part in the preparation of the communication design. One more thing that I cannot fail to mention is the dispute we had with the mass media. There was an editorial from a leading national circulation newspaper against the design of Geography, as the new proposal leant toward human Geography rather than only physical Geography. All throughout this process, we faced pressures from all sides, in addition to our own pressures, of course. While I went through this process in administration, I relied on my experience as a university professor. It was near ten-year period in which the bulk of my work took away my ideas and production. Needless to say, my academic production declined in those years because my office in administration required full dedication. I would not be able to do it today; I would not do it. But I celebrate having had the opportunity. It was a unique opportunity for me, because I understood—having gone through the actual experience myself—the political dimension of the curriculum. Before that, I could speak about this from a theoretical perspective, but through these disputes that I have described to you (and many others), I got to fully understand what it meant. And this is what allowed me to continue in office. I still work at the Office of the Undersecretary of Education, not directly overseeing the curriculum design, but coordinating processes. And thus, today I can understand and produce ideas about the curriculum field and contribute to the advancement of the curriculum field in our country; because these things that happened, that are described in theory by many authors, I would say today that, rather than a dispute, I like William Pinar’s idea of a complicated conversation. I like that idea very much. It has allowed me to understand and produce, perhaps, research studies explaining that situation in a country like ours, in the current political landscape, and maybe—this is what I’m doing now—contribute to the constitution of the curriculum field in Argentina. This is something about which I can now say that we existed as a group; we managed to meet and talk about this. I think that I was able to generate this because I went through that experience. There are many professors and academics working on the curriculum field that have never taken part in a design process. And, as this is a field that has the characteristics we were just discussing, I feel this is a limitation for my colleagues. I think that it should be mandatory to undertake a curriculum design experience in order to be able to participate in its production—I would say it is almost a condition.

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In the field of education, it is very difficult for a conversation not to be aimed at convincing the other of what I am thinking. Maybe something else can be achieved later on, maybe, after a process of participation. When we held meetings with professors to discuss the contents of the subjects and we told them about the approach we had adopted, at the beginning, we were met with nothing but insults. And when we managed to sustain the process over time, and we met over and over again, in the second meeting they could see that we had included what they had said. We made sure that we started the meetings by showing them what we had shown them in the previous meeting and the changes we had introduced on the basis of their contributions, which we sometimes included and some other times we did not. As we did this repeatedly, they became more reassured. And then we managed to do some serious talking. Because they actually saw that we included what they had said, and if we did not, we explained to them why. That took years, we did that for years, because we had to convince them that we were not going to cheat them. That’s the question. When teachers meet to discuss something, they think that you have already written it all down and that the discussion will be about something that is already done. Our big job was to convince them that this was not so and, once they saw it, we could work as a team. I am speaking about thousands of people. It was a very long and hard-to-sustain process and we showed them that we indeed listened to what they told us.

Case 2: The Creation of an International Research Network by Tobia Fattore To discuss the issue of the creation of an international research network, we consulted one of the organizers of the Children’s Understanding Research Network (CUWB) who told the process of building this network. I recall being at the International Society for Child Indicators Conference in Seoul, Korea in 2013. The conference was brilliant and much praise needs to go to the Organizing Committee of organizing such a wonderful conference. The large majority of papers were technically brilliant, with extremely competent and confident academics discussing different aspects of children’s well-being and quality of life. However, I had a sense of unease at that conference. Despite one of the stated aims of the field being to understand children, most of the research I was listening to was research being done on children, rather than with children or about them. Moreover, despite the conference being on children’s well-being, there was clearly a developmental orientation to a large majority of the papers, reflecting the dominance of developmental psychology in child research. The discipline of psychology has much to offer in understanding human behavior, however the social framing of development is rarely questioned by psychologists themselves, despite the robustness of their analysis. This is entirely understandable of course as these kinds of questions are not the core interests of the discipline.

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However, I saw two papers at that Conference which stood out as providing something quite different. One was by SF which was an ethnographic piece based on one pre-school aged girl’s discussion of a secret place she goes to at her pre-school and the significance of that place for her well-being. The other was by CHK who spoke about the migration experiences of Azerbaijani children and the significance of identity work for their well-being. Both foregrounded children’s perspectives but in a way that was conceptually sophisticated, trying to understand the larger social significance of the data provided to them by the children. I was able to orchestrate a coffee between the three of us. SF and CHK already knew each other, which helped, but essentially this was the research meeting version of a ‘cold call’. At that meeting we discussed the need for other interpretive and qualitative research on children’s well-being as a necessary complement for the excellent work which was already being done in the field. At that time the Children’s Worlds Study was flourishing and we were quite inspired by the boldness of its vision and its explicitly comparative approach. Of course our aspirations were far more modest, but we were inspired nonetheless, and consequently we came up with the idea of putting out a call to researchers involved in this study, asking them if they were interested in complementing their survey research with a small qualitative counterpart. Our sense was that these were researchers with significant expertise in children’s well-being already, who were working in the field with children and could use this as an opportunity to expand on their fieldwork. We also felt that these were people who had deep knowledge of the local context conditions in which they were doing their research, which is especially important in undertaking more ethnographic research. Even so, we thought that perhaps two or three other like-minded researchers would respond to our call and believed this could make a worthwhile contribution. A comparative study across a few countries, based on a handful of interviews in each location, was something we felt could be achieved and certainly something unusual in qualitative research. You can imagine our surprise when 19 different researchers responded to our callout within the day. We had obviously hit on something. The degree of enthusiasm in the responses was overwhelming and perhaps we shouldn’t have been so surprised. These were people who were committed to advancing the interests of children and young people and whose research was about promoting the perspectives of children—the reason they were involved in quantitative research in the first place. So, there was a shared intellectual moment that we were lucky to capitalize on. CHK, SF and I had a kind of synchronicity in our interpretation of the research field. We shared a similar idea of what was required we had been thinking about and working on these issues for some time. Similarly, other researchers who had been working quantitatively on children’s well-being, whilst starting from a different epistemological premise, nonetheless saw the merit in us proposing the study because of what we were proposing resonated with them politically and intellectually. There was a shared understanding of what the problem was and why we were at that point in knowledge production. We had to build on that momentum and that point in time was a pivotal one. That interest could dissipate and it was quite apparent that a study of, at that time,

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22 different research teams, required some coordination. This presented a number of issues. The first was the degree of direction that should be provided. Whilst we had our own theoretical and methodological preferences, we didn’t want to dictate the approach that should be taken as we felt this would not respect the diverse range of expertise and experience amongst the nascent research group. Yet we had to provide some parameters as the study would not contribute what we were aiming for if it was essentially 22 unrelated qualitative projects. Our solution to this dilemma was to develop a shared set of principles of practice, rather than to specify exactly what kinds of questions and techniques needed to be used in the research. The way we operationalized this was to develop a research protocol, which outlined a set of guiding principles and a series of research activities and modules that researchers could use if they chose to do so. Below is part of the invitation letter we send to researchers demonstrating an interest in joining our network: The research protocol outlines the study processes and methods. It includes a number of modules which can be adapted to suit the local context in which your research is being undertaken. For example, some teams have used photo-voice methods or created a storyboard resource. Other teams have focused on schooling as their central theme. However we ask that all teams: Undertake interviews that include children between 8 to 14 years of age. Interviews can also include children and young people older or younger than this age, but we agreed to at least include this age group for some degree of comparability; attempt to include between 30–50 children in their sample; that the sample of children reflects relevant heterogeneity of social categories for the context in which the research is being undertaken. We will be guided by you as to what the relevant social categories are, as you know the relevant social context. However, as in all good qualitative research, we are guided by purposive sampling techniques, rather than statistical sampling; record ethnographic field notes documenting the context in which the fieldwork is undertaken and its process; undertake module 1.2 of the research (mapping exercise), which can be adapted using different task-oriented or interview techniques. The aim is to obtain some data about what people, places, things, spaces, events and so on, that are important to children and/or make them feel well; collect demographic information on the participants, using a brief questionnaire, included as Appendix A in the research protocol. You may wish to use a different instrument. That is fine. Beyond that, the research can be adapted to suit your research interests and needs. You can use or adapt any of the modules as you feel is appropriate. I have included an indicative research schedule which gives an example of how the project could be organized in the field (Fattore et al., 2015). Our attempt in this text is to strike a balance between a set of shared principles and practices that can be used for comparative purposes, yet encourage adaptation and flexibility, so that the research builds on the knowledge strengths of the researchers, including their knowledge of how research can be done within their local contexts. However, along with this invitation is a 20-page manual, which includes interview schedules, sampling principles, instructions to undertake a range of task-oriented activities and so on. The point was not to dictate, but to make it as easy as possible for researchers to go into the field and conduct the research by providing them with a set of

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resources that they can use, adapt, improve and innovate. One of the unexpected outcomes of this was that our colleagues didn’t feel as though they were being dictated into doing our vision of the research. Instead, by freely sharing these resources our colleagues felt both guided and supported, but also took this sharing as a demonstration of trust in them. All that we asked in return was a degree of transparency amongst the network members—that they would likewise share their experiences and methodological innovations. By doing this we have run counter to the prevailing trends in academia, which rewards competition and opportunity hoarding. We have tried instead to cultivate a process where people share ideas openly. By providing base-line resources but encouraging our colleagues to use these resources in ways that build upon their unique strengths, applied to their own interests, the research generated from the network has investigated a diverse range of topics associated with children’s well-being, often in ways that push the frontiers of the child well-being research field. This raises another key issue that has been a challenge and strength of our network, and that is its interdisciplinarity. Much has been written about the benefits of interdisciplinarity but it is difficult to put into practice, in part because academics are trained in highly specialized fields, where making small points of difference are a valued currency and consequently this encourages a defensiveness of our own theoretical and methodological preferences. By being a loose network we have been able to create a space in which the individual disciplinary preferences of researchers have been able to contribute to the study. We have anthropologists, educational scientists, psychologists, health scientists, sociologists and social work academics involved in the CUWB network. Of course, a topic like child well-being invites interdisciplinarity because its complexity requires diverse perspectives for it to be understood. However, we have also fostered interdisciplinarity by not implementing a notion of strict comparability, We have tried to create a space where all the researchers involved can identify with the study, by seeing themselves contributing to a larger program. The returns on this have been remarkable. All of our colleagues have contributed to improving the research design. The number of publications generated out of the study are close to 100. We have had special issues of journals and edited collections of books devoted to our research. The research has been used to inform various government policies. The degree of cooperation and collaboration has been remarkable, with a number of off-shoot collaborations and side projects blossoming independently. This is something we have encouraged and in our role as coordinators have attempted to support. The role of resource transfers has become a critical factor in making the network successful. Unlike other projects, the research has not been funded out of a foundation grant. Rather, funds have been scrapped together from wherever possible. For some of the researchers, especially from wealthier nations, they have been successful in securing national research body funding for their specific fieldwork. However, for most the resource they have is time, building the conduct of the research into their role as paid academics. The key mechanism through which the network runs is via our research meetings and conferences, where we come together at strategic points in the study and discuss our plans for collaboration. We have had several of these

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meetings (Berlin twice, Sion Switzerland and Zurich Switzerland), using nationbased research network meeting funds for this purpose. However, we have attempted to allocate these funds in ways that takes into account global inequalities in access to resources. In the context of limited funding, our colleagues from wealthier nations are expected to contribute something to the costs of their own travel, which is usually absorbed by the Universities they work for. This allows us to more fully subsidize the costs of our colleagues who have far more limited access to these kinds of resources.(T).

Case 3: An Online Course on Quality of Life and Happiness for the Building of Better Societies by Graciela Tonon This case shows my own experience as a teacher of an online course dedicated to Quality of Life. In 2018, I organized the online course entitled Quality of Life and Happiness: Building Better Societies, as an innovative pedagogic space within the framework of the Online Education Program at Universidad de Palermo, Argentina. From that moment I teach that course twice in the year with an attendance of 150 students per year. This is an elective course offered to all the students of the University, becoming an interdisciplinary pedagogic space. Students from different careers take this course: Psychology, Law, Architecture, Public Relations, Business, Management, Advertising, Interior Design, Textile Design and Clothing, Image and Sound Design, Information Technologies, Human Resources, Music Production, Journalism, International Trade, Marketing, Industrial Design, International Relations. The course is organized in eleven modules, each one dedicated to one topic. One of the modules presents the relationship between quality of life and public policies. The module dedicated to happiness has as an exercise in integrating knowledge, a forum in which the need and importance of measuring happiness are discussed. It is striking that among the eleven modules that comprise the course, it is observed that in 2019, the module that students express that they have found most interesting and important not only for their academic knowledge but for their life in general, is precisely the module dedicated to public policies and Quality of Life: 29,4% of students from a total of 143, referred to the relationship between happiness and public policies (Tonon et al., 2021). In the case of the first semester of 2021, Fig. 3.1 shows the opinions of the students (70 people) about the relation between quality of life and public policies and the importance of this relation. The different opinions that students have about the different relationships observed between quality of life and public policies, recall what Veenhoven (2008, p. 248) expressed “so far the data show that happiness is a realistic goal for

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To know what public policies are exactly

Quality of Life Considering the current situation of the Pandemic

Public policies are related to well-being

Public policies have to generate equal opportunities

To become aware of what is happening

Public policies are related with citizen´s rights

Public Policies

To know what the State does for the people

Public policies are the answers to improve people's quality of life

To know the public policies of the country

Fig. 3.1 Student’s opinions about the relation quality of life-public policies

public policy” and he added “the available data suggest that most gains can be made by policies that focus on freedom and justice” (Veenhoven, 2008, p. 251).

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Chapter 4

The Actors in the Process I: Researchers and Policy Makers

Abstract This chapter focuses on the role of policy makers and researchers in the policy formulation process and the exchange between them. It reflects on researchers’ freedom to decide their research topics and on policy makers’ freedom to decide policies. In addressing freedom, the chapter follows Sen’s (Desarrollo y Libertad. Bogotá, Planeta, 2000) capability approach, which considers that freedom should focus on people’s possibility to be creative actors and agents of their own development. The chapter also describes the possibilities of policy makers to decide and design public policies. Finally, it analyses the features of the relationship between researchers and policy makers. The chapter includes two cases: the granting of research funds and the case when universities social research reports sleep on shelves. Keywords Policy makers · Researchers · Capability approach · Policy making

4.1

The Possibilities of Researchers to Decide their Research: Is Freedom Possible? A View from the Capability Approach

In this chapter we reflect on researchers’ actual possibilities and the degree of freedom they enjoy when deciding their research topics (Tonon, 2007). I start from the idea that the only possible access to knowledge is through freedom, built within a socio-cultural research context, or on the basis of each researcher’s individual achievements (Díaz Gomez, 2006, p. 230). In referring to freedom, I draw on Sen’s (2000) approach that freedom should be focused on people’s possibility to become creative actors and agents of their own development (Tonon, 2019). According to Sen (2000), quality of life should be assessed not only in terms of an individual’s achievements towards life satisfaction but also in terms of his/her pursuit of freedom to attain such satisfaction. Sen (1999) argues that individual freedom can be regarded as a central value in any appraisal of society and as an integral product of social arrangements, with far-reaching implications for the assessment of social institutions and political decisions. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 G. Tonon, Key Actors in Public Policy-making for Quality of Life, Human WellBeing Research and Policy Making, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90467-8_4

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Sen (1999) identifies two types of freedom: positive freedom, which is the freedom a person has to do the things in question taking everything into account; and negative freedom, which entails being free from something, such as the absence of constraints imposed by a person, a group or the state. In this connection, Sen holds that: «The social commitment to individual freedom has to be concerned with both positive and negative freedoms, and with their extensive interconnections» (Sen, 1999, p. 41). In his theoretical proposal, Sen (2000) devises the so-called instrumental freedoms, which comprise political freedoms, social opportunities, economic facilities, protective security and transparency guarantees. Political freedoms concern the opportunities that people have to decide who should govern them, to have freedom of political expression and to criticize authorities, as well as the right to vote and to be voted for participation in the legislative and executive branches. Social opportunities are society’s arrangements for education and health, which have an influence on individuals’ freedom to live better. Economic facilities refer to individuals’ opportunities to use economic resources for consumption, production, or exchange. Protective security is the stable social safety net providing fixed institutional arrangements and ad-hoc relief by the state. Transparency guarantees involve individuals’ need for openness and freedom to relate with one another under guarantees of disclosure and lucidity, which have a critical role in preventing corruption (Sen, 2000, pp. 57–59.). From Sen’s (2000, p. 35) perspective, individuals are conceived as active agents of change, rather than as mere recipient of benefits. Sen proposes using the term “agent” in its older sense, according to which a person acts and brings about changes, and whose achievements can be judged in terms of his/her own values and objectives, regardless of any assessment in terms of external criteria (Sen, 2000, p. 34). From this perspective, individuals are no longer passive recipients of actions produced by governmental bodies and professional teams, but instead actors and protagonists of processes in development. This approach focuses on individuals as agents with capabilities and with substantive freedom to lead a life they have reason to value and enhance the real options they have (Sen, 2000, p. 350). Following Sen (2000), we can argue that capability is a person’s real ability to attain valuable achievements in his/her life, reflecting alternative combinations of functionings that person can achieve. Functionings are a representation of the various things a person values doing or being. This approach takes into account the relevance of differences in individuals’ satisfaction of their needs, focusing on the fact that people may need different resources for the development of the same freedoms (Tonon, 2020). In the case of social researchers, when referring to freedom and contextualization, it should be borne in mind that, as discussed in Chap. 2, there are different forms of power—formal and informal—which researchers must take into account when they carry out their research work. One of the experts referred to researchers’ possibilities to decide their research and proposed establishing a difference between the freedom a researcher can have and the will he/she has:

4.1 The Possibilities of Researchers to Decide their Research: Is Freedom. . .

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I don’t agree with the idea of “freedom” to research. Maybe, we can talk about freedom to fulfil some needs or aims on a field of study. This researcher’s freedom could bring us some original studies or do some contribution on an issue of interest for the academic institution, research institute or public policy offices. But my experience shows that this kind of “freedom” has often two outcomes: first, research is not relevant for the institutional program but only for the researcher, and second, many research resources are inefficiently allocated. Often, we are confusing about “freedom to research”. Right here, I would like to make a difference between “will” and “freedom”. I understand that freedom is a key attribute for a research, this allows researchers to go beyond boundaries and explore new fields. Often the researchers confuse wishes with freedom to research. The gap between problems and solutions become wider, especially if scientific researchers are so far from real world problems. (FL)

Another of the experts referred to the connection between the issue of power in the field of research and research funding. Very often the aspect of power that the researcher yields is also related to existing funding that a research centre or department receives, as well as the local and international networks and collaborations that exist and status of research projects.(S)

In Canada, Kothari et al. (2009) developed a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews by telephone with 23 researchers. The authors aimed to understand the role of research in influencing policy, and of researchers in influencing policy actors, as experienced by researchers. The results showed that the freedom to conduct research based on the researcher’s passions and curiosities and a supporting infrastructure were highlighted as benefits of research in an academic setting. The peer review process was recognized as important to ensure rigor in research and also as a challenge for policy-related research. Several interviewees highlighted the principles of academic freedom and researcher independence as important for the credibility of the research. They also valued their independence in the development of valid research designs, the recognition of intellectual property rights, and the contribution to the definition of research questions in a meaningful way for both researchers and policy-makers. In this connection, some scholars such as Gunn and Mintrom (2016) have suggested that too much involvement from non-academics could undermine the long-held values of academic freedom and research excellence. We do not think this should necessarily be the case, although it is clear that collaboration between both groups would require a change in the approach to work of both researchers and policy-makers. Along these lines, Ion, Stîngu & Marin (2018, p. 3) argue that “[t]he move to more collaborative research models, in which research is carried out by and with professionals, requires changes in the traditional roles of researcher and professional”. From our point of view, interaction between researchers and policymakers for the attainment of a common goal should enrich the work of both, rather than the actions of only one group, hindering or conditioning the freedom of the other.

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4.2

The Possibilities of Policy-Makers to Decide and Design Public Policies

To speak about the possibilities of policy-makers to decide and design public policies, we first need to recall that “policy is an on-going process” Bridges, Smeyers & Smith (2008, p. 4). And this process is characterized by the speed that decisionmaking requires in a world in permanent change. For Bauman (2006, p. 59) the political class has a natural tendency to seek explanations and remedies in everyday experience. According to the traditional view, scientific knowledge is regarded as an accumulable product that decision-makers can use according to their needs (Tonon, 2019). In 2017 (p. 1) Gollust, Seymour, Pany, Goss, Meisel and Grande published an article with the results of their research, aimed at understanding the perspectives of United States’ state-level policy-makers and health researchers on the barriers and facilitators to the translation of health evidence into the policy process, with a particular focus on issues related to relationship building. To do this, the authors conducted interviews with 215 U.S. health services and health policy researchers and 40 state-level staffers and legislators. The results showed that policy-makers argued that they are very busy and do not have time to access research information more systematically, as it overwhelms them to think about the amount of information they would have to process by receiving extensive reports on a daily basis. In addition, policy-makers pointed to the difficulty of finding the right information for their needs and expressed their frustration with the researchers’ seemingly ingenuous perceptions of the policy-making process, which, they argued, leads to ineffective communication approaches. They held that researchers often use communication strategies that appear to show their lack of understanding of policy-making processes. They also stated that they believed that research had value in their work in the policy cycle since research evidence is a component of policy, so it cannot be removed from it (Gollust et al., 2017, pp. 4–5). One of the experts we have consulted stated that policy-makers rely on their own previous experiences in the public policy field in which they have to make decisions and that, as they generally do not have all the resources or power to carry out such decisions, they resort to formulas that have given them good results in the past: Policy makers have often a traditional point of view on public policies that are linked at an own empirical know how. Many of them trust on their own experience and expertise knowledge about the policies to go forward. Policy makers must enlist the wills and trust of their own colleagues and subordinates; they could decide and design the public policies and then they need gathering enough power (and other resources) to make ideas happen. Policy makers rarely have all the available resources and all the power necessary to successfully carry out public policies. Normally, they don’t have all the knowledge and tools necessary to deploy the public policies, which refers to operating with traditional "safer" formulas. (FL).

In the late 1990s, Trostle et al. (1999) reported the results of a descriptive study they developed in Mexico about the relationship between health research and policy in

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four health programs. They interviewed 67 policy-makers and researchers from different institutions and with different levels of responsibility. The results showed that centralization of power and information is a common complaint as centralization facilitates the hierarchical management of information, which means that research results do not arrive at operational levels, where they could have greater impact and usefulness. Another factor is the constant change of administrations that hinders the stability in the relationships between policy-makers and researchers, because of the potential discontinuity in priorities between administrations and the fragility of personal relationships. Finally, they identified restrictions on economic resources as another important impediment that acts as a barrier to change (Trostle et al., 1999, p. 111). In this respect, Bridges et al. (2008) point out that some of the problems between researchers and policy-makers are the direct result of this centralizing tendency. The authors described the situation in the educational field in different parts of the world by stating that Governments have increasingly arrogated power to themselves or to central agencies operating under their direction, and then expressed surprise that educationists are not providing them with the ‘research findings’ they seek in order to re-connect with the education communities they want to command and have in many cases alienated. This centralizing tendency forces those at the center to seek generalized policy imperatives which are increasingly removed from the variety of social situations to which they are addressed— and it creates a greater social distance between researchers and the policy-makers Bridges, Smeyers & Smith (2008, p. 7).

To summarize, the centralization of power and the constant change in management are identified as obstacles in the relationship between policy-makers and researchers. Policy-makers are very busy and do not have time to read extensive reports produced by researchers; they find it difficult to locate the information they need, so they generally resort to formulas that have given them good results in the past. Likewise, policy-makers generally consider that researchers do not understand the dynamics of the policy cycle. However, they consider that research has value in their work as research is a component of policy.

4.3

The Characteristics of the Relationship Between Researchers and Policy Makers

There is a considerable difference between what scientists and policy-makers consider to be knowledge and how that knowledge is developed or obtained. In other words, both have different approaches to the same issue Jefferys et al. (2007). The goal of scientists is to advance science. They are interested in publications, patents, and professorships, and less interested in social policy. Policy-makers are more interested in solutions that can be generally applied to a wide variety of problems, and their goal is to obtain popular support (Choi et al., 2005, p. 632).

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4 The Actors in the Process I: Researchers and Policy Makers Researchers rely on experimental and observational studies to test specific hypotheses in a systematic way. Their influence is based on their specialized knowledge. On the other hand, policymaking is built on a history of related policies and demands from stakeholders. Policymakers have to sell, argue, advocate, and get re-elected in light of their available political capital. Decisions are often the result of compromise. Their interests are often shorter term and keyed to an election cycle (Brownson et al., 2006, p. 165).

In an article published in 2001, Roller & Long studied the relationships between qualitative researchers and policy-makers. The authors identified three critical differences between the two groups, namely, the conception of truth, the vocabulary and the objectives of each group. With respect to truth, the authors consider that policy-makers assume an objective reality where causes lead to effects and where intervention in a causal path can lead to change. Qualitative researchers, on the other hand, consider that reality can only be approximated and that local contexts influence relationships, which in turn vary across settings. As to vocabulary, the authors argue that qualitative researchers have created a vocabulary that includes words thar are unintelligible to policy-makers, who speak a language “designed to keep outsiders on the outside” (Roller & Long, 2001, p. 714). With regard to the different objectives of researchers and policymakers, the authors posit that “researchers seek to understand; policy makers act to achieve an end” (Roller & Long, 2001, p. 715). One of the experts noted that The main characteristics of the relationship between researchers and policy makers can here be pointed out: a) trust; which means that both of them have the possibility of raising, proposing or rejecting some issue of the program without resenting the objective or weakening policy actions; b) common interests, even though the functions and aspirations of both may be different, operational success requires a community of interests regarding the objective of public policy; c) knowledge of the limits and possibilities of one with respect to the other, policy makers tend to be unaware of the scope or limits of a program, while researchers frequently underestimate the political or budgetary constraints that are part of the agenda of public policy makers. My experience suggests that to close the gap between both functions, it is necessary to set up executive teams that involve both functions in the implementation of public policies; that is, make it happen! (FL) Another of the experts stated that There is often considerable distrust between the two groups. Policy makers think researchers lack political awareness, while researchers think policy makers ignore science when convenient. Both are often false opinions and bringing the two groups to work together can bridge many of these divides by showing how both groups want the same thing: better policies that work. Very occasionally senior policy makers have become interested in this field and then things happen -eg. the Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi report that President Sarkozy commissioned in France- but often the work has been done by statisticians who prepare the new reports and measures of quality of life without any real understanding of who will use them. . . . I believe that it is only when the general public start demanding greater attention to QOL will governments pay more serious attention. . . and so the media have an important role. (J)

Worthy of note is also the different language used by each group: while the language used by researchers is precise and scientific, the language of policy-makers is more encompassing and concrete.

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Bourdieu (2008–1984, p. 35) warns us of the risk of misunderstandings in the transmission of scientific discourse in the social world. According to the author, such misunderstandings resides in the fact that the reader tends to interpret the statements of the constructed language in the way they function in the everyday world. It is a contemporary commonplace to imagine that if researchers and policy makers could just communicate with each other, everything would be fine. However, academic conversation is often contentious and not as gentle it tries to present itself as (Bridges et al., 2008, p. 9, quoting Elliott and Lukes, 2008). My own experience with EU-funded research and development projects, however, goes back to when I lived in Italy and I should like to discuss my experience with one of these projects in the 1990s. The cities of Birmingham, Athens, Stuttgart and Turin set up an international project called QUARTET. The aim of this project was to share research experience in the integration of telematics for enhanced traffic and transport management. Project consortia were created in each city to include both public bodies and private companies. At the time, Turin prided itself in being at the forefront of research, development and the implementation of telematics systems. The QUARTET Project was led by an engineering professor at Turin’s prestigious Politecnico di Torino. His colleague at the Politecnico became the city’s mayor while the project was underway. Although the city project had its detractors, there was an overriding sense of progress, as Turin sought to establish a new post-industrial identity, with visible benefits for the local community and scientific proof of improved traffic flows, faster commercial speeds for public transport and, in the longer term, cleaner air for the city. Relations between researchers and local policy makers at the time were therefore exceptionally good, as evidenced by the presence of public representatives from all four cities at project strategy meetings and organized conferences. In addition, the local authorities were well aware of the roles being played by their respective cities in the furtherance of scientific research and, for the most part, they actively encouraged experimentation (CW).

However, perhaps the most notable difference between researchers and policymakers is the timeframe they have to carry out their work. Researchers need long periods of time to develop their research projects and write their scientific papers, while policy-makers work on tight deadlines, driven by the urgency to produce a result. This means that they usually do not have the time to read lengthy complex research reports. Time is key to the interactions within and between researchers and policy-makers. The policy world is something unexpected, non-linear and difficult to predict in terms of temporality and time is becoming an increasingly useful lens through which to view research data, considering that researchers and policy-makers have different career timeframes that impact on developing their relationships, and on establishing networks (Smith et al., 2020, p. 10). We have carried out a search that shows that the discipline that has produced the largest number of scientific papers about this topic in the past decade is medicine. These products have shown that the failure to use research results in policy-making is a matter of concern. Let us see some examples: Hyder, Corluka, Winch, El-Shinnawy, Ghassany, Malekafzali, Lim, MfutsoBengo, Segura and Ghaffar (2011, p. 74) developed a study during 2006–2007 in 6 countries—Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Malawi, Oman and Singapore—in order to understand the perspectives and attitudes of policy-makers towards research, and

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towards using research to inform health policy. The specific objectives of the study were: to pilot test methodological approaches to empirical work on the research-to-policy interface; to understand the perceptions and attitudes of policy-makers towards research evidence; and to define key barriers and facilitators for the integration of research into policy. A total of 83 interviews, comprising 22 women and 65 men, were conducted including Ministers of Health, Chairs of Parliamentary Committees on Health, Director-Generals for Health Affairs, Advisors to the Ministers of Health, Directors of health reform programs and other identified health policy-makers (Hyder et al., 2011, p. 75). The results showed that the interviewees expressed considerable appreciation for research and its value in policy formulation. They enumerated a series of constraints and facilitators for translation of research results into policy: inadequate or ineffective communication of research results, influence of the political context, limited capacity in-country to conduct policy-relevant research and political constraints (Hyder et al., 2011, p. 75). From the policy-maker’s perspective, distinct potential measures proposing a more comprehensive and cohesive vision of linkages between policy-makers and researchers were suggested: strengthening demand from policy-makers, creating formal processes to facilitate dialogue between researchers and policy-makers, implementing incentives for researchers, enhancing technical capabilities and competencies, and improving the packaging of evidence (Hyder et al., 2011, P. 79). Jefferys et al. (2007) carried out a study about policy-makers’ views on research, its use in their work, and the ideas they have for potential collaboration. To collect the information, the authors conducted a telephone survey with state legislators in Minnesota in the summer of 2006 using mostly open-ended questions. A sample of 20 legislators was selected for participation in the telephone survey. Those interviewed included five members from each legislative caucus: Senate Democrats, Senate Republicans, House Democrats and House Republicans. The participating legislators represented a wide range of policy-making tenure, from less than one full term in office to seven terms. The participants were recruited by a member of the research team who is currently a five-term member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. Thus, the participants were known to the recruiter. Demographically, nine of the legislators interviewed represented rural districts, and eleven were from the metropolitan area with a split of seven from suburban districts and four from urban districts. Nine were male and eleven were female (Jefferys et al., 2007, pp. 5–6). A summary of the survey findings shows that: Policy-makers had prior experience with academic research and they considered that research is a form of problem solving that involves gathering information, studying an issue, and producing results; policy-makers report using academic research in their work for multiple purposes, most often to inform their positions on bills, but also to develop legislation and answer constituent concerns; policy-makers report multiple sources of information for the research they use, but are most likely to rely on nonpartisan legislative research offices; half of the policy-makers interviewed reported some personal contact by University researchers; policy-makers think researchers and the University should be reaching out to legislators to share their work, although a small minority of them expressed some suspicion of researchers who approach them

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first. Many policy-makers expressed a belief that public policy would be improved if it were based more on facts that emerge from research; although policy-makers expressed a good deal of interest in the results of research and using it in their work, most were unable to comment on the applicability of research to their work because they are unaware of what work is being done at the University (Jefferys et al., 2007). In 2012 Haynes, Derrick, Redman, Hall, Gillespie, Chapman & Sturk, from the University of Queensland, developed a study in Australia. The research team interviewed 26 civil servants, ministers and ministerial advisors, middle- to highranking staff in Departments of Health and health related regulatory or central agencies in New South Wales and Victoria. The main objective of the study was to establish how policy-makers find and assess researchers worth consulting or collaborating with. The authors reflected on the critical role of trustworthiness, and commented on the implications for policy-makers, and for researchers who wish to have more policy influence. The paper focused on explicating policy-makers’ selfreported views and behaviors regarding their selection of researchers (Haynes et al., 2012). The results showed that trustworthiness was considered to be an essential attribute by policy-makers. The conceptualization of trust appeared to incorporate many attributes of researchers, such as reputation, independence, pragmatism, authoritative breadth of knowledge, understanding of the government, collaborative skills, authenticity, faithful representation of research, and communications skills (Haynes et al., 2012, pp. 3–5). In the case of social scientists, they generally see knowledge as something that is theoretically and methodologically sound and/or defensible; conversely, policymakers see knowledge as something that comes from experience (Nielson, 2001, p. 6). We discussed the characteristics of the relationship between researchers and policy-makers with one of the experts, who referred to this relationship in terms of a dialogue: The relationship between research and policy making is like a dialogue: you need (at least) two parts (the research provider and the policy maker); something to talk about; a shared language; the will to communicate. While this is obvious, it helps highlighting some critical aspects that affect the impact of research in policy-making. For one, the two parts must be willing to listen to each other: researchers should be able to understand or even anticipate the needs of policy makers, whereas the latter should ask questions and take the time to listen to the answers. Second, researchers should escape their Babel’s tower: they should find ways to summarize and communicate their findings clearly. Let’s look at these two aspects in more detail. Modern societies are complex and fast paced. Decision makers must constantly adjust their policies in conditions of uncertainty. Here is where research can help: it can reduce or help to manage uncertainty, and provide ground for choosing among alternatives. (F)

Freire (1970, pp. 109-113) argues that dialogue requires humility so that the relationship between the dialoguers may be horizontal. It also requires hope, which gives rise to the dialoguers’ possibility of finding new alternatives, and critical thinking that perceives reality as an on-going process rather than as a static one. Finally, and following Gollust et al. (2017), we can state that examining the attitudes and perspectives of both researchers and policy-makers together is essential

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for making recommendations of how relationships between the two can be better supported (Gollust et al., 2017, p. 1).

4.4

Conclusions

Drawing on the idea that knowledge can only be accessed through freedom and on Sen’s (2000, p. 35) approach that individuals are active agents of change rather than mere recipients of benefits, we have identified the different situations experienced by researchers and policy-makers. In the case of researchers, there are different institutional forms of power in the academic and scientific arena that condition their research work. In the case of policy-makers, trustworthiness was considered to be an essential attribute. In addition, given that they generally lack the resources or information they need to carry out their decisions, they have to resort to formulas that have given them good results in the past. Time is key to the interactions within and between researchers and policy-makers. As noted by Al-Riyami, (2010, p. 251), researchers and policymakers have different perspectives on resources and timelines regarding the availability of research results; they operate in different environments, each with its own professionalism and limitations. In sum, policy-makers and researchers have different objectives, different timeframes and use a different language. In view of these differences, researchers should be thoughtful and clear about why and how they are getting involved in policy-making Jefferys, Troy, Slawik & Lightfoot (2007, p. 19). Policy-makers need to look for the information researchers produce if they want to obtain information about the topics they need to act on. Therefore, from our point of view, the interaction between researchers and policymakers should enrich the work of both groups without hindering or conditioning the freedom of either of them.

Cases Case 1: The Granting of Research Funds by Christopher Wrathall About the possibility of researchers to decide the research, we need to consider first whether such freedom might be considered appropriate. Given that much pre-commercial research in the UK and elsewhere is funded with public money, there is a strong argument for ensuring that decisions affecting research topics and directions should at least be justifiable in the extent to which they promote the public good. Some might argue further that the taxpayer should have the right to intervene,

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by means of the elected government, in the choices of research streams. Personally, and as a taxpayer, I am fervently opposed to government intervention in these choices. In 2017 an attempt by a UK government whip to obtain the names of university lecturers involved in teaching European affairs with particular reference to Brexit was roundly condemned by the universities and disowned by the UK government itself.1 Four years later, the threat to research from the UK government is less targeted but more radical, as the prospect of cuts to research grants suggests that whole swathes of research sectors will be deprived of further funding.2 In the UK, the universities and research institutions have hither to a large extent been able to determine for themselves the themes and the topics of research. A combination of available public money, support from interested private investors and involvement in international research programs has helped to keep the UK at the forefront of research and development. While the researchers themselves, as the principal experts in their respective fields, have been relatively free to determine the direction of their research, there have always been checks and balances from the stakeholders to which researchers have had to adhere and to justify funding and investment. An excellent overview of the balance that must be achieved among researchers and research stakeholders can be found in Sir Paul Nurse’s report, Ensuring a successful UK research endeavor.3 Nurse refers to the ‘Haldane Principle’, according to which “decisions about the allocation of research funding are best taken by those who have the expertise and experience to know where it will be best spent”.4 He extends that principle by differentiating between “scientists that are close to the research under consideration” and “scientific research leaders, who may be distant from the specific work being assessed”, stressing that the latter “should focus on high level priorities”. Overall, a healthy scenario is depicted in the report where a balance is struck that enables researchers to choose their research and carry it out freely in accordance with their own specialized understanding of the research area. The report was written prior to the Brexit referendum in 2016 and the balance it advocates is now, in my view, under threat from the proposed cutting of UK government grants, the prospect of a global recession following the COVID-19 pandemic and the UK’s withdrawal from EU research programs, in accordance with declared Brexit principles.

1

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/oct/24/no-10-disowns-tory-whip-accused-of-mccar thyite-behaviour-universities-brexit 2 https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/news/Pages/govt-must-urgently-reconsider-research-budgetcuts.aspx 3 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/ file/478125/BIS-15-625-ensuring-a-successful-UK-research-endeavour.pdf 4 Ibid.

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Case 2: The Relationship Between Research and the Courts in the Field of Housing by María Laura Zulaica The experience under analysis here consisted of a research study on the habitability conditions of an urban housing complex, with a particular focus on the construction and building aspects following the verification and detection of defects, pathological processes, deficiencies and damages. The research study took the form of an Expedited Diagnosis, drafted with the aim of giving expert evidence in a court case and providing elements for decision making. The study was carried out by the National Scientific and Technical Research Council at the request of Argentina’s Public Prosecutor’s Office. In this respect, the findings of the research were submitted by the Public Prosecutor’s Office to Argentina’s Supreme Court in order to avoid the closure of the case in which the expert evidence was submitted. The case was brought in order to look into the existence of construction flaws or deficiencies in the facilities and housing units, as reported by the awardee residents that were relocated in the housing complex. The request for the closure of the case was based on the argument that the construction flaws and defects had already been remedied. The Diagnosis shows that this is not true and that therefore, the closure of the case adversely affects the residents’ right to housing, which warrants that court supervision should remain open. The Complex comprises 780 housing units with conflicts over housing, safety and environmental deficiencies. It is composed of 13 modules, each containing three buildings attached together in the shape of a strip. Each module has a uniform height of 5 stories and contains 20 housing units, some of which are still unfinished. Work on modules 1, 12 and 13–which are still unoccupied–is at various degrees of progress. The building system used for walls and slabs is an industrialized one. The building work was initially undertaken by work cooperatives formed by residents of informal neighborhoods. Subsequently, following the commencement of a lawsuit, a construction company took over the execution of the pending works. Residents began to move into the Complex in 2010, before the works were finished, and the definition of the housing recipients has varied over time. The city district where the Complex is located is one of the most overlooked ones in terms of economic and social development, and the one with the lowest added value, accounting for only 2% of the total. As to accessibility, the district is the farthest away from a subway station and a commercial area, as well as from hospitals and police stations. In accordance with official sources, 9.6% of the total population residing in the district is unemployed, while 8.6% is underemployed; in turn, 45.3% of the salaried households cannot afford the Total Consumption Basket. It is the district with the largest population residing in shanty towns and slums (61,600 people) and it is in turn the district with the largest amount of housing complexes which are home to thousands of families with serious structural and maintenance problems and deprivation of access to public services. From the point of view of housing, it is worth

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noting that 4% of the households live in deficit habitat typologies, coupled with a lack of connectivity with the rest of the city. As to the ownership regime, many of the housing units are held under irregular conditions and were acquired through selfproduction processes. This is also the district with the most critical levels of overcrowding. The complaints reveal a violation of constitutional rights. The habitability conditions analyzed in the Diagnosis are directly linked to constitutional rights. The right to worthy housing is explicitly set forth in Argentina’s Constitution as a basic human right, in line with the notion of the right to an adequate standard of living embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966. Along the same lines, the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man of 1948 provides in Chapter One that “[e]very person has the right to the preservation of his health through sanitary and social measures relating to food, clothing, housing (. . .)”. In addition, the right is expressly set out in the American Convention on Human Rights. The Diagnosis also looks at the right to health, which is recognized within the framework of the Constitution and consumer protection law, and which can be safeguarded by means of an action for the protection of constitutional rights, known as “amparo” proceedings”, in the event of its violation. The abovementioned provisions are supplemented by Article 75(22) of Argentina’s Constitution, which grants international human rights treaties constitutional standing. In addition, Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recognizes everyone’s right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and requires States Parties to adopt measures to assure medical attention in the event of sickness. Similarly, Argentina’s Constitution provides that all inhabitants “are entitled to a healthy balanced environment fit for human development and for productive activities to satisfy present needs without compromising those of future generations; and shall have the duty to preserve it”. In addition, the National Law on minimum standards for environmental protection is aimed, among other things, at promoting the improvement of the quality of life of present and future generations on a priority basis and fostering social participation in decision-making processes. It should be noted that in the case under examination there has been a violation of the population’s right to participate in decision-making processes, as the manner in which residents were relocated in the Complex has not guaranteed a democratic management. This is a complex case involving different actors. Such multiplicity of actors, with their different viewpoints and approaches on how to take action, makes the analysis even more complex, not so much in terms of the preparation of the Diagnosis, but in terms of the attempts to find alternatives and strategies for intervention. The Diagnosis was prepared by an interdisciplinary team involving researchers and specialists in defects and construction pathologies. In other words, the research team worked in coordination with professional specialists in order to respond to the requirements of the Diagnosis. The Diagnosis comprised a survey of construction aspects (the building envelope, facilities and interventions), safety aspects (street lighting, fire extinguishers, signposting, handrails for children, etc.), and

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environmental aspects (green spaces, accumulation of material and/or waste, storage of waste and health conditions in common areas). In addition, the work involved key referents of the community. From the methodological point of view, because of the approach chosen and the magnitude of the complex, the Diagnosis focused on the analysis of secondary and documentary information and on field work based on a detailed survey, albeit limited in scope. The survey included an eye inspection of the exteriors and outdoor common areas. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted with referents in order to look at habitability conditions from a broader perspective. The challenges posed by the experience can be divided into two main aspects: a methodological one and another linked to the research proper. The former is concerned with the conduct of field work within the framework of the Mandatory Preventive Social Isolation and Distancing measures adopted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, while the latter involves the definition of the scope of the Diagnosis. The isolation measures made it difficult to access enclosed common areas and housing units in the Complex. The whole survey was carried out from the outside and thus the method used to identify defects and pathologies had to be adjusted to the existing possibilities. This posed a new challenge for the conduct of field work. The residents and referents were interviewed for the survey remotely and/or in the outdoors. Moreover, it was considered necessary to survey all of the modules in the Complex instead of only the ones involved in the court case. The modules that were to be analyzed in the Diagnosis are numbers 2, 3, 10 and 11, while modules 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 concern other relocation operations and are not related to the expert study. Although particular emphasis was placed on the analysis of the modules involved in the court case, the diagnosis was comprehensive in nature as it took the Complex as a whole. The team considered that it is not possible to distinguish between those residents that are involved in the court case and those that are not when it comes to the analysis of habitability conditions and potentially infringed rights. For this reason, the research was more exhaustive than originally envisaged. In general terms, the findings of the Diagnosis allow concluding that the minimum habitability conditions, as well as adequate access to infrastructure, equipment and essential services, are not guaranteed in the Complex. The defects and pathological processes detected affect both the outside and the inside of the housing units and the interventions carried out in order to “remedy” them have historically assumed a sectoral approach dealing with specific problems without addressing core issues. While most of the construction and building defects are localized, they deteriorate with the passage of time, and generally carry a progressive risk or a risk for other construction elements. In addition, many of the defects detected have been caused or compounded by the cultural (in)adequacy of the use of the housing units. In this connection, it is worth highlighting that, when the residents were relocated, their economic and productive activities were not taken into consideration, nor were specific spaces allocated for the development of these activities that arise from the needs of the residents of the

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Complex. In addition, the building system used does not adjust to the residents’ needs. The environmental conditions and common areas show signs of deterioration and modalities of occupation that impair habitability. Seventeen abandoned cars and more than thirty points of material and scrap accumulation were identified. Moreover, common areas are the subject of dispute between public use and the private use of the residents that have had to adapt their productive and social needs (including symbolic ones) to areas designed for other purposes. In terms of safety, certain situations were identified that pose direct risks to the residents’ health and integrity. One of the most critical problems is the impossibility to take action in the event of a fire. The fire protection system cannot be operated as there are no outdoor water tapping points or hoses and accessory equipment. Additionally, there are no signs, evacuation plans or emergency lights. The research reveals the existence of the legal tools and institutional devices needed to guarantee a comprehensive approach for relocation processes. However, in practice, such complexity has been addressed in a partial and piecemeal manner, giving rise to different obstacles to achieving a comprehensive intervention that contemplates all the dimensions involved. According to the residents, the Complex is a neighborhood that is “highly intervened by the State” and “an example of everything that one should not do”, as “the improvements come in dribs and drabs”. Added to these interventions are the complexities stemming from the involvement of different state agencies (housing, education, health etc.), with difficulties to articulate actions. This further reveals the lack of a comprehensive approach that can guide the process as a whole. On the basis of the study carried out, specific improvements were requested for the Complex that have an impact on the residents’ safety and health. Along the same lines, following the Diagnosis, the next step that needs to be taken is the adoption of a comprehensive, interdisciplinary and institutional approach. In turn, the research opens new avenues for addressing cases exhibiting similar problems. The case under analysis concerns a research study prompted by a specific request to contribute to decision making in the political arena. The study evidences the violation of the rights to adequate housing, health, a healthy balanced environment and the participation of the actors concerned in decision making. Against this background, scientific research provided key elements to help find comprehensive solutions that, based on a participative approach, can facilitate the design of agreedupon and improved proposals guaranteeing suitable habitability conditions for the relocated families. The transfer of research results on habitability conditions to the territory in question at the request of a state agency contributes to the design and definition of public policies aimed at improving the population’s quality of life. It is citizens that claim for their rights to adequate housing, health, a healthy environment and participation in decision-making. It is inhabitants themselves that refuse to be mere recipients of governmental decisions who bring legal actions to fight for their rights. In the case under study, the research carried out contributed scientific and technical elements that provide a basis for citizens’ claims and help to define actions

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in the political field, which can be extended to other cases involving similar problems.

References Al-Riyami, A. (2010). Health researchers and policy makers: A need to strengthen relationship. Oman Medical Journal, 25(4), 251–252. https://doi.org/10.5001/omj.2010.75 Bauman, Z. (2006). En busca de la política. Buenos Aires. Bridges, D., Smeyers, P., & Smith, R. (2008). Educational research and the practical judgement of policy-makers. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 42(1), 1–14. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/ viewdoc/download?doi¼10.1.1.553.632&rep¼rep1&type¼pdf Brownson, R., Royer, C. H., Ewing, R., & McBride, T. (2006). Researchers and policymakers travelers in parallel universes. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 30(2), 164–172. Choi, B., Pang, T., Lin, V., Puska, P., Sherman, G., Goddard, M., Ackland, M., Sainsbury, P., Stachenko, S., Morrison, H., & Clottey, C. (2005). Can scientists and policy makers work together? J Epidemiol Community, 59, 632–637. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.2004.031765 Díaz Gomez, A. (2006). Formación compleja en humanidades en el ámbito de la educación superior. In Sotolongo Codina, P. & Delgado Diaz, C. (comp.) La revolución contemporánea del saber y la complejidad social. Hacia unas ciencias sociales de nuevo tipo.. Bs. As.: CLACSO Libros. pp. 223–232. Elliott, J., & Lukeš, D. (2008). Epistemology as ethics in research and policy: The use of case studies. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 42(s1), 87–119. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.14679752.2008.00629.x Freire, P. (1970–2005). Pedagogía del oprimido. Siglo XXI Editores. Gollust, S., Seymour, J. W., Pany, M. J., Goss, A., Meisel, Z. F., & Grande, D. (2017). INQUIRY: The journal of health care organization. Provision, and Financing, 54, 1–11. https://doi.org/10. 1177/0046958017705465 Gunn, A., & Mintrom, M. (2016). Higher education policy change in Europe: Academic research funding and the impact agenda. European Education, 48(4), 241–257. Haynes, A., Derrick, G. E., Redman, S., Hall, W. D., Gillespie, J. A., Chapman, S., & Sturk, H. (2012). Identifying trustworthy experts: How do policymakers find and assess public health researchers worth consulting or collaborating with? PLoS One | www.plosone.org 1 March 2012, 7(3), 1–8. Hyder, A., Corluka, A., Winch, P., El-Shinnawy, A., Ghassany, H., Malekafzali, H., Lim, M., Mfutso-Bengo, J., Segura, E., & Ghaffar, A. (2011). National policy-makers speak out: Are researchers giving them what they need? Health Policy and Planning, 26, 73–82. https://doi. org/10.1093/heapol/czq020 Ion, G., Stîngu, M., & Marin, E. (2018). How can researchers facilitate the utilisation of research by policy-makers and practitioners in education? Research Papers in Education, 34, 1–16. https:// doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2018.1452965 Jefferys, M., Troy, K., Slawik, N., & Lightfoot, E. (2007). Issues in bridging the divide between policymakers and researchers. University of Minnesota. Kothari, A., McLean, L., & Edwards, N. (2009). Increasing capacity for knowledge translation: Understanding how some researchers engage policy-makers. Health Studies Publications., 8, 1–20. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/healthstudiespub/8 Nielson, S. (2001). Knowledge utilization and public policy processes: A Lierature review. Evaluation UNIT IDRC. Roller, K., & Long, R. (2001). Critical issues: Sounding like more than background noise to policy makers: Qualitative researchers in the policy arena. Journal of Literacy Research, 33(4), 707–725.

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Sen, A. (1999). La libertad individual como compromiso social. Ecuador. Sen, A. (2000). Desarrollo y Libertad. Bogotá. Smith, K., Fernie, S. and Pilcher, N. (2020) Aligning the times: Exploring the convergence of researchers, policy makers and research evidence in higher education policy making. Research in Education. First published April, 26, 2020. pp. 1–20. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/ pdf/10.1177/0034523720920677 Tonon, G. (2007). La propuesta teórica de la calidad de vida. HOLOGRAMÁTICA Año VI, Número 7, VI:15–21, https://cienciared.com.ar/ra/usr/3/18/hologramatica07_v1pp15_21.pdf Tonon, G. (2019). Traditional Academic Presentation of Research Findings and Public Policies. In P. Liamputtong (Ed.), Handbook of Research Methods in Health Social Sciences (pp. 999–1012). Springer. Tonon, G. (2020). Pensar la participación en América Latina desde la propuesta teórica de Amartya Sen. REVISTA REFLEXÕES, de Filosofía ANPOF, FORTALEZA-CE - Ano 9, N 17 - Julho a Dezembro de 2020. Dossiê Amartya Sen pp. 140–149. https://revistareflexoes.com.br/wpcontent/uploads/2020/07/10.10.10-Graciela.pdf Trostle, J., Bronfman, M., & Langer, A. (1999). How do researchers influence decision-makers? Case studies of Mexican policies. Health Policy and Planning, 14(2), 103–114. Oxford University Press.

Chapter 5

The Actors in the Process II: Citizen Participation in Public Policies

Abstract This chapter focuses on citizenship and citizen participation in public policies. In doing so, it draws on the current notion of citizenship, which comprises not only a legal status defined by a set of rights and obligations, but also an identity and the expression of belonging to a specific political community. The chapter raises the question of whether at present citizens are actors or passive recipients of public policies, and argues that in current democracies people have the expectation of enjoying both political and social rights. It also examines the closely related concept of social citizenship, which requires that security and opportunities be shared by all. It presents participation as a society-state relationship circumscribed by the notions of democracy and citizenship, which must be understood as a space for interaction, communication and differentiation between the state and the social system. The chapter concludes with two cases: a neighborhood improvement program developed during the COVID-19 pandemic as a response to the SDGs and a research study about university as a scenario for the construction of citizenship. Keywords Citizenship · Participation · Democracy · Policy circle

5.1

The Place of Citizens in the Policy Circle

Since the advent of modernity, the notion of citizenship has been associated with individual rights and the belonging to a political community. It is indeed, since the nineteenth century, a category that integrates the discourses of justice and demands for social identity (Sandoval Moya, 2003, p. 32). As a conceptual category, citizenship is based on meanings, narratives and discourses. As a historic category, it has an empirical content in constant evolution, as its significance in each historical period depends on the political and cultural conditions in which it develops (Sandoval Moya, 2003, pp. 32–33). Citizenship is an ever-evolving dialectical concept between rights and obligations, status and institutions, public policies and corporate or individual interests. Citizenship is a process of permanent conquest of formal rights and demands for public policies to make those rights effective (Borja, 2002, p. 2).

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 G. Tonon, Key Actors in Public Policy-making for Quality of Life, Human WellBeing Research and Policy Making, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90467-8_5

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The evolution of citizenship rights has been the result of a three-fold process: a socio-political process, with certain sectors mobilizing to make demands; a cultural one, of legitimation of demands; and a political-juridical or institutional one, of legalization and implementation of new public policies. However, citizenship rights today are much more complex than in the past and require adaptation to much more diversified populations (Borja, 2002, pp. 3–4). According to Somers (1997), citizenship cannot be considered a natural category as it depends on public and inter-subjective relationships. Indeed, as put by Sojo (2002, p. 26), “citizenship is an affirmation of the community, largely based on the notion of the other”. Cortina (1997) states that citizenship is a political relationship between an individual and the community, which involves rights and obligations, and that it is also an element of social identification for citizens that creates an approximation between equal ones and a separation from those that are different. Przeworski (1998, pp. 62–63) argues that citizenship can be exercised when the normative system is guided by universal criteria, when the rule of law is enforced, when public powers are willing and able to protect rights and when all individuals enjoy certain social and economic prerequisites. Thus, the state and the citizenry must define a mutual set of obligations. Our first reflection on the role of citizens in the public policy cycle is whether citizens should currently be conceived as users or beneficiaries of policies. Indeed, if we look at the history of social policies, this is how citizens have been primarily conceived. Under the conception of citizens as beneficiaries, citizens are viewed as subjects with needs that must be satisfied by the State or by private charity. Citizens are thus assigned a passive role and deprived of any action and involvement in public policy design processes. On the other hand, under the conception of citizens as users, citizens are seen as using the services they receive, also because they need them, without any engagement in the relevant decision-making processes. However, the health field and, more particularly, the mental health field has seen the emergence of the concept of user as an expert. In this connection, Palomer, Izquierdo, Leahy, Masferrer and Flores (2010, p. 115) state that user involvement goes beyond engaging users in their own treatment and extends to their involvement in the research, formation, assessment and development of services. Thus, users may become engaged in service planning and health policy design. The concept of user involvement, which emerged in the 1990s (Bhui et al., 1998; Wood, 1994), implies engaging users in their own care and adapting services to their needs and preferences, which translates into users’ taking different roles and responsibilities with the services they use. Of relevance here is also the concept of social client, which has been used, particularly in the northern hemisphere countries, in connection with recipients of social assistance. In this respect, Payne (1995, pp. 36–39) argues that social client hood is not an invariable or absolute state, as the process of attaining client hood is socially defined and begins when an individual has a problem that needs resolution and thus requires the help of state agencies and professional teams.

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Traditionally, state responses to citizens’ problems have materialized in social policies, defined as one of the types of public policies. An analysis of public policies must take into account the historical period and geographical location in which they emerged and were developed, as well as their expected or unexpected effect and impact (Tonon, 2015, p. 78). As early as in 1983, Jones, Brown and Bradshaw proposed analyzing the potential of social policies to increase social justice, taking into account certain requirements: social policies must safeguard basic freedoms; provide equal opportunities; reach all human beings without exception; include social services as social goods; cover economic, social and political aspects; and be socially cohesive. According to Mkandawire (2001, p. 23) “social policy must be designed not only residually, to cater for social needs, but as a key component of policies that ensures the wherewithal for their own sustainability”. However, public policies are not merely circumscribed to the provision of a social service. They are also characterized by the fact that individuals’ access to them is mediated by the relationship with the professionals operating the service. Such relationship may take various forms, and may either respect individuals’ selfdetermination and their particular characteristics and needs, treating them as active agents, or conceive individuals as passive recipients of dispensed assistance (Tonon, 2015, p. 78). In addition, it is worth considering the question of actual access to social policies. Indeed, the provision of social services has traditionally been contingent on the resources of the potential beneficiary (Fitoussi & Rosanvallon, 2003). This invites reflection on how potential recipients are selected and the distortions that may emerge along the process. In this respect, Sen (2000, pp. 168–172) has classified distortions in the selection of recipients into six types, namely: information distortion, incentive distortion, stigma, loss of privacy, high administrative costs and corruption. Consulted about this issue, one of the experts pointed out: Citizens play crucial roles in the design and implementation of policies. These roles are not (certainly should not be) circumscribed to users. A word on “users”. “Users” is clearly a much better word than “beneficiaries” or “clients”. “Clients” evoke ideas of commercial transactions—definitely a perspective that should be avoided when thinking of the impact of policies, in particular these associated with the realization of rights (from education to social protection). Precisely because there are entitlements, calling those who receive the entitlement “beneficiaries” seems to imply an improper gain and/or a certain level of condescension. In so far as the policies provide some type of services, the word “user” seems the most appropriate. However, citizens should also play additional roles (leaving aside the issue of taxation to finance policies, which would depend on the capacity to pay). One of these roles, which is fundamental is to vote. This, at least indirectly, shapes the overall direction of intention of the government.(ED)

The notion of citizenship goes beyond the right to vote. Quiroga states (1996, p. 154, quoting Alain 1989) that democracy is not defined by universal suffrage but rather by citizens’ power of control.

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5 The Actors in the Process II: Citizen Participation in Public Policies Nevertheless, citizens can do more than rather passively vote periodically. They can be engaged, participate, advocate, mobilize, campaign, organize, question, etc. while the specifics of how to be involved in all or any of these activities will vary across time and countries depending on cultural and legal contexts, there are many opportunities for citizens to influence the direction of policy-making. This active citizen participation is important to generate and shape the often cited “Political will”. It is often said the political will is crucial for approving or implementing some policies. However, political will does not spring up from thin air. It is the result of political processes. If citizens are not engaged, the political will of policy-makers will be influenced by non-citizens (e.g., corporations). (ED)

Brinkerhoff (1999) defines political will as the intent of societal actors to attack the manifestations and causes of corruption in an effort to reduce or eliminate them. Political will is influenced by a set of environmental factors, which also affects anticorruption reforms and outcomes (Brinkerhoff, 1999, p. 5). The author posits that “political will is the commitment of actors to undertake actions to achieve a set of objectives—in this case, anticorruption policies and programs—and to sustain the costs of those actions over time” (Brinkerhoff, 1999, p. 3). Against this background, it is worth examining the concept of accountability. While it dates back several centuries, the concept has undergone multiple modifications (Bovens, 2006). In the context of a democratic state, the key accountability relationships are those between citizens and the members of the government. Thus, basic accountability has commonly covered such issues as how citizens can hold elected candidates accountable for their policies, how legislators can scrutinize the actions of public servants and hold them accountable for their mistakes (Mulgan, 2000). The concept is used in such a way that it raises questions about the different channels of accountability, about the balance between accountability and efficiency, and about the distinctions between political and administrative responsibility. Today in the academic field, the concept commonly refers to the sense of individual responsibility and concern for the public interest expected of public servants. It is linked to the extent to which governments pursue their wants or needs, and applies to the public discussion among citizens on which democracies depend in terms of dialogue (Mulgan, 2000).

5.2

About Citizenship and Social Citizenship

The modern imaginary of citizenship is premised on two fundamental lines: the liberal discourse, according to which individuals have civil and political rights that guarantee their freedom to participate in the capitalism of production; and the social discourse, which argues that individuals must be protected with a base of social rights that ensure equitable access to the new modern society (Sandoval Moya, 2003, p. 34). According to Marshall (1949–1998), social citizenship encompasses economic and social rights, whose protection is guaranteed by the political action of the state. However, it should be noted that the idea of equality introduced by Marshall’s

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concept of citizenship did not necessarily lead to an increase in structural equality in each individual’s quotas of formal power. Rather, it was based on the type of social contract embodying citizen rights, which was an agreement among free men having the same status, albeit not necessarily the same power. What is more, the notion of citizenship did not reflect the recognition of cultural diversity, which emerged later on with modern citizenship (Sandoval Moya, 2003, p. 35). Social citizenship is based on a set of (minimum) welfare rights and social obligations that allow all members to participate equitably in the basic levels of life in their community. The owner of citizenship is a legal subject with rights and obligations. These rights can only be guaranteed in a political community and, in this sense, citizenship must be understood as the product of social relations and the practice of these rights in the public sphere, rather than as merely previously defined personal attributes (Tonon, 2012, p. 14). At the same time, social citizenship not only entails the existence of formally established rights but, crucially, actual access to them. In this respect, in the interview with Enrique Delamonica, he pointed out that Marshall (1950) introduced the concept of social citizenship after the launching of the Beveridge report in the UK and the consolidation of what later came to be known as the modern Keynesian Welfare National State (in the terms of Jessop). Marshall describes the evolution of Social Citizenship (comprising civil, political, and socioeconomic rights) in terms of, on the one hand, relying on democratic reforms and expansion of enfranchisement and, on the other hand, further expanding democracy and democratic values/practices. This virtuous circle is reminiscent of the synergy between the rise of the bourgeoisie (as the class spearheading capitalism against the land-holding class) and democratic overtures (the increasing power of parliament at the expense of the Crown) as England moved out of the Middle Ages. This is important because class is central to Marshall’s analysis. One of his main points is that social citizenship helps to break down class differences and to promote equity. Every person (citizen), regardless of birth opportunities or current circumstances, is entitled to minimum standards of income and social services, individual freedoms, and political participation. Even accepting that the range of social rights has been expanded (roughly in parallel to the expansive understanding of Quality of Life) in the more than a half century since Marshall wrote about these issues, the concept was and still is transformative (in the terms of Mkandawire). Unfortunately, for the majority of people on earth, social citizenship is still not a reality (Delamonica). Mkandawire (2001, p. 1) defines social policy as collective interventions directly affecting transformation in social welfare, social institutions and social relations. The author uses the term “transformation” with due consideration of the fact that the term can imply retraction and reduction, as well as social development. In the last decades of the twentieth century, the notion of citizenship underwent a process of redefinition that made recognition and diversity visible, and which gave rise to the issue of ethnic and gender identities, thus expanding the debate on the classic notion of citizenship. This debate recognizes a discourse that promotes integration and another one of recognition of diversity.

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The integration discourse focuses on an effort to define citizenship from the logic of the redistribution of social protection goods and services and a system of public policies that respond to structural inequality. The diversity discourse defines citizenship on the basis of the recognition of identities, languages, and cultural products of minority groups. In this way, the logic of redistribution and recognition would account for different dimensions of citizenship, none of which would be a priori more important than the other (Sandoval Moya, 2003, p. 36). In this respect, García Canclini (1995) argues that the formation of postmodern identities is founded on trans territoriality and multilingualism. In this scenario, two social groups play a leading role: ethnic groups -indigenous peoplesand migrant groups. Ethnic groups have traditionally been marginalized and excluded from the political and economic spaces of the countries they inhabit. The past few decades have, however, seen the emergence of a process of vindication of indigenous rights that focuses on the recognition of indigenous persons as true citizens, with the consequent expansion of the concept of traditional citizenship. For example, in the case of Latin American states, the struggle for the recognition and cultural promotion of indigenous peoples has led some states to progressively accept their status as plural, multicultural and multiethnic nations. This is the case of the national constitutions of Ecuador and Bolivia -passed in 2008 and 2009-, which self-define the state as plurinational or as a pluri-national community. This is a step beyond the pluricultural or multicultural character they have adopted. Migrant groups are those whose existence takes place in differentiated territorialities: country of origin/country of residence. This phenomenon has led to the emergence of the concept of “transnational citizenship”, which entails migrants’ exercise of political rights in their country of residence. The transnational aspect is defined by the activities carried out by non-institutional actors in different states, such as social movements or migratory networks. These transnational populations maintain links in more than one nation-state, both economic (remittances), social (immigrant associations) and political (dual citizenship). Castillo García (2007) points to the existence of two views of citizenship: one that is considered traditional and covers citizens’ relations with the State, society and the rules of participation in public life, and another one defined as “new citizenships”, which has emerged as a result of the process of globalization, the advance of technology, migration movements, intercultural processes and social recoveries. Przeworski (1998, p. 62 and 68) argues that the difficulty faced by democracy is that, while it is a system of positive rights, the conditions required for the effective exercise of those rights and obligations are not created automatically. Thus, in order for all citizens to exercise their rights and for citizenship to be effective, the necessary social conditions need to be generated. According to Sen (2000, pp. 69–70), processes supported by social policies are a recipe for rapid achievement of a better quality of life, and this is of great importance for economic policy. However, more work needs to be done for broader achievements of quality of life. Citizens of current democracies expect to enjoy political as

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well as social rights. This has given rise to the concept of social citizenship, which requires that security and opportunities be shared by all (Przeworski, 1998). Thus, equal access to the so-called social opportunities—identified by Sen (2000) basically as access to education and access to health—can only be guaranteed through social citizenship. In this connection, Freijeiro Varela (2008, p. 178) quotes Sen as he proposes shifting attention away from social citizenship focused on a minimum material equalization of individuals to counter the inequalities caused by the market to social citizenship aimed at the creation of social opportunities.

5.3

Citizens as Protagonists of Public Policies

Gordon (2002, p. 176) considers democracy as a prerequisite of social justice, based on the idea that a greater possibility of participation in political processes enhances the opportunity to participate in the distribution of economic goods and may thus result in a more equitable distribution. Along these lines, (Roberts 1998, p. 39) points out that citizenship involves a process of defining and redefining rights and expanding the base of participation. Sen (2002, p. 6) proposes adopting an essentially ‘people-centered’ approach, which puts human agency—rather than organizations such as markets or governments—at the center of the stage. Sen (2000, p. 66) argues that there are two possible models for the enhancement of living conditions: economic growth, which can bring about a wide-based economic improvement and an expansion of general social services; and social policies implemented by governments, based on health care, education and other social service arrangements. Therefore, quality of life should be assessed not only in terms of an individual’s achievements towards life satisfaction but also in terms of his/her pursuit of freedom to attain such satisfaction. The capabilities approach developed by Sen is a theoretical proposal to assess life satisfaction, social situations and the design of public policies, with an impact on economic development, social policies and international development (Sen, 2000). Crocker and Robeyns (2010, p. 75, quoting Sen, 1999) define agency as an agentoriented view in which individuals and groups must effectively decide and shape their own destiny and help each other, thus becoming active participants in change, rather than passive and docile recipients of the assistance they receive. The achievement of a person’s agency is his/her decision and action based on what he/she values and has reasons to value, and a person’s agency freedom is the freedom to decide and the power to act and be effective. For a person, or group, to be considered an agent, the following four conditions must be met: (1) self-determination: the person decides for him/herself instead of someone or something else making the decision to do X; (2) orientation and deliberation of reason: the person bases his/her decisions on reasons, such as the achievement of objectives; (3) action: the person performs or has a role in the performance of X; and (4) impact on the world: the person causes (or contributes to cause) changes in the world (Crocker & Robeyns, 2010, p. 80).

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The concept of citizenship, which constitutes the underpinning of civility, requires society’s recognition of its members and the consequent adhesion of citizens to common projects (Seibold, 1999, p 480, quoting Cortina, 1997). We discussed this topic with Roberto Castellanos, who advanced an interesting view of citizenship in terms of citizens’ commitment and as an emotional and affective state. He notes that citizenship is a legal status, a social bond and a belonging link, a political and cultural identity. But citizenship is also an affective, emotional state. The practice and exercise of citizenship could not be sufficiently understood without considering its affective dimension, the one that links us with experiences, emotions, sensations and memories. And it is that more conventional dimension—rational?—of citizenship, the one that appeals to the socio-political link, cultural identity or legal status, which in imbued by another more subtle, but perhaps more permanent dimension: one anchored in experiences and affects, that reminds us which community we belong to and why. In Mexico, where citizens receive and count the votes of their neighbors on Election Day (which makes it a unique electoral organization model in the world), there are authentic epic stories of the tireless effort of many citizens who, being in charge of receiving and counting the votes in a ballot station, they do everything necessary to ensure that the vote of their fellow citizens is counted and, hence, counts as an expression of a citizen’s will. These are citizens who stay until dawn the day after the election, until the last vote is counted. Citizens who, once the votes are tallied at the voting station, make sure to take them safely to the voting collection centers, sometimes even crossing rivers or after long and strenuous journeys, on foot or on the back of a mule. These are examples of a citizen commitment that only has as its reward the satisfaction of a fulfilled duty—hence it may be difficult to explain only in terms of adherence to a citizen commitment. Here, one can claim that there are affective and emotional bases with the exercise of citizenship which need to be taken into account. When I ask other people to explain what makes them feel Mexican citizens (or citizens of any other country for that matter), many refer to having reached 18 years of age—the age at which citizenship is achieved in Mexico—, obtaining their voting identification, the act of voting itself, having participated in a demonstration or march or to be part of a civic cause. But in almost all cases, whichever specific action that links a person to their being and becoming a citizen, there is always an affective dimension, the emotion that made them anchor the idea of citizenship with a particular experience. At a time when democracy is going through a deep global crisis, and there are demands for its renewal, it is also essential to revisit the idea we have of citizenship and in particular to explore what are the affective and emotional bases for its support, meaning, viability and sustainability over time. Perhaps the future of citizenship and of democracy itself may depend on that (Castellanos).

Benedicto and Moran (2003, pp. 47–48) explain that the different processes of acquisition and transformation of citizenship take place around the processes that shape social life and individuals’ life trajectories. This is based on a dynamic and relational conception of citizenship in which social practices are at the center of argumentation, and where citizenship, in its multidimensional character, is

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conceived as formed by a number of elements whose specific interrelation defines its social dynamics in a given group or social context. The authors emphasize the need to regain the centrality of the sociopolitical component of citizenship. In line with our interviewee’s view of citizenship as an affective, emotional state, Miller states in his PhD thesis (2010): The emotional citizen is politically informed, engaged, interested, attentive, caring, and understanding—all the qualities that we normatively want citizens in a modern participatory democracy to possess. Individuals low in those qualities do not care enough or know enough about politics to feel much about it. Perhaps, then, emotions such as anger, fear, and hope are signs of the kind of engagement with politics that we value as a field. They are indicative of good, higher quality citizenship rather than a democracy of satisficers and dumbed-down sound bite politics (Miller, 2010, p. 138).

5.4

Citizens’ Participation

Participation is a possibility or opportunity to have more scope for action, power and influence in an unequal society, as well as a possibility or opportunity to escape from a marginal position and achieve social recognition and belonging to that society (Liebel & Saadi, 2012, p. 127). Malone and Hartung (2010, p. 34), quoting Iacofano, (1990), proposed that citizen involvement in environmental decision making can be rated along a scale with two axes: the degree of interactivity—learning about the environment and political structures—and the degree of actual influence—what actual changes have been made that will transform (culturally and politically) the places where people live. One of the experts also refers to citizen participation in the following terms: Citizens have a fundamental role in shaping and guiding policies. Both through formal democratic channels as well as through participation, mobilization, consultation etc. This is the opportunity to imprint values and objectives (as well as solving inter-group conflicts) by deciding on the direction and goals of policies. Once these are settled, the specialists can implement what the people want. In addition, once implemented, citizens (individually or in formally constituted and recognized groups or associations) can play a role in monitoring implementation and results. They can provide feedback to correct course and, eventually, to change policies. Participatory budgets in Port Alegre in the 1990s are a good example of this. A set percentage of the budget was decided upon through a bottom up process of queries and consultations. Once the budget priorities were ranked and decided, the government implemented them. There is interesting evidence documenting how, as some pressing issues were resolved, the priorities evolved through the years. (ED)

Pretty (1995, p. 1252) devised a typology of participation and identified seven different types: manipulative participation, in which participation is merely a pretense, with “people’s’ representatives on official boards, but who are un-elected and have no power”; passive participation, in which people receive the information of what has been decided or has already happened; participation by consultation, in which people participate by being consulted or by answering questions; participation for material incentives, in which people participate by contributing resources, for

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example, labor, in return for food, cash or other material incentives; functional participation, seen by external agencies as a means to achieve project goals, especially reduced costs; interactive participation, in which people participate in joint analysis, development of action plans and formation or strengthening of local institutions, and self-movilization, which is characterized by people taking initiatives independently of external institutions, to change systems. Espinoza (2009) argues that citizen participation is a society-state relationship circumscribed by the notions of democracy and citizenship, and understood as a space for interaction, communication and differentiation between the state and the social system. The author defines citizen participation as a set of actions through which citizens become involved in the design, decision and implementation of public affairs affecting or concerning them. Thus, citizens take part in the construction, assessment, management and development of public affairs (Espinoza, 2009, p. 75). In addition, Espinoza (2009, p. 76) identifies the dimensions of citizen participation, namely: experiences of direct intervention in public activities where citizens can assert their social interests; processes in which citizens can assert their individual interests; public service planning and self-management processes carried out by citizens; and processes of public policy quantification, qualification, assessment and planning involving citizens. Citizen participation is a new form of social action taken by citizens to fill the vacuum left by the downsizing of the state, and to defend the positions, rights and interests of different social sectors and participate in the design, planning and development of public policy (Espinoza, 2009, p. 86).

Our interviewee commented on other forms of citizen participation: Another interesting aspect of citizens as protagonists is the formation of international (transboundary) coalitions. Groups of citizens from various countries become allies and help each other both in internal policy-making as well as in the international arena. An interesting example, from the XIXth century is the anti-slavery movement.(ED)

A citizen is one who deliberates with others, moves together with others, assumes a protagonist role in his/her own life and participates in public affairs (Cortina, 2003). This participation takes place in the public space, which has traditionally been associated with the role of the State. According to Rabotnikof (1993, p. 76) the public space can be considered to be a response to the demand to construct a community, as the validation of democracy or as part of a political culture. A concept closely associated with the notions discussed above is that of satisfaction with democracy. Satisfaction with democracy reveals a lack of agreement in what it measures, because multiple interpretations are possible regarding persons, time or space (Canache et al., 2001). Wagner and Schneider (2006, p. 8) used the concept of satisfaction with democracy to know how democracy works in practice, coming to the conclusion that this indicator is used in the major cross-national public opinion surveys to generalize the support for the democratic system. Thus, the concept of satisfaction with democracy emerges in relation to the discrepancy between how democracy should work and the way it actually works. Different authors (Clarke et al., 1993; Anderson & Guillory, 1997; Dalton, 1999; Norris,

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1999; Canache et al., 2001) have different opinions about the theoretical implications of satisfaction with democracy as a significant measure of how satisfied people feel with democracy in the country where they live (Tonon, 2014, p. 1542). An examination of the issue of satisfaction with democracy requires looking at the role of individuals as actors in the process. Thus, the design of public policies cannot be considered to be based only on the law. The genesis of a public policy stems from the social debate between the various agents such as policy makers, political parties, social groups, social movements and individual interests (Bonetti, 2017). Permanent dialogue between the actors has tended to ensure sustainability in the achievement of the results. In this sense, public deliberation is considered as an essential element of the public policy process (Iguiñiz Echeverrìa & Tonon de Toscano 2014, p. 303) on the path to achieving satisfaction with democracy by citizens, with the consequent impact on their quality of life.

5.5

Conclusions

The owner of citizenship is a legal subject with rights and obligations. These rights can only be guaranteed in a political community. Citizenship must thus be understood as the product of social relations and the practice of these rights in the public sphere, rather than as previously defined personal attributes (Tonon, 2012, p. 14). Today, citizenship can no longer be conceived only as a legal status defined by a set of rights and obligations; rather, it must also be considered in terms of identity and the expression of belonging to a specific political community. The processes of configuration of citizenship stem from how people relate to each other and how they build their life in community (Castillo García, 2007, p. 781). Calderón, Hopenhayn and Ottone (1996) propose the exercise of an extensive citizenship that creates functional links between economic development demands and social integration needs. Such extensive citizenship cannot be built on the basis of an identity that is opposed to “the others”, but rather on the basis of an identity grounded in solidarity and cooperation. This scenario requires citizen participation, viewed as a process of intervention in policies pursued by citizens as a basic strategy of organization to defend their rights and satisfy their needs, with the consequent impact on the design of policies, and also as a bridge between society and the State that allows seeing these two poles of the relationship, not as antagonistic, but as complementary to each other (Espinoza, 2009, p. 88). According to Dréze and Sen (2002, p. 6), people’s opportunities to improve their quality of life have human agency at the center of the stage—rather than organizations—and, in this respect, the role of social opportunities is to enable the expansion of human agency and freedom. The term “social” means that the individual and his/her opportunities cannot be considered in isolation. An individual’s opportunities

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depend on his/her relationships with others and with the actions of the State and its institutions. Finally, as pointed out by Przeworski (1998), the concept of sustainable democracy considers that the practice of citizens’ rights needs effective social conditions. In this sense, the configuration of an effective citizenship is a strategy that can enhance citizens’ quality of life (Tonon 2009, p. 97). The current circumstances facing the world call for a change in the conception of public policies. We need to move away from the traditional notion of public policies as a response of the state to the needs and/or demands of the population and embrace a new, broader, flexible and inclusive approach, based on the respect for human rights. Furthermore, citizenship should be viewed as including not only a sociopolitical dimension, but also a socio-cultural one (Tonon, 2020, p. 137).

Case Case 1: Working with Citizens During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Response to the SDGs by María Laura Zulaica The Neighborhood Improvement Program in Argentina, funded by the InterAmerican Development Bank, is a public policy instrument for the regularization of urban informality. The Program seeks to consolidate informal settlements through the legalization of land tenure, works for access to public services, and improvements in housing and urban environments, with the aim of improving quality of life and contributing to urban and social inclusion and to the integration of households in the poorest segments of the population. Through the execution of comprehensive neighborhood projects, the purpose of the Program is to consolidate the targeted population in the place where they reside, by giving access to land ownership, urban infrastructure works, community equipment and environmental sanitation, and promoting the strengthening of social and human capital. The Program operates on a decentralized basis through Provincial and Municipal Executing Units. One of such Units is the Municipality of General Pueyrredon, where the Program has been running for more than a decade in two neighborhoods situated at the urban fringe of the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina. Aside from the Program’s background, the purpose here is to look at the current experience in which previous quality of life research results led to the inclusion of researchers in the field team for the development of joint urban and environmental projects, which have recently begun to be designed. The experience consisted of the preparation of an interdisciplinary Comprehensive Diagnosis that allowed the design of proposals to respond to the demands of the actors themselves. In this respect, the Diagnosis has two main purposes: to look at how the COVID-19 pandemic and the isolation and distancing measures have

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affected the community, in order to gain further insights into the territory in the current situation; and to jointly define with the actors urban and environmental lines of action and possible projects. The city of Mar del Plata, located in the General Pueyrredon district (659,462 inhabitants, according to 2021 estimates), is one of the settlements that has been most severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in the province of Buenos Aires. The city sits in the southeast of the Province and has a distinct tourism profile that makes it one the most popular holiday destinations in Argentina. In addition to tourism, the fishing, textile, food horticulture, mining and manufacturing industries complete its productive profile. The city has been subject to an urban sprawl phenomenon, which has given rise to a complex and disperse peri-urban area or urban-rural interface zone. Numerous sectors that make up this interface zone can be regarded as “fringe areas”, characterized by strong dynamics and affected by social and environmental problems. According to data from the Permanent Household Survey (EPH) for the second six-month period of 2019, the Mar del Plata-Batán agglomeration recorded an unemployment rate of 4.3% based on the occupational class structure. Such rate is above the one recorded for all the agglomerations in Argentina surveyed in the EPH, which was 3.3% for that period. In addition, based on the data on poverty and extreme poverty for the second six-month period of 2019, a total of 18.4% households are under the poverty line and 4.2% live in extreme poverty in the Mar del Plata-Batán agglomeration. Against this background, the outbreak of the pandemic and the Mandatory Preventive Social Isolation and Distancing measures have changed the population’s basic production and reproduction activities. The impacts are undoubtedly different in terms of territorial scope in the different neighborhoods, with the most significant impacts having taken place in the neighborhoods in the urban periphery. The neighborhoods are characterized by a weak and fragmentary occupation of the land, with large irregular-shaped plots, low building densities and, in some cases, non-existent streets. In accordance with the objectives pursued, from the operational point of view, the decision was made to conduct a Directed Diagnosis that can provide key elements to strengthen decision making on the basis of a comprehensive approach focused on specific aspects. The Diagnosis analyzes a general state of affairs and makes it possible to subsequently adjust methodologies and instruments as appropriate, based on the objectives pursued. This approach is predicated on a social and community-based perspective that engages the actors of the territory, thus fostering participative democracy. Hence, this type of diagnosis allows individualizing specific or particular topics, while at the same time it takes into account the interconnection or interdependence between the most important elements of community reality. In line with the above statements, the diagnosis includes the stages summarized below: Analysis of objective/quantitative aspects, which consists of collecting and organizing information about the community. Analysis of subjective/qualitative aspects, which adds to the objective data subjective contributions (assessments,

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perceptions, attributions) from the work team and the key referents of the neighborhoods. Organization and drafting, which combines the previous stages and involves a more precise construction of reality. Socialization of the results and formulation of proposals, which allows sharing the results obtained and designing joint proposals. The economic activities from which the population in these neighborhoods earns a livelihood are undertaken in conditions of informality. In particular, such activities are linked to the building and fishing industry, while a significant share of the population takes odd jobs. In addition, many neighborhood dwellers, in particular women, are domestic workers. Productive activities related to horticulture are mostly seasonal. In both neighborhoods, families usually make a living from activities locally known as “cirujeo”, in which they separate and recover materials from trash that they then sell. In this connection, there has been a rise in the number of families whose life and subsistence depend on their participation in the urban solid waste dump site of the city. Difficulties in accessing the labor market are a common occurrence. In addition, unregistered and informal work is prevalent in these neighborhoods, with the consequent deprivation of social security benefits. Social isolation and distancing are measures that cannot be sustained over time. This becomes evident for those families living in overcrowded conditions that must “go out” and look for a source of income. In 2020, occupation processes (precarious settlements) increased in different sectors of both neighborhoods as a consequence of the crisis. The quality of education in the neighborhoods was adversely affected in 2020. Digital inclusion is a key aspect, given the vital role of the new technologies in providing access to the labor market and social integration. Problems with the availability of equipment and connectivity are central in these neighborhoods. This is compounded by the lack of family support, which is caused by, among other issues, the need to “go out to work”. As to healthcare, the area has a Primary Health Center that is also attended by the population from nearby neighborhoods. The Health Center has a robust insertion in the community that goes beyond its specific services. During the pandemic, the provision of such services has been one of the most critical concerns. This was exacerbated by the job losses experienced by the population in these neighborhoods in 2020, which resulted in its being cut out of social services, with the ensuing increase in demand. A further critical issue is the reduction in medical staff that was transferred to health centers in other neighborhoods and the lack of medicines for chronic noncommunicable diseases. Community activities have a strong imprint in the neighborhoods and are developed in cultural workshops organized by neighborhood institutions and organizations in public kitchens, soup kitchens and neighborhood associations. The activities were suspended during the pandemic, with a negative impact on the community. However, the surveys and work with the actors (continued)

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carried out in early 2021 reveal that the activities have resumed with social distancing measures in place, as they are now developed in outdoor locations. This evidences the importance that the public space has gained in the critical context. Notwithstanding this, the condition of the streets makes accessibility difficult. Aside from the above-mentioned problems, the diagnosis has revealed that both neighborhoods have many strengths that have allowed them to deal with difficult situations. Some of them include the ability to work in teams, the commitment of neighborhood institutions and organizations, the possibility to carry out intra- and inter-institutional articulation and the existence of community networks. In this experience, two main challenges are worth noting in connection with the work with the actors and referents of the neighborhoods. First, defining joint activities and actions amidst a context of social isolation and distancing, in areas experiencing connectivity issues, is no easy task. The articulations between actors require a constant flexibility to adapt and readjust activities, timeframes and modalities. The second challenge concerns the presence of new actors in the neighborhoods belonging to social organizations and movements that emerged in the context of the pandemic. This has given rise to tensions and disputes between sectors with different interests. The work carried out by the team must include the different voices and perspectives, which are sometimes completely opposite. On the basis of the diagnosis, the dialog with the referents reveals the need to create joint proposals in the urban-environmental field to address the specific demands that have emerged or become more pressing in the context of the pandemic. The goals envisaged for such actions were defined on the basis of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set in the 2030 Agenda globally, which in 2019 were included as axes in the local political agenda. On such basis, the goals set out in Table 5.1 were defined with a focus on each of the SDGs. Table 5.1 Proposed goals and their linkage with the SDGs Proposed goals Create and strengthen community strategies for the protection and preservation of the environment and resources

Promote actions to ensure safe water and sanitation Foster strategies to ensure access to essential services Implement actions for the creation and enhancement of the value of public spaces Design alternatives for food sovereignty based on an agroecological perspective

SDGs to which they respond SDG11: Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable SDG15: Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss SDG6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all SDG11: Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable SDG11: Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable SDG2: End hunger

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In order to achieve the proposed goals, work is being carried out on the design of specific activities jointly with the communities of the neighborhoods. These actions include environmental education workshops on waste management, preservation of resources (particularly, water and electricity) and food security. In addition, the projects include sessions of identification and collective mapping of urban and environmental problems, with the contribution of possible solutions by the community itself. Equally important is the organization of workshops on agroecological gardens, in articulation with referent institutions and organizations, and neighborhood cleanup sessions. Moreover, articulation with local agencies and institutions is envisaged to ensure adequate access to infrastructure and services, especially in critical areas with needs compromising the population’s health and safety. Along the same lines, meetings are being held with the aim of designing and enhancing the value of public spaces, which have gained an increasingly relevant role in the context of the pandemic and which are sometimes unfit for the needs of the community in the neighborhoods. The Diagnosis allowed attaining the objectives set by the work team and updated previous research for insights into neighborhood improvement. In overall terms, it was possible to know how the pandemic has affected the community. In addition, the research enabled articulations with the local actors and the definition of community projects based on common objectives. The data and information collected, the field work and the interviews provided an understanding of the current situation and gave rise to the work team’s need to take specific actions. Aside from the results obtained, the Diagnosis is a continuous construction that is consolidated through new paths and the identification of, and interviews with, new actors. This will provide feedback on the courses of action from a collaborative perspective. The transfer of previous quality of life research contributes to decision making in the public arena by means of field work that involves an update of basic studies and the formulation of proposals. In this connection, this Program has had a highly relevant role in the development of community activities in neighborhoods located in the urban periphery of the city. Basic research makes a direct contribution to the design of community initiative projects and the development of activities aimed at the strengthening of community organizations, which are key objectives of the Program. These collaborative actions are the result of the work with the referents and actors of the community, as well as with grassroot organizations. The inclusion of researchbased approaches not only contributes to the creation of specific projects but also provides the methods to work in the actors’ territory. In the case under analysis, it is community actors that build proposals jointly with the work team in order to address their own demands based on local policies anchored to international programs.

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Chapter 6

The Relationship between Aid and Quality of Life

Abstract This chapter reviews the current types of aid and looks at how more and more people and organizations are getting involved in aid and philanthropy actions. To do this, it begins by describing the characteristics of current societies. Although the state has traditionally been the provider of responses to the needs of the population, the last decades have seen an increase in responses coming from non-governmental organizations, religious associations, citizens and social groups—particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The chapter further highlights how helping other people not only has an impact on the well-being of the recipients, but also on that of the givers. The chapter concludes with two cases: a social communication project during the COVID-19 sanitary emergency and a program of fellows for peace. Keywords Aid · Philanthropy · Well-being · Social support · COVID-19

6.1 6.1.1

Current Societies The Characteristics of Current Societies

A close examination of the issue of aid and of the different types of aid requires a brief description of current societies and of the relationships that are established between people. The twenty-first century presents us with a dynamic and transitional society affected by the problems of time and their projection in the future. In the late twentieth century, Lechner (1990) had already warned about how the ruptures in collective identities tended to generate new re-compositions outside of existing social institutions, with a decay of the areas of informal sociability. Lechner (1990) also wondered about which “lighthouses” could help illuminate the world of the individual and people’s daily lives, depending on the collective life they have to lead. Lechner points out that the forms of social coexistence have changed and given rise to more flexible social relations that create a more tenuous and fragile social fabric. Thus, people experience ambivalence and ambiguity in their daily lives. This © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 G. Tonon, Key Actors in Public Policy-making for Quality of Life, Human WellBeing Research and Policy Making, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90467-8_6

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has led to a change in people’s representation of current societies, from an image of society as a coherent and cohesive whole to a feeling that nothing is safe and everything is subject to change. Thus, in the absence of a plausible notion of social totality, it is very difficult to feel part of a collective subject (Lechner, 2002, p. 110). The world we live in is inter-subjective because the lives we lead relate to others (Schutz, 1974). Inter-personal bonding presupposes common significances. Moreover, social bonds are imbedded in a certain language and make use of certain codes that are produced and reproduced in a public context (Lechner, 2002, p. 57). Social bonds represent a heritage of knowledge and customs, of practical experiences and mental dispositions accumulated, reproduced, and transformed by a society for generations (Lechner, 2002, p. 49). Their development requires bonds of trust and reciprocity between people, as well as conversations about common interests (Tonon, 2017, p. 9). Ethical principles occupy a prominent place based on respect for people and their human rights. They represent that stock of universal guarantees without which the other rights provided by a democratic society could not be effectively realized. Authors such as Bauman (2003) and Castel (2004) point out that current societies are characterized by their concern for safety and the need for protection, the emergence of working conditions that are in constant change and are developed on the basis of a biographical model (Beck, 1992), and the existence of a scenario of uncertainties, an increase in individualization and inequalities, among others, which has caused social relations to change as well. Traditionally, people meet at work, in the neighborhood, in organizations, or when introduced by friends or family. Social relations arise from certain contexts and can change over time, with certain settings and environments being relatively more favorable to the construction of interpersonal ties (Bidart, 1997, p. 52). At this point, it is important to note that, basically, in order to create a relationship, people need to be close. Wanting the same things or agreeing on the same things favors interaction and, in most cases, these interests structure more or less identified groups, which can be considered as circles (Fischer, 1982, p. 6). This means being within the same social structures, belonging to a common circle or having common relations, and, in particular, being in the area of close interests in the broadest sense, which ranges from material interests to intellectual orientations and capabilities (Fischer, 1982, p. 17). People communicate with each other in everyday life. Such communications give rise to what we call conversations. Much of everyday sociality, both personal and institutional, manifests itself through conversation (Heritage, 2004) as conversation is “the primary medium through which social interaction takes place” (Silverman, 2001, p. 161). Likewise, both daily social interaction and interaction in the institutions of every society is managed through conversation (White, 2019, p. 471). And what is a conversation? According to Joseph (2002), a conversation is considered a typical social situation of interaction between people. A conversation is a symmetrical, spontaneous and informal interaction, whose ultimate goal is to contact another person, and it serves to reaffirm social ties. For Van Dijk (1989), everyday conversation is a type of

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dialogue that is characterized by a lack of restrictions, both in content and in social contexts. In everyday conversations, people use the so-called common language, learnt during childhood, generally called mother tongue. This type of language does not generate concern about defining the words we use, and this may lead to misunderstandings, since we take for granted that those listening to us share the meaning of the words we use. In referring to conversation, Lechner (2002) argues that current societies experience difficulties in establishing the register of conversation, in defining classification categories, discussing ambivalences and dispelling misunderstandings. Communication becomes filled with noise, interference and doubt. The unspoken (such as fears) is intermingled with the unspeakable (mystery) and is covered with an opaque mantle of silences (Lechner, 2002, p. 58).

The possibility to communicate and engage in conversation with others makes people feel happy and connected with others, and prevents feelings of loneliness. Hence the importance of conversation, as an instance of interaction between people, which improves the quality of their daily life.

6.1.2

Social Support

For a discussion of aid provided by people in their roles as family members, friends, neighbors, or partners, it is first relevant to address the notion of social support. Interest in the concept of social support has gained momentum over the past few years due to the belief that the availability of support impacts favorably on a person’s well-being and health (Sherbourne & Stewart, 1991, p. 705). Social networks may also be important for accessing specific types of assistance during times of stress (Taylor, 2011, p. 197 quoting Lin & Westcott, 1991). Lin et al. (1985) define social support in terms of the strength of social bonds, and people’s tendency to socialize and relate to their peers. Wills (1991) states that social support is defined as the perception or experience that one is loved and cared for by others, esteemed and valued, and part of a social network of mutual assistance and obligations. Two different kinds of help may be identified in the field of social support: concrete support and perceived support. In this respect, Sherbourne and Stewart (1991) attach more importance to the latter. Social support can also involve simply the perception that resources are available when the person needs them. As put by Taylor: “Social support may involve specific transactions whereby one person explicitly receives benefits from another, or it may be experienced through the perception that such help and support is potentially available “(Taylor, 2011, p. 193). Sherbourne and Stewart (1991, p. 705) listed the most often cited functions of social support, namely: emotional support, which involves caring, love and empathy; instrumental support; information, guidance or feedback that can provide a solution to a problem; appraisal support, which involves information relevant to

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self-evaluation; and social companionship, which involves spending time with others in leisure and recreational activities. Social support is provided through networks. A network can be defined as a specific set of linkages among a defined set of persons, with the property that the features of such linkages as a whole may be used to interpret the social behavior of the persons involved (Mitchell, 1969). A social network is thus the social structure where support relations take place, and where support is conceived as an interpersonal relation in which a material, emotional or instrumental exchange or help is offered and which promotes a sense of well-being for the recipient (Villalba Quesada, 1993, p. 72). Lakey et al. (1996) argue that although objective characteristics of the social world have an influence on perceived support, perceived support is influenced more strongly by support recipients’ impressionistic understanding of supporters’ personality characteristics than by the actual support that is provided. Taylor (2011) points out that social support involves aspects of both, and notes that attention to the qualities of the support recipient has yielded some important findings. Our final reflection is in line with Taylor’s (2011, p. 199) statement that “the fact that support recipients substantially affect which outcome occurs raises an intriguing issue”. Social support is connected with friendship, as friends can provide different types of social support. Friendship is a social category that has become increasingly significant in the lives of human beings in our contemporary world (Brandt & Hauser, 2011). The definition of friendship is polysemic and varies from one culture to another. In the past few decades, anthropologists have begun to investigate friendship as a social relationship influenced by the particularities of a certain cultural context, and have proposed an inclusive conception of the concept of friendship, which accounts for the socio-cultural context in which close personal relations are practiced by individual actors for diverse reasons and needs (Brandt & Hauser, 2011, p. 148). It is important to note that, while friendship is a concept closely related to other types of relationships, it is at the same time different. As stated by Brandt and Hauser (2011, p. 149): “a theory of friendship is needed that accounts for ruptures and ambivalences inherent in the ideas and practices of friendship within their respective socio-cultural, economic and political contexts”. Some authors (Diener & Biswas-Diener, 2008; Layard, 2005) note that social relations and friendship networks are a major source of well-being. Thus, engaging in social relations is considered to be an important source of subjective well-being, that is, well-being as defined by individuals themselves (van der Horst & Coffé, 2012). In this sense, Amichai-Hamburger et al. (2013, p. 38) stress that “friendship is essential for wellbeing”. In a research study developed by van der Horst and Coffé (2012, p. 510), the authors focused on several ways in which friends may be related to well-being, particularly to what extent the effect of friends on well-being may be explained by the benefits they bring, considering benefits such as an increase in social trust, less stress, better health, and more social support. As put by Badhwar (2008, p. 309), “In friendship we expect reciprocity only in the long term, for gifts are given for the

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friend’s sake, not merely for the sake of obtaining some good for oneself in return”. Having supportive interpersonal relationships, such as friendships, is important to one’s well-being. A large body of research shows that social relationships provide buffers from stress and improve psychological well-being (Taniguchi & Kaufman, 2019). For Diener and Biswas-Diener (2008), the positive influence of friends on well-being can be related to instrumental characteristics such as the social support friends offer. Let us consider three examples taken from three different projects I have run in the past ten years: In a study we carried out on child well-being, we noticed the importance of the relationship that children have with their friends. In 2014–2015 we developed a research project for the study and measurement of the well-being and quality of life of 590 boys and girls aged 8 years old and 472 boys and girls aged 10 years old, living in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, in which we used the International Survey of Children’s Well-Being (ISCWeb). The research project was part of the LOMASCyT Program of Universidad Nacional de Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, developed in 2015–2016. The findings revealed that friendship had a central role in children’s lives. Most of the 8-year-old children (74.6%) reported that they had enough friends, while 80.8% stated that they were very happy with their friends. As to the level of satisfaction with friends, the mean was 9.3 on a 0–10 scale (very high). In the case of the ten-year-olds, 70.2% reported that they had enough friends, while 80.4% stated that they were very happy with their friends (Tonon & Mikkelsen, 2016, pp. 42–48). These findings are in line with Diener and Biswas-Diener’s (2008) contention that friends provide emotional support and compassion in times of need, as well as instrumental help. In 2017–2018 we carried out a research project, which was part of the LOMASCyT Program of Universidad Nacional de Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, with 682 children aged 12 years old living in different cities of the Province of Buenos Aires. We also used the International Survey of Children’s Well-Being (ISCWeb). When we asked children about their friends, 76.5% reported that they had enough friends, while 85.2% stated that if they had a problem, their friends always supported them. This is in line with Requena’s (1995, p. 274) finding that “close friends are more likely to be responsive to one’s troubles, to sense the nature, degree, and source of one’s distress, and to engage in supportive behavior that is appropriate”. In a qualitative research project using open-ended questions that we conducted in 2018–2019 in the Social Science Institute-UNICOM of the School of Social Sciences of Universidad Nacional de Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, we studied the quality of life of 200 university students. The students reported that they positively valued attending university because it enabled them to build new social ties and find people who could help and accompany them in their own growth; to find companionship and classmates that helped them if they needed something; to receive actions of solidarity from classmates who helped them with class materials; and to receive support from student centers. Students value the possibility that the university offers them to have people who accompany and help them during their training process.

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This, in turn, reinforces personal growth and strengthens bonds of companionship and solidarity (Tonon, 2020). Along these lines, Hunt and Benford (2006, p. 439, quoting Melucci, 1996, p. 23) state that solidarity is “the ability of actors to recognize others, and to be recognized, as belonging to the same social unit”. The authors also identify two types of solidarity—internal and external—and argue that internal solidarity is focused on the group to which one belongs and on the members within that group, while external solidarity is the identification with groups to which one does not belong. In the analysis of social relations, friendship and social support, the study shows that, in connection with university life, students attach positive value to the possibilities that the university offers them, such as: the generation of new social ties based on the idea of sharing for a number of years, whether in the form of companionship or friendship; actions of solidarity by people that help them in this new stage of life, specifically to get academic materials, prepare for exams and learn together in peer meetings; and the importance of new friends as sources of social support (Tonon, 2020). The research work I have been conducting reveals the existence of a close relationship between friendship and social support and the importance of friendship for people’s quality of life (Tonon & Rodriguez de la Vega, 2014). In this regard, friendship has always been a cultural symbol with a significant value in South American countries. In different research projects I developed with young people in the Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina (2003–2004 and 2005–2006), using the PWI-A, the variable that scored the highest level of the scale was the one labeled as “satisfaction with friends”. For Pahl (2000, quoted by Vaccarino & Dresler-Hawke, 2011, p. 187) “friendship is becoming an increasingly important social glue and many cultures, communities, and societies are held together by extremely different social bonds”. Following Wills (1991), we argue that social support is the perception or experience that one is loved and cared for by others, esteemed and valued, and part of a social network of mutual assistance and obligations. Today social relationships can be either supportive or unhelpful. Supportive relationships are what we call social support, as an element that improves people’s quality of life. Diener and Biswas-Diener (2018, p. 131) note that “social relationships can be a source of support, a source of identity, and a source of fun” and that “it is not just receiving support but also giving support that can boost well-being”.

6.2

The Concept of Aid

Aid is a concept that refers to help in terms of money, food, medical supplies, tangible objects, among others, that countries or institutions—whether governmental or non-governmental—provide to people in need of such resources, either because they lack them or because they are unable to acquire them. Historically most aid has been given as bilateral assistance directly from one country to another, or as indirect

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multilateral assistance, by gathering resources from various donors (Radelet, 2015, p. 400). There are different types and systems of aid, namely: aid from governmental institutions, international aid, aid from non-governmental organizations, aid from religious institutions, from informal groups, family aid, and aid from individuals. In all cases, a relationship is created between the donors and the recipients. In this sense, the provision of aid is a source of well-being for all those involved in the process, that is, for both donors and recipients. Estes and Zhou (2014, p. 6) identify—besides the government—three additional stakeholders that provide a broad range of social services: the for-profit market sector, the not-for-profit or civil society sector and the tens of millions of families and households to which people turn for social care. The authors point out that all societies are made up of four core institutions organized at the macro-level and the micro-level. The macro level includes the State or governmental sector and the Market or economy. The micro level includes the families and households and the Civil Society Organizations (Estes & Zhou, 2014, p. 7). Radelet (2015, p. 398) argues that, although aid has sometimes failed, it has supported poverty reduction and growth in some countries and prevented worse performance in others. The author notes that many of the weaknesses of aid have more to do with donors than recipients.

6.2.1

Aid from Organizations

According to Martens (2005), there are different types of aid agencies that serve different purposes, depending on their institutional architecture. The author points out that at a functional level, the role of aid agencies can be described in terms of the contents of their activities, and in this sense aid agencies deliver goods and services to developing countries, such as food, education, health services, infrastructure and knowledge. The main function of aid agencies is to organize financial transfers (Martens, 2005, p. 644). Clemens et al. (2004) classify aid into three types: humanitarian and emergency aid; aid that can only affect growth after a long period of time, if at all, such as aid for health, education, the environment and the support of democracy; and aid aimed directly at affecting growth, such as the construction of roads, ports and electricity generators, or to support agriculture. The authors found a strong positive relationship between the third type of aid and the growth of a country. In referring to aid, Walther (2020a) reports that at the end of World War II, the UN ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and several United Nations organizations were created, such as UNICEF, WHO and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Likewise, during this period, the number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) grew. However, Walther (2020a, quoting Konyndyk, 2018) points out that in the past decade, there has been a dramatic change. NGOs around the world have grown in staff and budget, and face an

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increasingly demanding and critical donor audience, characterized by demands for accountability and transparency that require tangible accounting proof of the added value of financial contributions (Walther, 2020a). She notes that “[w]e need to bring back the human in humanitarianism. This requires honesty” (Walther, 2020a, p. 109). When we consulted Cornelia Walther about this topic, she stated that everything is connected and nothing happens in a vacuum. Individuals and institutions mutually influence each other. Aspiration for change and action to make change happen numb or nurture each other. The individuals who need help and those who provide it exist in the same realm. To live up to their potential as agents of social change humanitarian workers must keep this connection between giving and receiving front and center. Sustainable impact requires a human connection between those who need change and those who can make this change happen. Social transformation happens only if all the affected parties want it and are involved in the process. Not only because the feeling of being associated in a process influences the willingness to support it but inversely the desire for change influences the level of engagement (Koestner et al., 1987). Humanitarian organizations will make the groundbreaking difference that they could make, when they become able to nurture and maximize the potential of these women, and men, and girls and boys. Acting for and with others has direct and indirect consequences. Individuals who allocate resources, be they in the form of money, assets, or social connections, contribute to a change of the circumstances. By doing something in line with this personal power to help others, they shift from bystander to player. Such a mindset of agency nurtures their selfunderstanding, adds the dimension of a larger purpose to their life, and improves the overall societal environment they evolve in. The latter is felt positively at all levels of society, offering mental and physiological benefits (Picket and Wilkinson 2009). Today more than ever before, I am convinced that the mission of humanitarian organizations is crucially needed; and many of the most inspiring people whom I have been lucky to meet are or were part of either an NGO or the UN (Walther, 2021). In her latest book Humanitarian Work, Social Change, and Human Behavior (2020a), Dr. Walther tells us that the mission of social organizations is crucially needed. She does not question how these institutions work, but presents a new perspective on the what and how of the work they develop, proposing a set of points to start with an honest internal review of the ongoing dynamics, and an optimization of the complementary added value of all parts of society, beginning with the individuals and organizations whose vocation it is to help. As put by the author (2020a), institutions may have a triple impact when it comes to influence of behavior: firstly, their external approach shapes public opinions; secondly, their internal culture, rules, and regulations shape the attitude and action of their employees; and lastly, advocacy contributes to political decision-making processes. To speak about this topic, we consulted another expert, Stacy Kosko, who discussed the relationship between aid and the development of countries and communities. She said that this type of aid comes in so many forms, ranging from development aid from massive international NGOs like Oxfam and Care and Save

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the Children and massive family foundations like the Gates Foundation, down to support from tiny non-profits and family foundations in the Global North to communities and local organizations in the Global South. She added that this type also includes the many formal and informal community-based organizations in every corner of the globe who are doing important work right at home in their own communities. As I so often tell my students, every country is a developing country; every society hosts communities of struggle. If we understand development as beneficial social change, it changes our understanding of who is part of this effort and how it operates. Too often we define development by the form in which aid is delivered—official development assistance (usually just called “foreign aid”), for example. But that is a mechanism, a tool. Development is a process. And it has been happening for all of human history, everywhere. Moreover, aid—the tool—can come in many forms. Often it is cash transfers between governments, or projects carried out by a mix of local and foreign actors with foreign funding. But it can just as easily be technical assistance, whether in the form of a visit from a team of civil servants or in the form of a student ready to put in a couple months or a couple years. And it’s the latter type—small scale, sometimes even unpaid—that can often have the greatest impact on the “giver.” That impact, in fact, often comes in a reversal or erasure of the notion of “donor” and “beneficiary,” when the student fellow or young volunteer comes to realize how much they have learned from, and grown with and within, their host community (SK).

Sen (2000) considers development as a process of expansion of the real freedoms that people enjoy. Sen (2000, p. 19) further notes that freedoms depend on other determinants, such as social and economic arrangements and political and human rights. Development requires the removal of major sources of unfreedom: poverty as well as tyranny, poor economic opportunities as well as systematic social deprivation, neglect of public facilities as well as intolerance or overactivity of repressive states. Despite unprecedented increases in overall opulence, the contemporary world denies elementary freedoms to vast numbers—perhaps even the majority—of people (Sen, 2015, p. 526).

For Max Neef et al. (1986, p. 14), development—considered at a human scale- is based on the satisfaction of fundamental human needs, the generation of growing levels of self-reliance and the articulation of people with nature and technology, of global processes with local ones, of the personal with the social, of planning with autonomy, and of civil society with the state. Therefore, development is about people rather than about objects. The best development process will be that which allows the greatest enhancement in people’s quality of life, as quality of life depends on the possibilities that people have to satisfy their fundamental human needs (Max Neef et al., 1986, p. 25). Aid work, even when it is done on a volunteer, non-professional basis, must not lose sight of the principles of Social Work as a profession. It must thus address the population’s social needs based on a particular conception of the world, the human being and the relationships between both, as embodied in well-settled principles, such as: the recognition of each person’s individuality, respect for selfdetermination, an ability to listen, refraining from making judgements and

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encouraging the development of people’s own potentialities so that they can find solutions to their problems (Tonon, 2001, p. 47).

6.2.2

Aid from Religious Associations

Religious institutions have historically been providers of aid to those in need. In the case of the Catholic Church, Jiménez González (2017, p. 490) defines social action as a set of social relief initiatives undertaken by the Catholic Church through its institutions, members and religious orders. One of our interviewees commented that: The state has traditionally been the provider of responses to the needs of the population. Certainly, in recent times, say in the last century, that is the case, but has it always been the first responder, the primary duty-bearer? I have never researched aid from an historical perspective, but my impression is that religious organizations have historically been the primary provider of relief. Many still are. (SK)

In order to examine the issue of aid from religious associations, we consulted Monseñor Gabriel Barba, Bishop of the Catholic Church in the Province of San Luis, Argentina. He spoke about the historical and current role of the Catholic Church in providing aid to people in need. He started by making a reflection about the Second Vatican Council, in which the Church looked at itself in front of the world and dared to make a profound change in its evangelizing work and shift from (among other things) a judgement of the world to a dialogue with the world. It has achieved significant milestones to share with the world and society. Let me give you an example of what I mean: the phrase “Save your soul” was used as a sign, a motto, in evangelizing missions. Following these actions and change in the theological conception, the evangelizing work has placed particular focus not only on the salvation of the soul, but also on conceiving the person as an inseparable whole, “body and soul”. A body (humanity) that must be looked after, preserved and cared for. And this also relates to the previous conception: “salvation”. It’s not that something new and previously unknown was invented; in the biblical texts we already find a reference to the “body as a temple of the Spirit”. Thus, the body must be cared for and respected. That’s why I say . . . nothing new (GB).

Monseñor Barba pointed out that theology in Latin America has made a significant contribution to the theology developed in other continents, as it has given a robust impetus to the social condition of human beings. The dimension of poverty and care for those that suffer the most has made a new unprecedented contribution to the world. The priority of the Evangelizing work is to be close to those that suffer and experience injustices, with the Church as a companion on the path rather than as an outsider or an authority coming down to give protection. While the Church, throughout the centuries, has always been close to the neediest people, responding to their needs, in this recent stage this path has been strengthened and enriched by specific actions, but above all, by theological and philosophical reflections that strengthen the theoretical framework for this path (Barba).

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In this respect, Jubany (2018, p. 143) points out that the social action of the Church comprises all the work carried out by Christian communities to help the most disadvantaged and poorest, in the light of the Gospel, including the different actions carried out all over the world to aid the poor, the marginalized, people in prison, immigrants, individuals subjected to sexual exploitation, those suffering unfair labor conditions, the sick, and others. Along these lines, Moseñor Barba noted that the Catholic Church has a physical and real presence in all social sectors, particularly in the most peripherical ones. Its social work is organized through CARITAS, with structures of action providing a quick and immediate response if the community is well organized. The pandemic has made the situation more dire and this has required CARITAS to expand and organize in a better and different manner. For example, young people had to be recruited as older people are a risk group. Preventive measures and extra care had to be taken as had never been the case before. It wasn’t easy, but in general they have made a very important, hard-to-manage work, especially taking into account that all collaborators (most of them) work on a voluntary basis. In general, the social services of the Church are not aimed at its own members (the Catholic), but at those who need them. The presence of the Church providing containment has been quick, timely and effective. In addition, a very important role of the Church has been the continuity of religious life, which required some adaptation as churches had to suspend in-person worship and adapt to online services—something it had never done before. This involved learning quickly and adapting forms and language, so that once more the Church could stay close to its people (Barba). A particular feature of the social aid services provided by the Catholic Church is that they are not only aimed at its members, but at all members of society that need them. Indeed, the provision of aid to those in need is a component of its essence as an institution.

6.2.3

Aid from Informal Groups, Individuals and Families

For our discussion of aid coming from informal social groups, we consulted an expert, who commented on an experience taking place in different countries in Africa. The experience consists of people regularly contributing money with the aim of funding businesses or large-scale projects or as a form of insurance against special emergencies. When you reference “informal social groups” you might consider looking at the phenomenon of savings circles, sometimes called tontines. A Kenyan friend of mine first introduced me to the idea when she and some Kenyan girlfriends started one here. Here is some more info: https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/11/africa/ancient-african-savings-tontine/index. html. I’d mention it especially because it has been a traditionally female activity in many countries where it’s practiced. (Kosko)

With respect to aid provided by individuals, it is relevant to address the concept of philanthropy, defined by Ostrander and Schervish (1990) as the interaction between

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two actors: donors and recipients. They understand it as a particular type of social relationship which can occur in various settings (corporate, government, neighborhood, family) and has identifiable patterns of interaction; a transaction in which giving and receiving by either of them is a condition both for establishing and maintaining the relationship (Tonon, Rodriguez de la Vega and M. Barba, forthcoming). A comprehensive study was carried out by Bekkers and Wiepking (2011, p. 928), in which the authors examine the academic literature on charitable giving based on a literature review of more than 500 articles. The authors identified eight mechanisms as the most important forces that drive charitable giving: awareness of need; solicitation; costs and benefits; altruism; reputation; psychological benefits; values and efficacy. The authors argue that the categorization of mechanisms is based on differences in four dimensions that can be captured by the questions “What?” “Where?” and “Who?” The first dimension is the “what,” or the physical form of the mechanism. Is it a tangible object that can be touched? The second dimension is the “where”, or the location of the mechanism. Is it located within, outside, or between individuals? The third and fourth dimension constitute the “who”, or the parties involved. The third dimension is the actor in the mechanism. We distinguish beneficiaries, (charitable, nonprofit) organizations, donors, and alters (people in the social environments of donors). The fourth dimension is the target of the cause (who is affected). Targets may be donors or beneficiaries (Bekkers & Wiepking, 2011, p. 928). Along these lines, a pilot study was developed in Argentina by Tonon, Rodriguez de la Vega & M. Barba in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, with 10 adults— women and men aged between 40 and 70 years old—who perform philanthropic actions. The interviewees collaborate with civil associations and religious institutions mostly associated with the Catholic Church. Some of them contribute their time and personal work, while others combine those activities with donations and collaborations. They carry out these philanthropic actions in the areas of social and environmental impact, rural schools, citizen participation in the neighborhood, migrant people, involvement as a musician in the parish choir, catechesis, community cooking, help and accompaniment to people who lost family members during the COVID-19 pandemic. Asked about the reason why they decided to do these philanthropic activities in order to help other people, the interviewees gave different responses directly related to their well-being. They reported that they carry out such activities for personal reasons, associated with groups in situations of vulnerability and risk, and in connection with different specific issues, such as: helping with the environment; doing things that have a positive impact on the world; helping children that live in unfavorable conditions created by the place where they were born, and who are deprived of access to education; helping neighbors; helping migrants, who are the most disadvantaged group in society, as they have no documents and enjoy no rights; helping those that suffer. The interviewees further stated that they are not driven by political interests. In other cases, the reasons for helping others had to do with religious principles. In this respect, the interviewees reported that they provide aid so as to give back to society as much as they can considering what they have, and

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that God chose them to serve rather than to be served. They also reported that they help others because it is a caress for the soul; because since they were young, they have been carrying out mission works in the Catholic Church helping people in situations of vulnerability and because they think that what they give is the result of their own effort (Tonon et al., 2021). In the case of aid coming from families, one of the experts told her own story: This kind of aid, when it is sent home by relatives who have emigrated abroad, is called remittances and this is something my family has practiced for some time. We would periodically send money home to my husband’s family in Moldova, a country where in 2018 16.06% of GDP came from remittances. It ranks 9th in the world for share of remittances as a percentage of GDP. But it has never felt like a burden. Rather, it always gave us loads to talk about when we’d call and my mother or father-in-law would talk about this-or-that repair to the house that they were able to make. Taking care of loved ones is among the most gratifying feelings in the world, so it has always felt strange to refer to money sent home to one’s family as “income” or “aid.” To be sure, it is, but it has a qualitatively different feel than when you give to charity or pay your taxes so that that paltry 0.3% of government expenditure (in the US case) can be sent overseas as official development assistance. It’s not aid; it’s love (Kosko).

Remittances are transfers of financial resources from migrants in the countries where they reside to their families and/or communities in their home country (Stefoni, 2012). There are two types of remittances: family, or wage, remittances and productive remittances (Canales Cerón, 2008). In her account, our interviewee refers to family remittances, which are the resources that are transferred directly to the family and are used for the material, social and cultural reproduction of its members. Stefoni (2011, p. 30) states that this kind of help can be a part of the monthly wage of migrants’ families or be used in exceptional situations to afford costs associated with specific health problems, or for family savings, celebrations, festivities or phone calls, and allows maintaining links between family members. These different uses of remittances can be grouped into two major functions: the material reproduction of the family and the social reproduction of the family, which entails the maintenance of family links. Taking all of this into account, we can state that studying the circuit of remittances has become a key element in the analysis of countries’ development.

6.3

The Relationship Between Aid and Well-Being for the Actors Involved in the Process

Different studies about the action of giving—money, resources, support—have shown that this action is not only influential on the well-being of the recipients, but also on that of the givers in terms of satisfaction, reputation and other benefits (Bekkers & Wiepking, 2011; Young et al., 2012; Surana & Lomas, 2014). In order to address this issue, we consulted an expert, who spoke about her own experience and stated that:

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Having had the opportunity to serve in Afghanistan and Haiti, Mali, Tchad and DR Congo— countries that are tarnished by the reputation of terror and disease, disaster and violence, I am certain that I received more than I gave. Living and working for two decades with people whose background and circumstances where drastically different from my own I learned that sometimes there is no good or bad, just different viewpoints. These experiences also reminded me day after day that the easily assumed link between merit and benefit is not straightforward. Being born in a high-income country in a middle-class family my chances to survive and thrive were optimized from the start; what merit had I in compared to those hundreds of women whom I met along the years? Affected by deprivation and violence, exploitation and illiteracy, their life lacked most components that we consider as essential for quality of life. And yet they had the same potential to learn and lean into social solutions. Impact needs solutions that are anchored in genuine compassion, commitment and care about a situation and the people in it. Occupying a position that allows us to give back is a privilege and a responsibility. Not seizing it may do as much harm as does doing the wrong thing. (C)

Aknin et al. (2014) point out that giving to others produces emotional rewards for the giver. People who report donating money to charities also report higher levels of life satisfaction than those who report no donations (Aknin et al., 2013). Furthermore, the link between giving and well-being is causal. Several studies show that giving to others leads to greater emotional rewards than giving to oneself (Aknin et al., 2013; Dunn et al., 2008; Weinstein & Ryan, 2010). Walther (2020a), in agreement with the findings above, affirms that it is important to reflect on whether when we help someone, we are helping others or we are helping ourselves, noting that this question leads us to a necessary process of introspection and self-knowledge, added to the acceptance of ourselves as we are, before going to meet others whom we want to help. One of the experts commented on her own experience: There are examples of the good feelings we get from altruism, it is one of my best examples of how the “donor” (in this case, of her time and knowledge) also benefits from the act of giving. We, too, grow. We, too, gain knowledge and awareness, including self-awareness! We become wiser while also realizing how little we know. We become more humble, which can then free us to own our gifts and strengths. By fully seeing the beautiful, powerful humanity in those alongside whom we are laboring, we ourselves become more fully human. It is hard to think of a greater benefit than that.(SK)

Finally, one of the experts reflected on the act of giving from a different point of view, as she referred to cases in which humanitarian actors lack compassion: The felt absence of genuine compassion is as dramatic as its presence, in particular when it comes to humanitarian actors. Humanitarian and development workers perceived as inauthentic involuntarily dissuade people who are initially open to involvement in prosocial action, disillusioning them regarding the feasibility and desirability of social change. Though always unfortunate for individuals and the people they interact with, this interplay of internal incoherence, personal unhappiness, and external expression is disastrous if it prevails among those who pursue social change processes professionally. It has a twofold downside. Not only does it deter outsiders to seriously consider (mind) getting involved in the cause that these individuals represent; it makes these individuals and through them, the humanitarian institution which they represent lose out on the opportunity to inspire in outsiders the desire (emotion) to be part of a cause that resonates with their personal purpose (aspiration). Thus, the behavior of social workers who do not practice what they preach is

6.4 Aid in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic

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detrimental to their own personal well-being (due to cognitive dissonance); and it impacts the institution that employs them. Ultimately their behavior contributes to the collective failure of accomplishing the stated mission (while feeding the critics who decry anything but the ‘free market’ to serve social progress).(C)

For an examination of the concept of compassion, we follow Burnell (2009) who, in discussing the origin of the term, points out that it dates back to biblical times, when it meant “to love, pity, and be merciful” (Walker, 2007, p. 1 quoted in Burnell, 2009, p. 1). A word derived from the Latin-com (along with) and pati (to suffer), literally meaning “to suffer with” (Von Dietze & Orb, 2000, p. 168), the term was introduced into the English language in the fourteenth century. Walther (2020b, p. 110) defines compassion “as the emotional response when perceiving suffering and involves an authentic desire to help alleviate that suffering; this desire may or not be acted upon” and points out that “[i]n the case of development or humanitarian workers, lack of genuine connection regularly leads to inappropriate programs that are planned and implemented from an outsider perspective without buy-in of the so-called beneficiaries” (Walther, 2020b, p. 112).

6.4

Aid in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed the need for social distancing, thus causing governments around the world to enact compulsory social isolation measures (in some countries known as quarantine). These measures continue to be in place and are bound to remain the norm until the world’s population, or at least a large percentage of it, has been vaccinated. Such state of affairs made it imperative to build different channels to provide aid to people in need. Therefore, service professionals, humanitarian aid agencies, Church members and individuals in general began to devise creative ways to make this aid possible, mainly relying on the new communication technologies. Thus, different forms of social support emerged as a spontaneous and natural response to the pandemic, especially in neighborhoods. And by “neighborhoods” we mean not only neighborhoods in their typical organization, but also, for example, buildings that make up a small neighborhood in itself. Scenes of current life show young people helping older adults in daily activities, such as shopping for food and medicines. Saltzman et al. (2020) note that social support will not only be important for reducing negative symptomology but also for promoting positive adaptation following COVID-19. They further highlight the wide access to technology that may help buffer loneliness and isolation that lead to exacerbated mental health problems. Based on the above, we can state that, whether aid is provided informally by individuals or by institutions, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about changes in the forms of aid, and such urgently implemented changes are likely to be systematized and remain as new forms of aid in the future.

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In referring to the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the experts interviewed stated that, rather than questioning the WHY and WHO of humanitarian aid, what is needed is a new perspective on its WHAT and HOW COVID-19 placed a gigantic challenge in our lap, which is an opportunity to revamp the status quo. It offers an entry point for aid organizations to candidly look inside and review the ongoing dynamics. Everything is connected. To be efficient agents of change aid institutions must understand and optimize the interplay between their purpose and the people they work with and for. Establishing a holistic vision of the places they operate in and the place which they occupy, locally and globally—ultimately determines whether they will be able to live up to their potential, revealing the power that is inherent to their mission. The alternative to such honest insight is that aid institution will gradually fade into oblivion. Differently said, to remain relevant aid institutions must learn to re-connect their staff with their personal purpose, and through it, with the mission these individuals have committed to serve. Building an environment that helps everyone to reach their potential is possible, and essential to achieve universal access to quality of life. Everything is connected and begins inside; including inside the institutions that are dedicated to make the world a better, fairer, happier place that is conducive to universal quality of life. (C)

Another case related to the COVID-19 pandemic is the above-mentioned pilot study developed by Tonon, Rodriguez de la Vega and M. Barba, consisting of interviews of 10 adults (males and females) that perform philanthropic actions. Some of the findings revealed that the interviewees considered the following aspects to be important during the pandemic: collaboration, respect for all people in their cultures and beliefs and learning to listen, solidarity, commitment, integrity, honesty in building a community that favors the truth over deceptions, generosity and altruism. The interviewees stated that it is necessary to be grateful and do good, since this always returns in some form. They also commented that, when accompanying families in their needs, the only thing they ask of them is to help them build in community, do good to others, shake hands with brothers or neighbors and in this way create well-being for all (Tonon et al., 2021, forthcoming). To conclude, in times of the current COVID-19 pandemic, characterized by fear, insecurity and the placement of restrictions, it is important to enhance people’s capabilities in order to redefine sociability and revitalize the ties founded on proximity.

6.5

Conclusions

This chapter addressed the concept of aid from different points of view. It began with a description and characterization of current societies and of the relationships between people in connection with social support, and the establishment of positive relationships that enhance people’s quality of life. The chapter then examined the different types of aid: aid from international organizations, non-governmental organizations, religious institutions, informal groups, families and individuals.

Cases

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Furthermore, it explored donors’ experiences in aid processes, finding that the act of helping others creates a feeling of well-being for those providing help. Following Aknin et al. (2014, p. 1), it can then be concluded that “[a] growing body of research has demonstrated that people are not only willing to offer aid to others, but that giving to others is emotionally rewarding”. The chapter finally addressed the current state of affairs created by the COVID-19 pandemic currently hitting the world, and discussed different aid experiences undertaken to meet the needs and situations arising in this time of emergency.

Cases Case 1: Online Religious Services Within the Framework of the COVID-19 Sanitary Emergency as a Social Communication Project by M. Gabriel Barba The COVID-19 pandemic found Latin America suffering from low economic growth and high levels of inequality and social vulnerability, with increasing levels of poverty and extreme poverty (ECLAC, 2020). According to UN-Argentina (2020), difficulties in gaining access to food and basic hygiene systems (such as drinking water or sanitation) expose families in vulnerable areas to potential COVID-19 infections, as well as to other infectious diseases (Tonon et al., 2021, p. 217). Among the measures adopted in response to the pandemic, it is worth highlighting the case of the Diocese of Gregorio de Laferrere in the Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Bishopric comprises a number of districts with a population of 1,200,000, out of which nearly 39% live in poverty. The Bishopric has coordinated a series of solidarity actions carried out by the neighbors in the buildings of the Diocese, which have thus become spaces of reference for the members of the community. In addition, the Bishopric has a central role of social support in the neighborhoods and has implemented a series of contingency actions, including live-streaming religious services held in the cathedral (Tonon et al., 2021). Thus, the different festivities in the religious calendar were celebrated via a channel and other platforms and interactive tools (Facebook and Instagram), an e-mail account, and a WhatsApp line. This has made it possible to design a complex mechanism to accompany local residents in times of widespread concern, anguish, and fear. Likewise, the Bishopric implemented campaigns—such as inviting children in the community to send photos with drawings of flowers to decorate the broadcast of services—to engage different audiences in the collective construction of innovative experiences. To hold online religious services within the framework of the COVID-19 sanitary emergency became a social communication project, aside from its eminently religious content. It is an experience of community and personal accompaniment and assistance, carried out remotely, which makes a

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contribution to human development, in accordance with Sen’s (2000, p. 55) approach that development is a process of expansion of the real freedoms that people enjoy. This experience can also be associated with the capability of the senses, imagination and thought proposed by Nussbaum (2012) in her list of capabilities, when she identifies the importance of using imagination and thought for experiencing and producing religious works and events, in ways protected by freedom of religious exercise (Nussbaum, 2012, p. 53). Moreover, the experience is linked to the affiliation capability defined by Nussbaum (2012, p. 54) as “being able to live with and toward others, to recognize and show concern for other human beings, to engage in various forms of social interaction”. When consulted about this experience, the Bishop referred to the different ways in which religious institutions have provided aid during the COVID-19 pandemic, and pointed to the protagonist role of the Catholic Church. In commenting on his previous experience as Bishop for six years (2014–2020) in the Diocese of Gregorio de Laferrere, he described the socio-cultural context of the area, which is located in the poor peripheries surrounding the city of Buenos Aires. The bishopric under his charge at that time had a population of over one million inhabitants, most of them living under the poverty line and lacking basic access to drinking water and sanitation services, and working far from home. Streets are unpaved and highly insecure. COVID and the quarantine added to that difficult social situation, isolation and unemployment. The economic situation was critical. Added to this was the fear and uncertainties caused by the pandemic. The Bishop commented that his concern was how to contain people and reassure them insofar as that was possible, as there was a growing feeling of fear and social insecurity. Before the pandemic, he had put up an infrastructure in the Cathedral Church so that he could live stream Mass on Facebook and YouTube. Some months before (and without foreseeing the pandemic), he was working on it and live streaming church services, with the idea of reaching the elderly and bedridden that could not attend Mass. With the help of volunteers, the Bishop managed to assemble a first-class YouTube livestream structure, with four HD cameras set up in a small study in the sacristy of the Church. The day when the quarantine began, the two volunteers in charge, a man and a woman who worked only on Sunday, offered to do the livestream every day for free, as they were doing up to that moment. At that moment the Bishop made the decision to conduct the live Mass celebrations in such a way that people could interact instead of being mere spectators. That was his first concern, and the second was to have people pray Mass from their homes “almost” as if they were attending the church in person. Additionally, during breaks he gave techniques for the prevention of COVID and showed materials and videos he had obtained from some universities and friend doctors. Moreover, he managed to establish a very important dialogue with the people following the masses. As all of this was happening, the pandemic brought about a new problem when people died. The family could not recognize the body and there was no funeral. They could not have an in-person Mass. To remedy the situation, the Bishop asked them to print out a photo, which was put in a frame on the altar and a prayer was offered for the family. Families met “virtually” from faraway places (neighboring countries and provinces). This was a big leap to accompany and

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contain people. The mass of each day became a place of encounter and, above all, of great containment and peace for all ages. Children and young people were also provided with spaces to interact. The chats which they used to communicate with the Bishop and his assistants and write their prayer intentions became a space for dialogue and mutual containment. They made contact every day and were eager to speak about their personal issues. Needless to say, the number of participants grew exponentially, from 500 YouTube subscribers to 7000 in only 100 days. A phrase that was coined in those days, which came up as people said goodbye to each other every day: “Till tomorrow, see you at Mass”. Through these concrete and immediate actions, the Church has undoubtedly been a major actor in providing containment in the crisis brought about by COVID and the quarantine (Barba).

Case 2. Fellows for Peace Program by Stacy Kosko One of our expert related a case when she was fresh out of her Master of Science in Foreign Service program at Georgetown University, she took a job at The Advocacy Project, a tiny human rights NGO based in Washington, DC. One of her main roles was to oversee the Fellows for Peace program. Each spring she would hire and train one to two dozen current graduate students who would then deploy for three summer months to one of the community-based partners all over the world. All of the partners were very small organizations that had grown out of the community and were working locally to do human rights advocacy, development, or conflict resolution. One of the fellows, we’ll call her E, was in between her first and second year of graduate school, was assigned to an Afghan women’s organization. E had had a lot of experience as a community organizer, leading workshops and training other organizers in a big city in the US. That’s why we hired her and why the Afghan women’s group was excited to have her come and train them. E, ever the mindful cosmopolitan, was very concerned about coming off as arrogant or paternalistic, like she was the know-it-all American. E worried that her trainings might not be culturally relevant enough, or worse, that they could be offensive in some way. So, in her first few sessions, she tread very carefully. She was almost skittish. During one of our routine phone check-ins she told me that part way through one of the workshops, one of the women interrupted her. The woman could see that E was nervous and holding back. The woman said to her “E, we invited you here because you have skills that we want to learn. We see that you are worried about being culturally insensitive, and that is kind, but please, the best way to respect us is to respect our agency. Accept that we are intelligent enough to know for ourselves which aspects of your trainings we can use and which we need to reject. Trusting us is respecting us. Now please, teach us what you know!” E was floored. It never occurred to her, and yet it seemed so obvious: these were Afghan women, fighting for equality and human rights in the early 2000s in the midst of a war between the US and the Taliban, in the world’s most difficult place to be a woman. They were brave, tough, smart, determined, and skilled. They were perfectly able to discern what was

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culturally useful and what wasn’t from E’s workshops. They just needed E to realize that! Once she did, she was on fire. She became so important to that organization— and they to her—that she deferred her second year of graduate school and stayed more than a year past the scheduled end of her fellowship. She has continued to work in and on Afghanistan ever since. We took away from that experience a lesson that we have never forgotten: While it is right and correct to be cautious and sometimes even deferential when doing community development work as an outsider, it is also right and correct to treat those with whom you interact as equals. That much seems obvious, no? But part of what that means is not assuming that you are some all-powerful influence who will accidentally lead them astray, and instead accepting that they, too, have agency and intelligence and often fierce resilience, and also that it is okay to disagree respectfully and remain congenial and even useful.

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Chapter 7

The Contribution of Quality of Life Research to Policy Making

Abstract This chapter identifies the obstacles and facilitators of the process of transmission of research results to policy making for the improvement of quality of life. It explores the impact of research on policy making, the importance of the availability of data and the methods and techniques used, and the issue of funding. In addition, the chapter provides a series of strategies to improve the use of quality of life research results in policy making and reflects on the role of oral communication and the importance of dialogue between researchers and policy makers. It also contains recommendations for writing quality of life research results that can be translated into a useful input for public policy formulation. It makes a step-by-step proposal to bridge the gap between researchers and policy makers and improve the use of research results in the field of public policies. The chapter concludes with the presentation of different cases. Keywords Quality of life research · Policy making · Methods · Techniques · Communication · Writing

7.1

The Impact of Research Results on Policy Making

An analysis of the impact of the use of research results by policy makers first requires an identification of the different types of research. Reimers and McGinn (1997, p. 22) proposed four types of research: academic research, which is based on systems of explanation composed by theories, models and conceptual frameworks; planning research, which is a kind of research that uses statistical analysis to generate patterns of relationships among variables; instrumentation research, which uses repeated trial and error methods for preparing a new curriculum; and action research, whose aim is the outcomes themselves rather than the knowledge of how to achieve them. As for the use of knowledge, Nielson (2001, p. 7) quoting Webber (1991, pp. 5–6) states that “use” is understood to mean “consideration” and has been measured by interview questions asking: ‘Would you find this type of research helpful?’ or ‘Have you considered this type of information when making a decision?’ The exact process of use has been given different interpretations and little

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 G. Tonon, Key Actors in Public Policy-making for Quality of Life, Human WellBeing Research and Policy Making, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90467-8_7

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effort has been made to compare approaches to measuring knowledge use in the same sample of policy makers. As early as in the 1990s, Glover pointed out that University research is often unsuitable for use by policy makers. It often takes much longer to produce results than a policy maker with a short deadline can tolerate. It is frequently highly critical, without positive suggestions for action, in keeping with the self-image of many academics as gadflies. It often avoids simple recommendations that can be acted upon and instead analyzes the advantages of various alternatives (Glover, 1993, p. 4).

One of the experts we consulted referred to a personal experience connected with this topic: I remember a phrase published in a popular magazine: “it’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen”. The gap between scientific production and effective application is usually a “technological” problem; that is, how DO the programs that arise become effective in reality? (FL).

In this respect, one of the experts notes that: There is quite a lot of access to higher level policy makers, but engaging with policy making at local levels is not so easy (E)

Caplan’s (1979. p. 462) pioneering work on this issue distinguished between the conceptual use and the instrumental use of knowledge. The author defined instrumental use as use associated with micro-level decisions, that is to say, the day-to-day policy issues that involve administrative policy issues pertaining to bureaucratic management and efficiency rather than substantive public policy issues“ (Caplan, 1979, p. 462). In referring to conceptual use, Caplan (1979, p. 464) described the gradual shifts in terms of policy makers’ awareness and reorientation of their basic perspectives, which involve[s] important policy matters and is almost always associated with “macro-level decisions”. Later on, Weiss (1991) outlined seven meanings of research utilization: the knowledge-driven model, the problem-solving model, the interactive model, the political model, the tactical model, the enlightenment model and research as part of the intellectual enterprise of society. Subsequently, Nielson (2001, p. 11, quoting Weiss, 1991) identified three models of ‘research’ used by policy makers: research as data; research as ideas; and research as argumentation. The first model is more mechanistic in terms of its application to the problem at hand. It assumes that the data or sets of findings obtained meets the users’ needs and that there is no conflict in terms of what solution, or goal, is wanted or required in order to resolve the problem. The second model is perceived to be more general in nature and is used in situations when problems are seen as being complex in nature, when uncertainty is high and ideas are in demand. Finally, research as argumentation is used when a decision has already been made, and policy makers and/or interest groups draw on research to take an advocacy position. One of the experts we consulted stressed the importance of communicating research results:

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One of the biggest impacts of research in policy making is the communication by researchers who often communicate in ways that are too long and too complicated for policy makers to understand. Much more should be done to focus on the quality of how research is presented, rather than just on the quality of the research. (J)

In 2007, Albert, Fretheim and Maiga published the findings of a research study they carried out in Mali focused on a specific health policy: the national essential medicines list. This was a qualitative study in which the authors interviewed 19 participants who discussed their experiences in the policy-making process. At the same time, a discussion group was organized with 12 people, 4 of whom were also interviewees (all interviewees were invited to join the group). The results were analyzed using a phenomenological approach. Seven key factors were identified as influencing the processes of utilization and transfer of research results to the public policy field, including: access to information, relevance of research findings, the perception that using research is a time-consuming process, trust in the research, authority of those who present their view, competency in research methods, priority/ importance of research in making the policy, and accountability. The authors highlighted the originality of two of these factors that emerged from the study that are unique in the literature: the authority of those who present their view and the issue of accountability (Albert et al., 2007). We consulted an expert about the impact of research on policy making and he stated that: These are some of the big obstacles in the way of applied research to support decisionmaking: given the complexity of the issues to address and the many dimensions of quality of life, it is necessary to adopt a cross-disciplinary approach in which social scientists are able to talk to each other and, together, to talk to policy makers. This is not trivial. Social scientists from different disciplines tend to pursue (or maximize) different priorities, use different methods and, use different vocabularies. These are the foundations of the Babel’s tower of research. With such premises, the results cannot be too different either: the conclusions produced by a Babel’s tower are often conflicting, inconclusive and difficult to summarize, not to mention the duplication of effort due to disciplines that do not talk to each other. If you were a policy maker, what could you make out of such a confusion? The good news is that “times, they’re changing’”: the literature on well-being produced significant common ground among disciplines to open wide cracks in the walls that traditionally separate disciplines. The picklock that made this possible is subjective well-being. Thanks to the work of positive psychologists, other social scientists learnt that it is possible to observe well-being by asking people to directly evaluate their lives. Subjective well-being measures are valid, reliable and widely available. In a relatively short time, economists, sociologists, political scientists, psychologists discovered that they all have a common tool to improve people’s well-being. What is more, it was finally possible to contrast the results from the new literature with those obtained with previous methods, which contributed to refining our knowledge. (F)

A close look at the policy decision-making arena reveals that, when making a decision, policy makers often refer to research results in order to sustain, justify or legitimize such decision. The question then arises as to whether policy makers use research results because they actually find them useful or because it is a way of avoiding responsibility in the event the relevant decision fails. In this respect, Weiss (1977, p. 533) argues that “the policymaking process is a political process, with the

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basic aim of reconciling interests in order to negotiate a consensus, not implementing logic and truth”. Along these lines, Nowotny (2011, p. 336) notes that governments often state that they would like to use credible and relevant research results to make informed decisions and feed their public policy choices; however, the relationship between research and policy making is rarely linear. Another common feature of the policy circuit is that policy makers tend to consult and engage with researchers they already know, either because they belong to the same political party, share political ideas and/or because they know them for personal reasons. Likewise, policy makers sometimes do not listen to, or engage with, researchers that do not have these characteristics. Glover (1993, p. 2) identified four aspects of the policy making process that are frequently incompatible with the utilization of social science research: policy objectives, the timing of decisions, who takes the decisions, and the decision-making process itself. One of the experts we consulted drew a relationship between the use of research in policy making and serendipity, and he stated in this respect: The strategies to improve the use of research in policy making, need the development of more joint projects and training workshops involving both researchers and policy makers. Ultimately once individuals have better relationships much can follow. Also you can stress that often the process of a joint project—the “serendipitous benefits” it can bring—are as important as the product. (J)

Serendipity is a concept that refers to researchers making unexpected and beneficial discoveries. Serendipity has taken on an important role in debates about the feasibility and desirability of public research and development projects. Yaqub (2018, p. 171) identifies four types of serendipity: Walpolian, Mertonian, Bushian and Stephanian. The Walpolian type is centered on the discovery of things which the discoverers were not in search of; the Bushian type refers to a discovery that leads to an unsought solution because the research was not directed at that topic or was not research at all; the Stephanian type refers to cases where the discovery does not directly solve an immediate problem, but it is of interest for the resolution of a later problem (Yaqub, 2018, pp. 170–172). In our case, we are interested in the fourth type, Mertonian serendipity, where the discovery may lead to the solution of a given problem via an unexpected route. Another challenge that has been the subject of extensive debate is the non-use, or limited use, of research results by policy makers. In this vein, Caplan (1979) devised his theory of the ‘two communities’, according to which the limited use of research by policy makers is, in part, due to the fact that researchers and policy makers have different worldviews. Later explanations based on the writings of Weiss (1977), Webber (1991), Sabatier and JenkinsSmith (1993) and others include the idea that the research-policy link is not a direct one, particularly in connection with data and information sources. These writings support the claim that research is only one of many sources of information for policy makers, and that it is not a simple dichotomy between ‘use’ and ‘non-use’ but rather

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that knowledge/research utilization is built on a gradual shift in conceptual thinking over time. Along these lines, one of our interviewees noted that policy makers act when they think they have the political backing to do so; in the absence of that backing, they are skeptical about change. There are possibilities for policy makers to act once there is strong political backing (eg in the UK when David Cameron sought to measure happiness) but without that backing, most policy makers are either skeptical or nervous about the need to change. (J).

One of the experts further noted: By providing a direct and accurate measure, well-being studies are now in position to measure what matters. This is why the voices to better embed a well-being approach in policy making are growing. There are various examples demonstrating that well-being can play a central role for policy making: Australia, Ecuador, France, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden and United Arab Emirates are only some examples of countries that have integrated—to some extent—wellbeing measurement in their political process. According to a recent report by OECD, 34 out of 35 OECD member states developed some form of national well-being measures, and this happened mostly over the past ten years. I think that the wellbeing approach has the possibility to become mainstream, and much depends on the success of pioneering countries, and the ability to show clearly the advantages of the well-being strategy. It is too early to evaluate to what extent the various national experiences succeeded in delivering better lives for their people, although the first signals are encouraging. I am convinced that the countries who convincingly and seriously adopted the well-being approach will see improvements, and the consensus in favor of the policy makers will grow. This should provide enough push to change policies also in other countries. However, leaders must “walk the walk”, as talking the talk won’t pay off in the medium run. (F)

Nowotny (2011, p. 339) points out that empirical work on public policy advice has shown the importance of framing a question or a problem. The author proposes seeing knowledge as emerging in specific contexts rather than looking for relevant knowledge as predefined or ready-to-use, as this allows knowledge to be linked to policy. In addition, Nowotny argues that knowledge is self-reflexive. The concept of reflexivity implies that the object can only be defined in its relationship with the subject. In accordance with this concept, a system is composed by the mutual relationship between the activity of the system and the activity of the subject (Sotolongo Codina and Delgado Diaz, 2006, p. 62). Reflexivity in individuals, groups and institutions will allow them to integrate their experience and make knowledge more socially robust (Nowotny, 2011, p. 339).

7.2

Methods and Techniques

The methods and techniques used in research are one of the issues that our interviewees regard as important when transmitting research results to the policy cycle. Let us consider some examples provided by our interviewees:

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The availability of a common way to measure well-being, allowed a progressive convergence of methods and of literature across disciplines. Why do I believe this is so important? Because well-being—the measure—allowed overcoming some of the obstacles that traditionally limited the ability of research to impact policy making. First, we have a common measure of well-being. Second, we learnt to speak a common language and we made huge steps forward in understanding the language of different disciplines. Third, we learnt to work together across disciplines, we built bridges. In one move, well-being created the conditions for research to be relevant for policy making. Over the last thirty years, well-being studies have gone a long way in producing a large body of established results that can now be used to make a difference for policy making. The evidence provided by this literature can inform policies in a number of disparate areas from urban planning to education, from the labor market to health care organization, from environmental protection to sustainability. Wellbeing can also help to monitor the impact of policy making, as it legitimately reflects the ultimate meter against which to assess the progress of a society and the ability of policies to meet the goal of improving well-being. (F)

Another of the experts consulted stated that: In my opinion, the most fundamental activity in research is data collection. I will even say that data collection is already research in itself. In economic policy in particular, the great struggle is between the objectives of accelerating aggregate growth (raising GNP) and pursuing distributive equity (e.g., lessening poverty). See how often the government does surveys of production (usually quarterly), and how seldom it does surveys of consumption or levels of income (only once in three years). Data imbalance leads to policy imbalance. A way to correct this is by supplementing data collection on economic deprivation independent of the government. This is essentially the Social Weather Station strategy: not one-off collection of data, but long-term, continuous collection, to reveal the historical changes. Of course, we didn’t imagine, when we began, that we would last this long (surveying from 1986); we just kept on going, from one survey to the next, trying, and managing, to survive. I can’t say that SWS research on well-being has led to certain specific policies to lessen poverty. Definitely, however, it has kept the issue of economic justice much higher in public consciousness than if the government were the only source of data. I think you would be aware of the media releases, once or twice a week, from the SWS surveys (see www.sws. org.ph). The well-being indicators that SWS is most proud of are: The trend in personal QOL (gaining or losing) from 12 months ago; The trend in personal QOL (optimistic or pessimistic) going into the next 12 months; Self-rated poverty of the family; Hunger experienced by the family in the past 3 months. These indicators are based on statistically representative surveys done quarterly at the national level, implemented by face-to-face interviews in respondents’ dwellings. But ever since the Covid-19 pandemic struck in 2020, SWS branched out into interviewing by mobile phone, using a database of numbers that it collected itself in the last few years, from survey respondents who gave permission to be re-interviewed in the future. (M)

While it has been traditionally considered that a large body of quantitative data and statistical analysis produces the only forms of reliable evidence for policy making, statistics provide only one kind of scientific social evidence. The search for adequate statistics or best practices to address specific social problems goes hand in hand with a vision of the social sciences that can provide answers. It is therefore necessary to highlight the political nature of knowledge and, by extension, the political nature of collecting and presenting evidence (von Furstenberg, 2011, pp. 354–355). A well-being strategy implies a different approach to policy making that promises to improve the output of the political process. In my opinion, the main advantage is that, by

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providing a quantifiable way to measuring quality of life, well-being allows policy makers to adopt decisions based on sound, and verifiable data. Moreover, well-being data are intrinsically individual, and are better suited than aggregate economic data to identify inequality, pockets of deprivation and vulnerability, and population groups that are at risk of exclusion. Additionally, the emphasis on well-being should facilitate the adoption of policies for sustainability. It is well established that people care about the environment in which they live, and that the perspective of a deteriorating environment negatively affects well-being. It is not by chance, that the operationalization of the well-being approach often passes by a dashboard of indicators that allows monitoring the performance of a society in a number of domains that have been shown to matter for well-being (examples of such domains are: health, social relationships, environment, education, occupation, income, safety, family life, etc.). Thus, policies for well-being avoid the uni-dimensionality that is typical of incomebased approaches in favor of a plurality of indicators that need to be cared for. The last advantage I see is that the well-being approach is democratic: it is fairly easy, for instance, to explain findings from the well-being literature to lay people, and people can easily relate to them. This eases the public debate, and promotes people’s participation to the political process. In turn, this may benefit the accountability of, and trust in, public institutions. (F).

In this connection, one of the experts we consulted pointed out that the successful use of research results in policy making depends on the ability of the researchers to provide fresh, up-to-date results and on the accessibility of the data for policy makers. I believe that the progressive convergence of methods and approaches among disciplines enlarged the pool of practitioners, and ensured that methods stay up-to-date. What we lack, instead, is timeliness. Our main source of data are surveys, that are expensive, take time to administer and prepare before they can be used to inform policy makers (F).

Traditional statistical approaches focus on obtaining generalizations and, in most cases, they present indicators in isolation from their historical-social context of development (Tonon, 2008, p. 44). Myers (2001) holds that an indicator is a description of social conditions intended to inform public opinion, which has the purpose of assessing and monitoring situations. An indicator must be necessarily interpreted in relation to the context and historical period in which it is developed. Taylor (1995) argued that universal indicators are not permanent criteria as they cannot be evaluated outside the context of their culture. In line with this notion, a trend has emerged towards the design of indicators at the regional level rather than at the international one, so that work with indicators can provide a framework for the integration of the economic, political and psychosocial dimensions. It has also been argued that indicators sometimes serve to hide rather than to show (Raworth, 2002, pp. 11–17). According to Veenhoven (2000), defenders of objective indicators argue that such indicators serve to guide policy makers by providing them with information about the actual state of social problems and the effects of attempts to solve these problems. In turn, the major criticisms against subjective indicators are that they are unstable (as individuals’ perceptions and opinions are mainly based on their personal views rather than on concrete observable events) and that they do not allow comparisons among populations, given that people attach different meanings to the perception of the same situation.

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The combined use of scales to assess individuals’ perceptions and attitudes in terms of satisfaction at both the microsocial/personal level and the macrosocial/ socio-political level will provide a more thorough understanding of the multiple dimensions in which people are immersed as citizens of a country and will foster the integration of approaches from different disciplines such as psychology and political science. This will in turn produce interdisciplinary knowledge that can help policy makers to develop policies in response to the population’s social needs (Tonon & Castro Solano, 2012, p. 169). Data collection is a process in which the researcher selects empirical phenomena that are relevant to the main research questions (Tonon, 2014, p. 5256). If we see persons as the real protagonists of processes, then we must not only use quantitative indicators, which inform us of observable realities translated into figures, but we will also need to rely on a qualitative approach, which can inform us of individuals’ opinions, perceptions and emotions, with due respect for their cultural particularities (Tonon, 2010, p. 8). Qualitative methods search their problems in daily life, are used to study intersubjective and localized meanings, and are oriented to discovery not to verification. In this type of studies, the construction of empirical evidence and theorization is an interactive process (Tonon, 2014, p. 5255). The main purposes of using qualitative methods are to understand the meaning for participants in the study of the events, situations, and actions in which they are involved, the context in which the participants act and its influence on their actions, and the process in which the actions take place, and at the same time to enable the identification and generation of new grounded theory (Maxwell, 1996). They have a different logic and are used to address different questions and purposes than quantitative methods. Let us consider the case presented by one of the experts about the transmission of research results produced by an international network of researchers engaged in the study of child well-being and quality of life using qualitative methods: There are several issues which are encountered in translating research results to the policy cycle. One of the issues relates to policy frames. Policy frames relate to the ways in which particular policy problems are delineated and understood. By framing an issue in a particular way, it invites certain kinds of solutions, for example whether a technical solution, or a solution inviting broader social debate, or as a moral issue, thus inviting questions around personal choice or conscience. Policy frames therefore also establish the taken for granted ways as to how an issue is understood, providing a baseline for policy dialogue to occur in the first place. However, this also serves to preclude other ways of thinking about what the policy problem is and therefore the range of solutions possible. This seems to be particularly an issue in the child well-being field. I have written elsewhere with other colleagues (Fattore & Mason, 2016; Fattore et al., 2007; Fattore, Redhead and Turnbull forthcoming) that there is a significant convergence between dominant themes in research on child well-being and the way in which policy related to children and young people is framed. Both use an institutional frame, emphasizing children’s engagement and performance in institutions, especially educational institutions as the basis for child well-being. Both largely adopt a developmental frame, in which both policy and research is concerned about children’s physical, intellectual and moral development, and specifically whether they are developing towards a normative concept of a desired adulthood, for example being a productive, law-abiding citizen. A third frame common to both is the pathological frame (T).

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Largely used in public policy studies, the concept of frames was built on Schön and Rein’s work from the 1970s to the 1990s. Rein and Schön (1977, p. 237) used frame analysis as “a methodology for problem setting”, that is to say, a tool for those who seek to understand difficulties in the mismatch between administrators’ implementation of policies and policy intent (van Hulst & Yanow, 2016, p. 92). Van Hulst and Yanow (2016) propose changing frames to framing, arguing that frames are treated as objects that people own in their heads and are developed with explicitly strategic ends. Framing, instead, considers intersubjective and interactive processes. In policy-making, framing is a process through which relevant actors intersubjectively construct the meanings of policy-relevant situations in which they are involved, either directly or as viewers and stakeholders (van Hulst & Yanow, 2016, p. 93). A more fundamental problem is the lack of political power which children and young people have. Children and young people are rarely involved in public debates and similarly research that presents children and young people’s perspectives is often dismissed. What usually has more traction in the policy field are ‘child experts’, most notably pediatricians, developmental psychologists and educationalists, who make a claim to represent children’s best interests. However, these experts rarely speak on behalf of children and their authority usually derives from the claims to having esoteric knowledge, which is a source of professional power more generally. Given this, research presenting children’s perspectives faces stiff opposition. This also assumes that presenting children’s voices is enough to influence the policy arena, reflected in the frustration researchers feel when they produce research and it’s not automatically integrated into policy processes. Rather than seeing research per se as the policy solution, research needs to be seen as a resource that can be deployed strategically to serve the interests of children within policy processes that are characterized by competing interests, conflicting problem definitions and significant inequality in terms of power. This means that researchers need to see themselves as part of a coalition of interests (similar to the concept of Advocacy Coalition Framework developed by Sabatier & Jenkins-Smith, 1993) that advocate for a particular policy position, one stakeholder amongst many who can bring the resource of evidence to policy debates. Indeed, researchers might have to build coalitions of diverse interests to advocate with and for children and young people. This coalition could include children and young people, their families, other policy researchers, journalists and so on, who advocate for a shared conception of the policy problem and preferred solutions. (T)

As to children’s and young people’s lack of political power, it is worth mentioning that a series of projects based on a participatory approach have been developed all around the globe, especially in the most disadvantaged regions with the most inequalities, which tend to respect the rights of children and empower them. Kallio and Häkli (2011) devised a model for identifying different modes and spaces of children’s agency in terms of political involvement and political presence, and pointed out that it is necessary to reflect on the role of children as political agents in their daily life practices. This requires studying the worlds of children as potential fields of political action.

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The Use of Mixed Methods

For an effective integration of methods in the quality of life research field, it must be taken into account that the quantitative and qualitative methods play specific roles in the research process (Tonon, 2015, p. 59). Mixed methods are a form of research that implies much more than a mere collection of quantitative and qualitative data. It indicates that the data may be integrated, related, and/or mixed at some stage in the process (Creswell et al., 2004, p. 7).The benefits of using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods have emerged in the past few decades. Nowadays, mixed research methods are considered an approach to knowledge, both in theory and practice, stemming from multiple points of view, perspectives and positions (both qualitative and quantitative), with the purpose of probing more deeply into understanding and in the corroboration of the results, once they have been acknowledged as the third approach or paradigm of social research (Johnson et al., 2007, p. 123). Johnson and Turner (2003) constructed what they called the fundamental principle of mixed methods, which requires researchers to collect a large body of data through different strategies. In this way, mixed methods help to strengthen the research study and produce an outcome superior to the one derived from the application of individual methods (Tonon, 2015, p. 56). The use of mixed methods (Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004) presents some strong points: the use of words and images may complement figures, just as figures may give precision to words and images; researchers may broaden and complete research questions; the strong points of one of the methods may compensate the other’s shortcomings; access to stronger evidence in the conclusion and more thorough results, eliciting more complex knowledge, both in the fields of theory and practice (Tonon, 2015, p. 56). Mixed methods are plural and complement each other, and they allow the researcher an eclectic approach (Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004). Veenhoven (2000) argues that public policy is not limited to merely material matters, but it is also aimed at matters related to people’s mentality. And while the traditional study of living conditions based on a quantitative approach provides policy makers with objective results that can be contrasted by means of external observation, the study of subjective satisfaction is a more appropriate indicator of citizens’ quality of life that should be taken into consideration. Thus, policy makers need to have the information provided by both systems of indicators—quantitative and qualitative ones—if they wish to implement public policies that not only respond to individuals’ external living conditions but also to their quality of life in multidimensional terms (Tonon, 2010, p. 7).

7.2 Methods and Techniques

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The Techniques

The techniques used in the different processes are the tools employed by researchers. Following Vélez Restrepo (2005, pp. 24–25 in Tonon, 2012), we can argue that assigning techniques the static or quantitative function of being mere tools for gathering data undermines their role as generators of meaning, insofar as techniques generate situations and acts of communication and allow the interpretation, understanding and analysis of subjects, contexts and social situations where action takes place. Two of the most commonly used techniques are observation and interview.

7.2.2.1

Observation

Observation, although it is a technique that dates back a long time, has not necessarily been the most widely used in research related to the field of politics. Baker (2006) defined observation as a complex research method, mainly rooted in the field of ethnography. The author studied the different types of roles that researchers can adopt when carrying out research based on observation. However, notwithstanding its development in the field of social sciences, observation has been sparsely used in political science studies. Among such studies is the one undertaken by Schöne (2003), who shows a way of applying participant observation efficiently to political science research, on the basis of the practical and methodical experience gathered from two research projects on parliamentarism. Schöne’s article analyzes the chances of cognition provided by participant observation and suggests solutions to problems emerging during the preparation of instruments, during fieldwork and during the analysis of data. Observation has been generally defined as the human activity of collecting data based on passive or active involvement in daily life situations. It is considered a data collection technique. In the field of research, observation has been defined as a qualitative method technique used in the Social Sciences. It allows researchers to study people in the environment in which they live, thus making it easier to understand situations from their perspective. Denzin and Lincoln (2000, p. 3), in referring to qualitative research, define observation as a situated activity that locates the observer in the world. As noted by various authors, observation is not simply a data collection technique, but it also entails a cognitive activity and an information-gathering process (Cellini, 2008, p. 14). As observation is guided by cognitive schemes that make up the system that allows the subject to recognize and attach a meaning to what he/she observes, it may be the case that different subjects observing the same scene can produce different versions of it. As stated by Baker (2006, p. 171), observation requires the researcher to spend considerable time working in the field, with the possibility of adopting various roles in order to gain a more thorough understanding of the people being studied.

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To summarize, we can state that there are three general alternatives for carrying out a scientific observation that give rise to different types or classes of observation, which can be distinguished from one another by degrees. The first alternative relates to the degree of control of the situation under observation, the second concerns the degree of structuring of the situation under observation, and the third alternative refers to the degree of participation of the observer in the phenomenon in question (Ruiz Olabuenaga, 2012, p. 131). In the origins of the observation technique, scholars argued that it was critical for the researcher to adopt a neutral non-intervention role. However, in the last decades of the twentieth century, authors started to advocate a participant role in observation processes. The significance of participant observation is that, unlike traditional (non-participant) observation, which uses a non-verbal approach, participant observation allows a concrete interaction between the researcher and the object of study (Corbetta, 2003, p. 13). Most notably, Bruschi (1999, p. 139) argues that observation is an informationgathering process in which the instrument called observation can be distinguished from the system of written record of what is observed. Indeed, observation provides the researcher with an opportunity to record and analyze behavior and interactions as they occur, thus allowing events, actions and experiences to be seen through his/her eyes (Ritchie & Lewis, 2003, p. 35).

7.2.2.2

Interview

Interview is defined as a research technique, but it is actually more than that. It is an encounter between subjects that facilitates the understanding and analysis of subjects, contexts and social situations, generating at the same time actions and situations of communication. This position challenges the reductionist and traditional view according to which the semi-structured interview is only a simple tool for collecting data (Tonon, 2012, p. 49). The semi-structured interview is a technique that facilitates the free manifestation of subjects, their formative interests (spontaneous memory), beliefs (expectations and value orientations about the information received) and wishes (Tonon, 2012, p. 49). During field work in qualitative studies, people meet each other, so it is necessary to consider the feelings and emotions involved and constructed between them (Tonon, 2012). This requires the building of trust that fosters collaboration and allows interviewees to reduce the uncertainty in the circumstances. In addition, confidentiality is needed in order to preserve the intimate and secret information conveyed by the interviewees (Tonon, 2012). At some point during an interview, interviewees usually move away from the subject of the interview and venture into other topics that may be relevant This is when the experienced researcher takes action and attempts to build a space to obtain the information he/she is looking for. But, at the same time, the researcher should not

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lead his/her interviewee to feel that the researcher is not considering or valuing the information he/she is giving because he/she considers it is important (Tonon, 2012). Likewise, the interview technique relies on observation. The researcher is thus aware not only of what the interviewee says, as words related in a message, but also of the way in which he/she conveys his/her message and of the underlying emotions (Tonon, 2009).

7.3

Funding

Research funding plays a critical role in research. Project funding has traditionally been intended to be a stimulus for researchers so that they may increase their production while excellence is promoted. In addition, project funding is aimed at encouraging interdisciplinary work, as well as work considered relevant for the design of public policies (UNESCO, 2010). Researchers have the possibility of initiating partner-engaged, solution-oriented research. An example of this is where governments, businesses and/or other organizations define the problem to be solved and provide funding together with appropriate accountabilities to guarantee progress of the process towards the solution. This is a mission-driven “connected science” model that specifically connects funding to an end product, and contrasts with supporting researcher-initiated basic science, in which research findings are expected to be applied to practical problems and translated to policy and projects (Western, 2019, p. 22). One of the experts referred to this issue and commented on his personal experiences as head of the AsiaBarometer Survey since 2002 The impact of research in policy making was not very large when the economy went well. Still in relation to the central government economic policy deliberation committee, I was appointed to an extraordinary committee member on economic policy in early 1980s to make inputs to policy making on the relationship between the annual economic growth rate and the nature of government economic policy, both fiscal and monetary. After what is called in Japan the lost three decades (1990s–2010s) when the economy registered a very low annual growth rate continuously, the interest surged in quality of life. In the 2000s my research proposal on quality of life in 32 Asian societies based on the nation-wide random sampled respondents with face-to-face interviews spurred wide interest, leading to the National Scientific Research Grant to me, which was duly carried out in the 2000s with the publication of four books from Springer in the 2010s. In the new Millennium think tanks put up one of the high policy priority policies on quality of life. Most recently, one of the think tanks, the Nakasone Policy Institute, appointed Mr. Takahashi (head of QOL research project), who was subsequently appointed to the position, assisting Dr Ming-Chang Tsai, President (2019–2020) of the International Society for Quality of Life Studies. (T).

Another of our interviewees pointed out that: The contextual awareness and embeddedness includes the knowledge economy and the pedagogical approach to knowledge on QoL. Achieving sustainable economic growth and social and human upliftment are the most important goals of the South African government. Moving from a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based economy has been regarded

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as a critical step to achieve this. Sustainable wealth in the world’s most successful economies is largely as a result of knowledge-based industries that are contingent on human and social capital and scientific innovation. Progress towards a knowledge based economy is dependent on four elements (Becker, 2002): Human capital development knowledge, skill, creativity, and health of the individual, Knowledge generation, and Knowledge infrastructure. Addressing the chasm between research results and socio-economic outcomes (Department of Science and Technology, 2008) is thus crucial. In addition to understanding and being cognisant of the contextual realities related to QoL, it is important to consider the contribution of research to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Of particular relevance to QoL research is Goal 3 (Good health and well- being), Goal 16 (Peace, justice and strong institutions, and Goal 17 (Partnerships for the goals). Capacity Building for Sustainable Development of emerging researchers is embedded in the targets for SDG 17. Within the South African context, it is important to be mindful of the Department of Science and Technology’s Key areas of innovation, as well as the contribution of one’s research to the discipline, field of study, and the South African context. As noted, key to the production of QoL research is capacity-building among emerging researchers to continue work in the discipline and essentially contributing to improving children’s lives and well-being. (S)

However, it is also important to note that project funding can be detrimental to academic research when short-term projects are privileged, researchers have an administrative work overload, only a handful of funding agencies are active in a region or country, or only certain research agendas are supported. Such potential threats exist in all regions and countries, but they are more damaging in regions where the embeddedness of capacities in the area of the social sciences is limited (UNESCO, 2010, p. 351). Aside from economic resources, which are regarded as conventional, in the 1980s other authors pointed to the importance of non-conventional resources based on the practical knowledge generated by the community itself (Max Neef et al., 1986, p. 77). Such non-conventional resources include organizational know-how, managerial ability, popular creativity, solidarity and an ability to provide mutual aid, dedication and training provided by supporting agencies. The authors highlight the differences between both types of resources and argue that conventional resources are depleted when they are used, while non-conventional resources are lost only when they are not used.

7.4

Overcoming the Obstacles. Strategies to Improve the Use of Research in Policy Making

In order to examine the strategies needed to improve the use of research results in policy making, it is worth looking once again at the research carried out by Jefferys, et al. (2007)—cited in Chap. 3 of this book—to gain further insights into policy makers’ views on research, its use in their work, and ideas for potential collaboration. A brief summary of the results obtained by the authors in relation to this topic shows that policy makers had specific suggestions to increase the use of research results in policy making. The first answer was related to the way in which research

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results are communicated to policy makers. They proposed using a format of research findings that is brief and accessible to non-academics; using language that is easily understood by non-academics; and having the possibility of accessing research findings and reports online. At the same time, policy makers emphasized that research would be more helpful and useful if it included policy recommendations or implications. They also mentioned the existence of limits on the use of research in policy making, especially when there is an overwhelming amount of information provided in a format that is not easily accessed by them, particularly considering the tight timeframes policy makers have to take decisions (Jefferys et al., 2007, pp. 6–14). In addition to examining systematized research findings from published studies, I also considered it appropriate to consult colleagues from the International Society for Quality of Life Studies (ISQOLS), who have a solid background and experience on the subject, so that they might provide their views. One colleague stated that the social sciences have seen an improvement in the quality of the data produced and the methods used in the analyses: Policy makers need a set of options among which to choose, and the possibility to monitor and follow up their decisions. This translates in the need for relevant questions, good quality and timely data. As for the first point, I tend to believe that there are no silly questions when it comes to understanding the causes and consequences of well-being. However, a good dose of meeting people on the streets helps securing that we remain relevant. I also think that social sciences have gone a long way in improving the quality of the data and methods used in their analyses. (F).

The social sciences are concerned with the resolution of questions facing society. Currently, the horizon of social science research is an epistemological and political one (González Perdomo, 2006). Dogan and Pahré (1993) stressed the importance of knowledge derived from practice and recognized the existence of concepts stemming from such practice in response to the appearance of new phenomena. Today there is a recognition that there are different forms of knowledge and of enquiry into it. Therefore, as remarked by Diaz Gómez (2006, p. 229), it can no longer be assumed that there is only one method—the scientific method. Social facts take place within a given context; in other words, they are developed in space-time coordinates. “Social reality is built in worlds of language and thus gives rise to the human quality of culture, whose significance translates into collective, historical and contextual action” (Diaz Gómez, 2006, p. 226). Giménez (2003, p. 394) argues that the context is not a mere external framework of historical-social phenomena, but rather it constitutes and intrinsically defines such phenomena, whether to explain them or to attribute a specific meaning to them. The context is not a pre-existing datum, but it is built as a framework of reference and relevance for interpretation (Giménez, 2003, p. 393, quoting Passeron, 1994). Western (2019) points out that university researchers engage with governments, policy makers, businesses and not-for-profits in many ways and that academic service on external boards and committees and engagement interactions such as cross-sectoral roundtables, workshops and conferences are intended to foster knowledge transfer and dissemination. The author notes that “the more fundamental goal,

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however, is to design elements of the research ecosystem to produce outcomes that all participants (policy-makers, service deliverers, researchers, civil society organizations, and other stakeholders) value” (Western, 2019, p. 21). One of our interviewees highlighted the importance of researchers’ ability to communicate their research results as well as of the timing for transmitting such results so that they can coincide with strategic public agenda decisions: Another important step to make research relevant is to design studies to assess the impact of policies ex-ante, i.e. before the policies are formulated, and ex-post, i.e. after the adoption of a policy. In this respect, the arsenal of tools available to social sciences is rich. The main aspects to consider are: researchers’ ability to communicate clearly their results to non-specialists, possibly timed to coincide with strategic decisions; researcher’s ability to identify the policy levers that can improve the indicators of well-being, and that can account for the interrelationships between various domains of quality of life; integrating ex-ante and ex-post policy research in the decision making process; data accessibility. It is up to policy makers to find out the best ways to integrate research in the stages of their decision making, i.e. policy formulation and policy evaluation. (F)

Other authors such as Kiefer et al. (2005) have referred to knowledge translation as an interactive exchange of knowledge between researchers and research users, with particular reference to policy-makers in the field of Public Health Policy. Knowledge Translation—an encompassing term that denotes the exchange, synthesis and ethically-sound application of research findings within a complex system of relationships among researchers and knowledge users; the incorporation of research knowledge into policies and practice, thus translating knowledge into improved health of the population (Kiefer et al., 2005, p. 14)

These authors conducted a study in the field of Public Health, in which they interviewed researchers, practitioners, and policy makers to know their opinions about the topic. The results of the study showed that the interviewees: identified three priorities for action: (1) research on the factors contributing to effective knowledge transfer by policy-makers and practitioners; (2) effective ways of communicating Population Public Health knowledge to key stakeholder groups and the public, including effective and innovative use of various media and accessible language for different audiences; and (3) greater investment in knowledge synthesis, diffusion and transfer initiatives, such as the development of high quality synthesis and meta-analysis on population and public health interventions (Kiefer et al., 2005, p. 1).

Along the same lines, in the research developed by Hyder et al. (2011) the authors suggest a list of actions that can be taken by policy makers and researchers in the health field in order to bridge the gap between them. The authors point out that policy decision-makers could actively interact with health researchers; communicate and suggest research areas for policy implementation; promote research investments linked to specific policies in development; identify short-, mid- and long-term policy strategies and identify points where evidence is missing and can contribute; have a board or committee that includes policy makers as well as researchers to develop and/or approve government-funded or donor-funded research that is relevant to policy and will be used by policy makers (Hyder et al., 2011, p. 80). As for researchers, they could reach out to policy makers and engage them early on in the question-forming process; get involved in policy making processes; communicate

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with policy makers better and more frequently; demonstrate the utility of research results; ask policy makers for questions that need to be answered and problems that they are facing that need to be solved (Hyder et al., 2011, p. 80). At this point, it is worth recalling the importance of creating networks of researchers and academics that collaborate with each other and seek to make quality of life research results visible in the public policy field. When consulted about this topic, one of our experts noted that: This is the case of The International Society for Quality of Life Studies (ISQOLS), an international group of scholars and practitioners from various backgrounds, with different competences but all working to understand how to improve quality of life. It is thanks to organizations such as ISQOLS that scholars can learn to talk a common language, to overcome the barriers of their respective fields of specialization, to share experiences and contribute to collecting the best ideas on how to support policies for well-being. These features are the value-added of ISQOLS and the organization could play a key role in facilitating the transition to a human-centered approach to policy making (F).

7.5

The Communication Between Researchers and Policy Makers

An important issue to be considered in the transmission process of research results to the public policy circuit is the oral and written communication between researchers and policy makers. With respect to oral communication, we draw on Heritage’s (2005) Institutional Conversation Analysis approach. Institutional Conversation Analysis was built on the findings of the basic Conversation Analysis to examine the operation of social institutions in talk, and its focus is to use basic Conversation Analysis as a resource to understand the work of social institutions (Heritage, 2005, p. 104). Conversation Analysis is historically contingent and subject to processes of social change under the impact of culture, social ideology, power, economic forces, intellectual innovation, and other factors impacting change in society (Heritage, 2005, p. 105). Conversation Analysis starts with the view that context is both a project and a product of the participants’ actions. It is built through interaction, this is to say that the participants build the context of their talk in and through their talk. Heritage (2005, p. 132, quoting Schegloff, 1996) points out that one important thing to consider in this type of analysis is the use of specific words or phrases by the persons who interact, as it can index an interactant’s stance toward a particular circumstance, as well as the interactional context they are in, in very precise ways. Lexical choice implies that alternative lexical formulations are available to reference the same state of affairs. This approach aims to discover how institutional conversations work (Heritage, 2005, p. 109). In line with Heritage’s (2005) approach, our first recommendation to facilitate communication between researchers and policy makers is for both of them to prepare for the moment when they meet to engage in conversation. This requires each of them to take into account the lexical universe of the other in order to avoid misunderstandings and facilitate conversation.

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The Importance of Dialogue

The above considerations invite reflection on the importance of dialogue. For this purpose, we will adopt the theoretical approach of Latin American pedagogist Paulo Freire. Freire (2005) defines dialogue as an existential encounter that cannot be reduced to a simple act of one person’s depositing ideas in another, or end in a mere polemical argument in which one of them attempts to impose on the other, as neither of these situations would help to transform the situation. Additionally, Freire argues that dialogue requires humility; thus, self-sufficiency is inconsistent with dialogue. But dialogue also requires critical thinking that perceives reality as an ever-changing process rather than as a static entity (Freire, 2005, p. 113). Hence, it is important for both researchers and policy makers to be aware of the structural conditions in which thought and language are dialectically constituted in order to communicate more fluently. Rojas (2017, p. 190) points out that Bajtín (1999) studied language as a discursive action and referred to dialogue as an alternation of voices that are sometimes in agreement, and some other times, are not. Bauman (2015, p. 94) has also addressed this issue and argued that openness is a condition for dialogue. Thus, no-one taking part in dialogue can enter it certain of his/her own truth and aiming to convince the others. This position involves cooperation among participants, where there are neither winners nor losers as a result of such process. Dialogue plays a key role in the political context, as it consolidates democratic processes, making problematics visible and mediating in the assumption of responsibilities by leaders. The political status of social dialogue is based on the fact that it is a fundamental pathway to resolve conflict (Gutiérrez-Ríos, 2017, pp. 26–27). The author further notes that “dialogue is a mediator between worldviews in conflict” (Gutiérrez-Ríos, 2017, p. 30).

7.5.1.1

Epistemic Communities

In order to improve the relationship between researchers and policy makers, it is worth examining the approach of epistemic communities, defined by Adler and Haas (1992, p. 368) as “a new international actor or unit of analysis that is a vehicle for the development of insightful theoretical premises about the creation of collective interpretation and choice”. In addition, Haas, (1992, p. 3) defines epistemic communities as “a network of professionals with recognized expertise and competence in a particular domain and an authoritative claim to policy-relevant knowledge within that domain or issue area”. This approach is instrumental and limited in time and space until the relevant problem is resolved (Adler & Haas, 1992, p. 371). The members of an epistemic community share the following characteristics: a set of normative and principled beliefs, causal beliefs, notions of validity and a common policy enterprise.

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In this respect, Stone (1996) points out that knowledge is a central aspect of power in the epistemic community perspective. It explains how expert forms of advice penetrate bureaucracies and influence decision makers. The epistemic community approach focuses on expert actors in policy making who share norms, causal beliefs and political projects and who seek change in specific areas of policy (Stone, 1996, p. 86).

Finally, it is important to mention that Haas (1992) distinguished between epistemic communities and the scientific community, and explained that “although members of a given profession or discipline may share a set of causal approaches or orientations and have a consensual knowledge base, they lack the shared normative commitments of members of an epistemic community” (Haas, 1992, p. 19).

7.5.2

When Researchers Write to Policy Makers

In 1979 Caplan devised the theory of the two communities in order to account for the limited use of research results in policy making. The author recognized the existence of a gap in communication between researchers and policy makers arising from the fact that both have different goals, information needs, values and languages. Drawing on this theory, Friese and Bogenschneider (2009) carried out a study in this thematic field, based on the notion that “connecting research and policymaking is a two-pronged process: encouraging policymakers to become more researchminded and encouraging researchers to become more policy-minded” (Friese & Bogenschneider, 2009, p. 230). In this study, the sample was composed by 49 researchers and policy analysts from the fields of developmental psychology, economics, family studies, health care and sociology who presented at a Wisconsin Family Impact Seminar on 17 topics over a 9-year period. These seminars were held between 1993 and 2002 with the aims of building greater respect for and use of research in state policy decisions, and encouraging policy makers to examine the family impact of policies and programs. Finally, 14 researchers were interviewed and the interviews showed the following results. Researchers reported three main rewards of their policy work: making the world a better place, seeing research applied in the real world, and feeling respected for their expertise. They reported, too, a list of barriers: the conceptualization of the process of transmission of research results to policy as a mere process of dissemination of information instead of recognizing it as a process of developing relationships, the need to have more information about the population group to which the policy would be directed, the importance of becoming familiar with the policy cycle, the communication of findings that respond to the needs of policy makers for policy decisions, the need to use clear language and provide a timely response to questions that drive the policy debate, showing respect for the knowledge and experience of policy makers, and the importance of taking the initiative to contact legislators or political intermediaries, and being patient (Friese & Bogenschneider, 2009).

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Table 7.1 Recommendations for writing research results to be used by policy makers (Tonon, 2021) Produce a document that provides responses to the needs of the current socio-political-economic context, rather than focusing on issues that call our attention as researchers in terms of intellectual challenges. Use precise, plain language for theoretical conceptualizations. If you need to include a specific concept used in research, provide its definition for policy makers. Insofar as possible, use tables and charts to make the document contents more reader-friendly and illustrative. Use maps and graphs that allow a better and more attractive visualization of the results. Write a brief, clear and precise document. Avoid using non-conclusive data, which may be included in separate appendixes. Write the document in such a way that it makes easier for policy makers to come to a decision. Write the document with humility, keeping your target audience in mind.

We consulted one of our experts about this issue, and he remarked that: Let me be clear: research cannot replace politics, nor I wish an algorithm that replaces policy-makers by selecting the most appropriate policy based on a pool of evidence-based proposals. Although this seems the way some big companies are led these days, this is not desirable. My feeling is that policy makers have an incredible need of evidence-based research to make the right choice, and they are aware of it. What probably is still not widely available is a class of evidence-literate policy makers. While it is our job, as researchers, to provide intelligible answers, policy makers should still be able to autonomously read and understand scientific briefs and reports. Scholars, on the other hand, want to produce research that is relevant and that can help to improve people’s quality of life. (F)

Nowotny (2011, p. 339) proposes moving from relevant knowledge, which is useful for decision-making, towards socially robust knowledge, which includes multiple perspectives and where institutions serve as important mediators. Socially robust knowledge includes views of alternative futures and the imagination that shapes them, and goes beyond the divide between expert and lay knowledge. Interaction with people sharpens experts’ sense for the context-dependency of their arguments, and therefore fosters mutual respect. I have had personal experiences as head of teams conducting research for different state agencies. On such occasions, when we prepared the final documents showing the research results, my concern was always focused on how to transmit the results to policy makers so that they could find them useful for decision-making. I thus built the following list of requirements (Table 5.1) that I consider necessary for the transfer of research results in writing to policymakers. I hope the readers will find them helpful (Table 7.1). I consider that, when writing reports to policy makers, the researcher needs to capture the relevant events of social reality. In this sense, leaving aside traditional formats and building new alternatives can be regarded as an act of innovation. Innovation is a social interactive accumulative process, which is determined by its trajectory. Innovation cannot be conceived as an individual process only, as the new combinations of knowledge require interaction and communication between those possessing it. It is a process that involves the creation of something new and

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Produce a document that provides responses to the needs of the current socio-political-economic context

Use simple language

Write a brief, clear and precise document

Use maps and graphs for a better and attractive visualization of the results. Fig. 7.1 Summary of how to write for policy makers (Tonon, 2021)

previously unknown, which confronts us with a situation requiring strategic rationality. In addition, all successful innovations reflect an encounter between needs and opportunities. For this reason, innovation systems must be analyzed as both technical-economic and sociocultural entities (Tonon, 2001, p. 53). It is also worth recalling that, when writing their research reports, researchers should make use of what Glaser and Strauss identified as theoretical sensitivity in the late 1960s. Glaser and Strauss (1968) defined theoretical sensitivity as the capacity a sociologist should have to conceptualize and formulate a theory as it emerges from the data. The authors pointed out that once it is started, theoretical sensitivity is in continual development, and has two characteristics: it involves the researcher’s personal and temperamental bent, and it involves his/her ability to have theoretical insight into his/her area of research, combined with the ability to make something of his/her insight (Glaser & Strauss, 1968, p. 46). Later, Strauss working with Corbin (1990) identified as sources for the development of theoretical sensitivity literature, the researcher’s professional and personal experience and the analytical process itself. The authors assigned an important role to the sensitive insights of the researcher him/herself, which can come at different times of the day, be derived directly from theory, when he/she observes others, during the research or at the end of a long inquiry, but always based on his/her personal experience (Glaser & Strauss, 1968, p. 252) (Fig. 7.1).

7.6

Summing Up: The Transmission of Research Results to the Public Policy Cycle

We present below a table with a proposal of a step-by-step process for transmitting research results to the policy cycle (Fig. 7.2).

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Make an initial contact with those who could facilitate the first meeting.

Begin with a meeting in which researchers and policy makers can get to know each other and comment on their current situation and needs. It is important that no- one should impose their point of view and that the meeting promotes and encourages openness to dialogue.

Having listened to the needs of policy makers for the decisions they have to make, researchers should write a first report that contains specific and precise information responding to those needs (see recommendations for writing research results to be used by policy makers in table 1).

Once policy makers read the report prepared by the researchers, further meetings can be organized to discuss queries and agreements on how to continue working.

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Fig. 7.2 Process of transmission of research results to the public policy cycle: step by step

7.7

Conclusions

While the various models of policy-processes that have emerged in this field demonstrate that there are many ways in which research may be influencing policy, it is widely recognized that the level of research utilization by policy-makers is lower than it could be (Albert et al., 2007, p. 2). It is worth recalling that the difference between the interests of researchers and those of policy makers lies in the fact that researchers wish to test their theories and are, in many cases, anchored in a specific discipline, while policy makers need to obtain solutions and require an interdisciplinary perspective on the problems they have to address. Nowotny (2011, p. 340) points out that instead of expecting just-in-time and ready-to-use knowledge, we should be prepared—by drawing together intellectual and organizational forces—to find solutions to shared problems by means of a “flexible, context-situated social science” (Nowotny, 2011, p. 336).

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Studies on quality of life at country level are traditionally based on statistics obtained from quantitative indicators and usually neglect the use of qualitative indicators that provide data on citizens’ perceptions and opinions. Thus, the study of individual well-being (micro dimension) does not appear as necessarily related to the study of the general situation of a country (macro dimension). While a significant number of scales are designed and administered to measure psychological wellbeing and life satisfaction at an individual level, when it comes to making political decisions, it can be observed that the data considered are sourced from traditional statistics, without people having been consulted about such decisions that will affect their lives in the future (Tonon & Castro Solano, 2012, p. 157). In the past few years, researchers have shown an intention to participate in society directly, taking their interaction with policy makers in a more pragmatic way. They also face the challenge of overcoming the traditional systems of transmission and transfer of science, in order to improve their communication with policy makers for the understanding and resolution of people’s everyday problems. Policy makers have also been confronted with changes, as it has now become manifest that, given the complexity of current social issues, policy making cannot be a vertical process carried out in an office. Instead, it requires the interaction of different actors: policy makers, citizens and researchers. Thus, their challenge is to be able to work with researchers that may not belong to their political party or share their ideology, and to prioritize decision making that leads to the effective resolution of problems affecting people’s quality of life. Against this background, dialogue is the most viable communication tool to initiate a path of encounter between researchers and policy makers, as dialogue acts as a mediator between different positions and worldviews. Likewise, researchers need to produce precise and simple reports that allow policy makers to have the information they need for decision making. Considering the characteristics of current societies, the theoretical proposal of quality of life can make a significant contribution to policy making. And while some governments have stated their intention to use credible and relevant research results to make decisions to enrich their public policy choices, it can still be observed that the relationship between research results and the design of public policies is not a direct one and that more work is needed to achieve a synergistic process.

Cases: Using Quality of Life Theory and Methodology for Policy Making In this section we present different cases related by experts, who referred to the importance of the use of research results in quality of life and well-being for policy making.

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Case 1: Quality of Life in Economics and Public Policy by Paul Anand It is exciting to see how quality of life of research has been taken up particularly by the main international organizations within economics as well as some national governments, charities and businesses. The latest, global version of the quality of life agenda is the sustainable development goals (SDGs) which comprise 17 overarching goals to which all member states of the United Nations (UN) have subscribed. It builds on various policy initiatives but ultimately initiates and arguments for change that economists and others have proposed. Within economics there are now three approaches or paradigms for thinking about human wellbeing. The traditional approach focuses on income and takes the view that other aspects of wellbeing are closely correlated. The more recent alternatives take the view that income is an input into quality of life and that a more explicit approach to its monitoring is warranted Anand (2016). The human and sustainable development derives ultimately from work by Nussbaum and Sen (1993) that argues for the importance of opportunities to things that we value and is informed primarily by foundational ideas in philosophy about morality and ethics. The other approach focused on the concept of life satisfaction as measured and understood primarily in social psychology. This approach has been used by a number of researchers including Layard (2006) and Graham et al. (2018) to understand what the drivers of experiential happiness are and how these can be supported. Occasionally these approaches come to different conclusions and these differences are often the focus of academic debate. But when it comes to improving the quality of people’s lives conclusions are often surprisingly similar even if the arguments by which they are reached differ. It is important to recognize that international and national initiatives often draw on both traditions when they seek to go beyond income based measures of success. An important question then is how have these two subfields been successful? In what follows, I offer some reflections that highlight eight factors that are worth considering when trying to formulate research that stands the chance of being able to address the needs of policy-makers and practitioners.

Resources and Possible Barriers • Research: Coherent and innovative ideas It seems obvious and I include the quality of research for completeness while recognizing that novelty is a necessary if not sufficient condition. The capability approach has enabled policy makers including the UNDP Report Office, OECD and EU as well as a range of countries from Bhutan to the UK to adopt a multidimensional approach to wellbeing. The life satisfaction approach has encouraged them also to include a subjective overall measure on their dashboards of indicators.

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Both ideas are simple but have hinterlands of research are linked to relevant analytical theories. To stand the chance of being adopted by decision-makers the analysis needs to have the capacity to shed light on problems as well as being a positive response to some research question. A guide for theory success can be taken from Kuhn (2012) who found that empirical accuracy, internal consistency as well as consistency with other theory, broad scope in the sense of being able to applied beyond the immediate use envisaged, simplicity of explanation (i.e. avoiding overly complicated explanations) as well as the ability to disclose new phenomena or relations, all matter. The capability approach does with its novel core theory while the life satisfaction literature uses a novel variable to bring novel insights from psychology into economics. • Persuasion: Articulate Advocates The movement of wellbeing into public policy has benefitted in all cases from individuals who have been successful advocates for their approach. Perhaps this goes without saying but it is important to recognise that ideas do not disseminate themselves but need advocates who can encourage those in policy and practice as well as research to invest the time and energy investing in them. • Operationalisation: Easy to Use When ideas start to gather momentum, it must be possible for others to operationalise and implement them. Alkire et al. (2015) illustrate the value of addressing this point. By developing a procedure for creating indices of data where commensurability is difficult, their work quickly became a standard for use in some literatures. Procedures that are difficult to use will only be replicated if the rewards are particularly salient while those that are tractable encourage others to consider investing in them. • Richness: Productive and Sustaining Dialogue An idea that is readily operationalizable also needs to be able to sustain interest and dialogue. The capability approach with its simple formal structure and discursive discussions has proven particularly useful in this regard. Indeed, it promotes the idea that public deliberation is both instrumentally and intrinsically valuable for the promotion of wellbeing. The ability to stimulate debate within and between disciplines has been important but the capability approach seems also to have filled a gap in the need for a vehicle to discuss policy priorities though a lens that sees financial resources as a means to an end. • Experiment: Listen, Respond, Revise and Persist A vital part of any communication is the ability to listen and respond and this has applied to the field of wellbeing also. Sen is a particularly good example and has modified and added to his account over the decades in response to the comments and thoughts of others. In some ways his own ideas appear to emerge early on and not change that much but the way he elaborates and discusses those ideas has clearly changed as new issues are raised and new audiences were found for this work. The

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psychologists Duckworth and Quinn (2009) has emphasised also the importance of persistence and this too is important for interactions between policy-makers and academics. Policy-making requires ideas that are in some sense authoritative and this in turn implies that academics need to balance their own interests in new ideas against the value of sticking to and elaborating on a particular theme. • Luck: Right Time Right Place Notwithstanding the importance of planning and preparation there is an element of luck in what we do which depends on researchers being in the right place at the right time. Getting close and finding ways to interact with those we wish to engage with essential in this regard. Individuals can make, or at least contribute to, our own luck but still there are things that we can all do that make some outcomes more or less likely. • Relevance and Value: Co-evolution with Evolving Agendas Research that draws on the capability approach or the analysis of life satisfaction has proven amenable to evolution. A life satisfaction equation can always be developed for new groups or be updated with new data. However, the capability has proven particularly adept at being used to reconsider how a particular field might be judged—for example Robeyns (2006) has used it to argue that the intrinsic value of education should be considered in policy alongside the contributions to human capital formation for instrumental purposes. • Mixed Methods: Ability to Engage Audiences with Appropriate Narratives There is growing mainstream interest in economics in the role of narratives, (for example see Shiller (2019)) and I would suggest also that different communities are amenable to receiving particular kinds of narratives. Researchers in economics are particularly interested in concepts of freedom while social scientists in other disciplines have focussed more, at least in recent years, on the concept of social justice. Work on life satisfaction now has literatures in psychology focussing on internal aspects and some correlates and the field of positive psychology promises to be one in which narratives related to the individual and their internal capacities are important. By contrast, the capability approach has focussed on external elements that contribute to wellbeing and so is more amenable to many of the current policy imperatives. While some of the earliest work on wellbeing and quality of life had psychological and sociological roots, the translation into policy and practice has been given a shot in the arm by the development of interests and subfields in economics. Beyond the factors discussed above, commitment to long-term dialogue with policy-makers and practitioners may also involve coproduction in which the boundary between research and practice becomes blurred. All these issues have played an important role in helping the main international organizations bring wellbeing more explicitly into their thinking.

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Case 2: The Luxembourg Index of Well-Being (LIW) by Francesco Sarracino Well-being, as a single indicator of quality of life, allowed starting a debate that can successfully lead policy makers to pursue quality of life directly. The well-being approach often entails the adoption of a dashboard of indicators to monitor countries’ performance in a number of domains that are relevant to quality of life. This implies that Governments can now resist the temptation to focus only on economic performance, and can consider the effects of their policies on a broader set of indicators. Additionally, a well-being approach lends itself to disaggregated analysis, thus naturally addressing the issue of multi-dimensional inequality of distribution within the population. Finally, as the quality of the environment plays an important role for well-being, it is reasonable to expect that integrating a wellbeing approach in policy making will favor a sustainable development. By focusing on well-being, policy making switches its approach from focusing on what is expected to make people better off (economic growth) to what people think will make them better off. Moreover, the shift to well-being approach would empower people, who could more easily relate to policies and their expected consequences. The fact that the analysis of inequalities is embedded in the wellbeing approach facilitates tackling inequalities. For instance, the Statistical Office of Luxembourg produces a dashboard of 63 indicators organized in 11 domains to monitor quality of life. Whenever possible, the distribution of indicators is analyzed across various dimensions: gender, age, income distribution, education, and so on. To summarize this large amount of data, the Statistical Office introduced the Luxembourg Index of Well-being (LIW). This is a tool that allows researchers to navigate the data hierarchically, and it can be directly compared with prominent indicators of welfare such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP). To navigate data hierarchically means that the LIW is first built by domain (aggregating the indicators belonging to each domain separately), and then across domains. In this way it is possible to move forth and back between the LIW and the dashboard of indicators to trace which indicators play a major role in explaining the changes in LIW. Once identified the critical indicators, researchers can verify possible differences within the population and inform policy makers about urgent areas of intervention, and eventual social groups at risks of exclusion. For the sake of curiosity, LIW—as a measure of quality of life—is basically flat in Luxembourg since 2009. This is at odds with the information provided by the Gross Domestic Product per capita, which follows a positive trend. The contrast between the LIW and GDP is an example of the value added of a well-being approach: with the lenses of business as usual, policy makers should feel reassured because the economy grows and this suggests that quality of life should be improving. However, the LIW signals that something is not as expected, and informs about which are the areas on which policy making could intervene to improve quality of life, such as health, personal security, housing, and governance. These are some of the reasons why I believe that a well-being approach is desirable, and it constitutes an

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unprecedented opportunity to contribute to the quality of the political outcome. It is therefore important to support and maintain the change made available by the maturity of the research on quality of life. This means, for instance, to pay attention to any example showcasing the benefits of policies inspired by a well-being approach, to disseminate the value of the results achieved, and to persuade policy makers and civil servants at every level of the importance of adopting a well-being approach. As this will likely change the way institutions work, this approach will likely face resistance and heavy criticism at the first failures. To this end, it can be useful to introduce changes stepwise, possibly by involving people affected by the changes in the design of the new ways of work organization.

Case 3: The Work of the Social Weather Stations in The Philippines by Mahar Mangahas I’ll take up important policy areas that have been affected (or not affected) by research. Direct cash transfer to the poor. It’s been very clear, for many decades, that trickle-down economics doesn’t work. The poor aren’t able grow out of their poverty by themselves; what works is to help them directly. A program that has been shown to work in several developing countries is Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT)—this means transferring cash to the poor (identified by a set of practical objective criteria) on condition that they (a) keep their children properly fed while in pre-school age, and (b) keep them in school when they reach school age, up to completion of secondary school. It took many decades for the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to try out this kind of a program, because of the trickledown model that these banks had maintained for so long.) CCT was finally introduced in the Philippines, with the help of WB/ADB, in 2009, when the government first began to build a database of poor families, called Listahanan (which means “Listing”). The implementation of the cash transfers has been accompanied by impact-evaluation survey research projects, financed by WB/ADB to ascertain their efficacy; SWS participated in these survey projects, and delivered the data to WB, ADB and the Philippine government analysts, who have pronounced CCT a success. The government’s database of the poor is now proving invaluable in the distribution of emergency assistance to families during the 2020 Covid pandemic. Family planning. In my opinion, overpopulation is the single most important reason for Philippine poverty. In 1975, the Philippines with 44 million was the 18th most populous country in the world; and Thailand, close behind with 43 million, was the 19th. Now, 45 years later, the Philippines with 110 million is the 13th, while Thailand with 70 million is the 20th. The relative economic pressure put on the Philippines has been tremendous. Back in 1975, I was one of the Filipino social scientists working on the research project called “Population, Resources,

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Environment and the Philippine Future,” which called for the government to adopt a serious family planning program. The government did not respond, however, obviously for fear of antagonizing the Catholic Church. SWS did so many opinion polls, up to the 1990s, showing the non-existence of a Catholic vote at either national or local level. With these polls, family planning advocates hoped to weaken the resistance of politicians to reforms allowing government institutions to provide family planning services to the people; this is still an on-going battle.

Case 4: How Can Policymakers Use Indicators of Multidimensional COVID-19-Related Risk Factors to Inform Emergency Interventions in Highly Unequal Urban Areas? by Jhonatan Clausen and Nicolas Barrantes Peru is currently one of the most severely affected countries by the COVID-19 pandemic at the global level (Ritchie et al., 2020). It is the country with the largest cumulative confirmed COVID-19 deaths per million people according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University COVID19 (JHU CCSE n.d.). Lima, Peru’s capital city, concentrates the 29.8% of the entire Peruvian population (INEI, 2020) as well as the 41.1% of deaths caused by the pandemic in the country (CDC, 2021). As in most Latin American large cities, the living conditions of Lima’s population reflect significant spatial inequalities not only in a number of basic dimensions of quality of life, but also in the way in which the pandemic has hit different areas of the city. Emergency policymaking in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is a significantly challenging endeavor. This is not only because of budget constraints but because of a lack of updated and detailed data, as well as low governmental capacity. In these contexts, it is crucially important to develop policy-relevant tools that, while not perfect, provide initial insights to direct certain specific interventions adopting a territorial perspective. Our research focused on Lima and Callao Provinces can inspire other efforts that build bridges between academia and policymaking in highly unequal cities, which is a characteristic of a range of urban areas in Latin American countries. Following the hypothesis proposed by Alkire et al. (2020), the aim of our study was to empirically explore to what extent four COVID-risk indicators: (1) living in an overcrowded dwelling; (2) lacking access to safe water; (3) not owning a refrigerator; and (4) cooking with polluting fuels, were associated with higher levels of mortality caused by the COVID-19 in the context of a densely populated and highly unequal middle-income country capital city such as Lima and its main port, the Province of Callao. We conducted this analysis using district-level information from 4 sources: (1) the Peruvian National System of Deaths (SINADEF) of the Ministry of Health (MINSA, 2021); (2) the 2017 Peruvian National Censuses, gathered by the National Institute of Statistics (INEI, 2017); (3) the 2018 district-

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Table 7.2 COVID-risk indicators and deprivation criteria COVID-risk indicators Overcrowding Water source Refrigerator Cooking fuel

The person is exposed to a COVID-risk factor if. . . She lives in a dwelling in which there are fewer than three household members per room (not counting the bathroom, hallway, or garage). She lives in a dwelling unconnected to the public water network, or the dwelling does not have 24-hours access to water every day. Her household does not own a refrigerator. Her household cooks with a polluting fuel such as charcoal or coal, firewood, dung or manure, agricultural waste, or other types of fuel different from gas or electricity.

Source: Clausen and Barrantes (2021, p. 115)

level monetary poverty map, elaborated by INEI (2020); and (4) the district-level Human Development Index (HDI) estimates for Peru, calculated by the United Nations Development Programme (2019). Table 7.2 shows the four COVID-risk indicators we estimated, as well as the criteria we applied to identify whether a person suffered a deprivation in each one of them or not. We calculated two out of the four indicators (“Water source” and “Cooking fuel”) following the proposal of Alkire and Jahan (2018). In addition, we opted to identify a person to be living in COVID-related multidimensional risk if she suffered deprivation in at least two out of the four indicators of risk shown in Table 5.1. First, we calculated the incidence of people living in COVID-related multidimensional risk which corresponds to the proportion of people in a district that suffered deprivation in at least two out of the four COVID-related risk indicators. Second, we measure COVID-related mortality at the district level using the percentage increases in non-violent deaths occurred over the March–December period between 2019 and 2020 in each district. Third, we used this information to explore the association between district-level COVID-related multidimensional risk and mortality. In addition, we also explored the association between mortality at the district level and other indicators of quality of life such as the incidence of monetary poverty, as well as with district-level information on the HDI Table 7.3 shows the values of Spearman, Kendall and Pearson coefficients that reflect the association between the percentage increase in non-violent deaths and different quality of life measures, including the incidence of COVID-related multidimensional risk. Our results showed that there is a positive association between COVID mortality, and our measure of COVID-related multidimensional risk based on the joint distribution of risk factor deprivations. Similarly, COVID mortality is also positively associated with income poverty, and non-income deprivation in the four risk factor indicators that form our COVID-related multidimensional risk measure. In addition, our findings revealed that districts with higher values of the HDI present lower COVID mortality rates. The above-mentioned association between COVID mortality and non-income multidimensional risk follows a spatial pattern of overlapping. Panels A and B in

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Fig. 3.1 show that the districts with higher levels of COVID mortality are among the districts with higher incidence of multidimensional risk. While these results should not be taken as evidence of a causal relationship between both variables, it provides policymakers with relevant information to implement rapid-response policies aimed at mitigating the potential effects that these deprivations could have on the population. For instance, this data might be useful to identify areas of the city in which to implement temporary stations of hand washing or emergency clean water provision systems. What is more, this information could be used to geographically target interventions oriented to inform people on the importance of opening doors and windows to improve indoor ventilation, as well as on the convenience of using on open spaces (such as communal football pitches) to hold activities maintaining social distance (Fig. 7.3). How can policymakers in other LMICs take advantage of this type of applied research? Contexts in these kinds of countries are highly diverse and, in consequence, there is not a unique answer to this question nor a “one size fits all” recipe. Yet, a relatively straightforward conclusion is that national and local governments in urban areas of LMICs can rely on spatial and cartographic information to inform how to allocate their scarce emergency resources. Although this data is subject to limitations, including information on basic quality of life indicators on national censuses and using it to conduct this kind of rapid analysis can emerge as a relatively cost-effective way of producing policy-relevant information that can be further complemented by other sources such as data from administrative records.

Case 5: Communication for Public Policy by Francisco Lavolpe I remember my first job as a communications consultant for the executive area of a municipality. We conducted surveys to look into the problems and needs of citizens and they revealed a list of priorities that allowed us to develop a program of public policies. We gathered data and prepared a list of priority issues that we handed to the executive office. I submitted the report in person and requested a meeting with those responsible for designing public policies aimed at improving and satisfying the municipality’s living conditions. The meeting never took place and the report was finally wasted. The person in charge of public policy (public infrastructure) distrusted the technical team that I led just because we didn’t come from the same political group. The executive managers simply did not trust the quality of our technical work and the recommendations that emerged from it. Their perception of needs led them to set arbitrary objectives that were far from the recommendations contained in our report. The only programs they implemented were those that were prepared by their operational collaborators, whose customary knowledge of the territory supposedly gave them enough information to carry them out with good results, even though there were no instruments to evaluate them. Our team was able to identify a gap between the perception of the executive team and the findings of the report. This evidenced the need to work as a single team in the

Variable Increase of deaths 2019– 2020 (%)

COVID-related multidimensional risk 0.656 0.484 0.504 HDI
0.685
0.465
0.645

Monetary poverty 0.802 0.598 0.781

Overcrowding 0.760 0.551 0.742

Source: Clausen and Barrantes (2021, pp. 122–123) based on MINSA (2021), INEI (2017, 2020), PNUD (2019)

Measure of correlation Spearman Kendall Pearson

Water source 0.560 0.391 0.397

Refrigerator 0.766 0.566 0.642

Cooking fuel 0.756 0.573 0.389

Table 7.3 Correlation between the percentage increase in non-violent deaths (March–December 2019/March–December 2020) and different quality of life measures; districts of Lima and Callao Provinces

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A

147

B

Fig. 7.3 Distribution of the percentage increase in non-violent deaths (March–December 2019/ March–December 2020) and the COVID-related multidimensional risk incidence; districts of Lima and Callao Province. Panel A. Percentage increase in non-violent deaths (March–December 2019/ March–December 2020); districts of Lima and Callao Provinces. Panel B. COVID-related multidimensional risk incidence; districts of Lima and Callao Provinces. Source: Clausen and Barrantes (2021, p. 119) based on MINSA (2021), INEI (2017, 2020), PNUD (2019)

technical design of the objectives and in the understanding of the challenges posed by those objectives. The result of the work carried out was far from optimal, according to our research. Organizations are made up of human resources recruited from different political tribes even when they represent the same political party. Party referents are often suspicious of representatives of rival tribes. Tribes account for the frequent disputes over territories in organizations. Each tribe refers to leaders, who often engage in disputes for the occupation of spaces in institutions that are in charge of public policies. Appointments to executive or technical positions are made without following a transparent and legitimate procedure that guarantees the best possible choice. Later, we learned that the final choice for this public policy action was based on business agreements with private companies that implied a clear collusion of interests with the public administration. Even when corruption is not the rule, the choice of public policies is often based on contracts involving private benefits. In time, these practices play a negative role in public policy choices.

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Case 6: The Criteria for a Successful Project by Christopher Wrathall Over the past 20 years I have no longer been involved in setting up or running European projects, though I have been called on by the European Commission to review projects as an independent expert. In the performance of this task, it has been my privilege to gain some insights into the criteria that underlie a successful research project. One of the key criteria for securing EU funding for projects is a demonstration of added value resulting from the collaboration of organisations across different European states. Added value could be assessed in terms of the synergy achieved because, for example, an expert in traffic modelling in the UK is able to work with a cognitive scientist in Italy and thus include driver behaviour characteristics within the resulting model, or because a young researcher at a Polish university is enabled to carry out PhD research at a French research institution. Some EU-funded projects have allowed key players, e.g. public transport operators from different countries, to agree on proposals for standardisation. This was the case with projects I had worked on that developed data structures and operational procedures for smartcard-based fare management systems. Projects of this type would aim to develop interoperable components, and thus foster advantages for European suppliers, as well as benefits for European citizens. Indeed, another key aspect of successful research and development projects was the deployment of practical outcomes that are of demonstrable value for the participant communities, whether such communities could be defined in geographical or political terms, e.g. cities or regions, or in virtual or professional terms, e.g. virtual communities of researchers. As an independent expert I was particularly keen that projects should provide evidence of impact assessments that could convincingly demonstrate the benefits for communities of deploying the results of the projects. Finally an important criterion of success, in my view, is the ability to communicate the value of the research. I have outlined in answer to question 2 above how predominant populist views in the UK can be seen to threaten the country’s position as a leader in research and development. A robust response to these threats from the research community would have to include a better explanation of how the research can benefit the communities that ultimately will decide on whether or not this research should be allowed to continue. (CW)

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Chapter 8

Final Remarks for a New Proposal

Abstract The concept of quality of is a re-conceptualized response that considers well-being to be dependent not only on material aspects but also on human values. The study of public policies must be sensitive to the political contexts within which they are formulated and implemented, as a policy is not independent of the context and the historical time in which it is developed. Quality of life research results, can make a significant contribution to finding solutions to social problems and for policy making, and this requires a close examination of the key role of the different actors interacting in the process. Keywords Quality of Life · Key actors · Policy-making The concept of quality of life underwent significant changes until it was finally defined in the last decade of the past century as we know it today. It is a re-conceptualized response that considers well-being to be dependent not only on material aspects but also on human values, thus prompting the use of the so-called social indicators as an alternative to the prevalent system of economic indicators (Tonon, 2007, p. 25). Current studies on quality of life include different data that integrate social and environmental indicators found in countries’ economic reports. This allows building a holistic view of the issue that can prove useful for public policy decision making. In this respect, Sen (2000) points out that quality of life should be assessed not only in terms of an individual’s achievements towards life satisfaction but also in terms of his/her pursuit of freedom to attain it. The study of public policies must be sensitive to the political contexts within which they are formulated and implemented, as a policy is not independent of the context and the historical time in which it is developed. Policies are contingent responses and, in this sense, a decision that could work in one country at a given point in time may not work in another country at a different time. In addition, when analyzing the policy circuit, it is necessary to consider the role of the actors who participate in it. Those engaged in quality of life research start from a person-centered approach that facilitates ideological agreement, and work under methods that integrate the © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 G. Tonon, Key Actors in Public Policy-making for Quality of Life, Human WellBeing Research and Policy Making, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90467-8_8

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subjective and objective dimensions. Thus, the different theories contributed by each discipline, far from causing a divide of research teams and/or professionals, allow them to move forward in the construction of new theoretical challenges (Tonon, 2007, p. 20). In this sense, notwithstanding the context in which research takes place, which is not exempt from the particularities of the scientific field as described by Bourdieu (2008), or from the specific characteristics of the institutions where research is carried out, the theoretical proposal of quality of life facilitates the construction of possible work scenarios involving interdisciplinary research networks. Indeed, as noted by Dogan and Pahre (1993, p. 259), the traditional obstacles in communication between researchers -lack of ideological and methodological agreement, different delimitations of the object and different theories- can be overcome through the approach that it is each person, as a member of the community, the one who interprets his/her own context and situation. The knowledge production process has seen a shift in the past few decades, from a basic and disciplinary research mode in which the researcher defines the research problem, directs the research process and communicates findings to the public through scientific publication, to a model in which the research problem may be defined by different groups of society that participate in the definition of the research problem and the monitoring process, and can influence the communication of the results. In this process, it is necessary to consider the importance of carrying out quality research, using rigorous methodologies to collect information, from a perspective that takes into account the different processes of socialization of knowledge and the different cultural productions. In addition, it is critical to identify the philosophical differences that support the operationalization of the methods used, since the use of research results in quality of life can enable governments to identify the needs of society and design public policies that will truly generate programs to promote people’s quality of life. Today, working in research networks creates opportunities to relate the specific knowledge of each discipline, which allows the synthesis and dissemination of key research findings in particular contexts. In this sense, research networks play a role not only of dissemination but also of protection of those products that have been generated. The COVID-19 pandemic has created new conditions that have a major impact on the processes of knowledge construction, with more and more people having access to knowledge in virtual formats. Researchers and policy makers experience different situations in their daily work life. In the case of researchers, there are different institutional forms of power in the academic and scientific arena that condition their research work. In the case of policy makers, trustworthiness is considered to be an essential attribute. In addition, given that policy makers generally lack the resources or information they need to carry out their decisions, they have to resort to formulas that have given them good results in the past. Time is key to the interactions within and between researchers and policy makers. In sum, policy makers and researchers have different objectives, different timeframes and use a different language. Researchers should be thoughtful and

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clear about why and how they are getting involved in policy making; policy makers, on the other hand, need to look for the information researchers produce if they want to obtain data about the topics they need to act on. In this sense, it is worth pointing out that the interaction between researchers and policy makers should enrich the work of both groups without hindering or conditioning the freedom of either of them. Policy makers and researchers need to reach an agreement and take into consideration the social macro and micro dimensions in their daily tasks (Tonon, 2015). Today, sharing the results of quality of life research findings with policy makers has become an urgent need for the building of good societies. Along these lines, Torres Carrillo (2006, p. 94) argues that subjectivity cuts across social life and is present in all social dynamics of everyday life, both in micro-social and macro-social spaces, as well as in daily intersubjective experiences and in the institutions around which an epoch is structured. In addition, if we consider that human phenomena are subjective by their own nature, then subjectivity is not opposed to objectivity. Policy makers need knowledge that is intellectually credible and socially relevant, as they prefer concrete scientific results providing practical solutions to specific problems (von Furstenberg, 2011, p. 355). Today, citizenship can no longer be conceived only as a legal status defined by a set of rights and obligations; rather, it must also be considered in terms of identity and the expression of belonging to a specific political community. This scenario requires citizen participation, viewed as a process of policy intervention pursued by citizens as a basic strategy of organization to defend their rights and satisfy their needs, with the consequent impact on the design of policies. Citizen participation is also a bridge between society and the State that allows seeing these two poles of the relationship, not as antagonistic, but as complementary to each other (Espinoza, 2009, p. 88). As early as in 1983, Jones, Brown and Bradshaw proposed analyzing the potential of social policies to increase social justice considering certain requirements: that they safeguard basic freedoms, provide equal opportunities, reach all human beings without exception, include social services such as social goods, cover economic, social and political aspects and are socially cohesive. For Sen (2000), the process promoted by social policies is a recipe for rapidly improving quality of life, and this is of great importance from the point of view of economic policy. However, further work is required for the comprehensive achievement of people’s quality of life. According to Drèze and Sen (1995, p. 6), people’s opportunities to improve their quality of life have human agency at the center of the stage – rather than organizations – and, in this respect, the role of social opportunities is to enable the expansion of human agency and freedom. As pointed out by Przeworski (1998), the concept of sustainable democracy considers that the practice of citizens’ rights needs effective social conditions. In this sense, the achievement of an effective citizenship is a strategy that can enhance citizens’ quality of life. In current democracies, citizens demand accountability from all institutions, including scientific organizations. Controversial issues are subject to public debate and pluralistic societies must endeavor to reach a viable consensus. This means that

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science and society have become increasingly intertwined and that science has become an integral part of society (Nowotny, 2011, p. 337). Current societies are characterized by their concern for safety and the need for protection, the existence of a scenario of uncertainties and an increase in individualization and inequalities, all of which has changed people’s daily life and social relations. Social support appears as a critical element in interpersonal relations, and the same holds true for individuals’ need for daily communication. Against this background, there are different types of aid, namely: aid provided by international and non-governmental organizations, by religious institutions, by informal groups, by families and individuals. The literature in the field has acknowledged that helping others creates a feeling of well-being for those providing the aid. Within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic currently hitting the world, the different aid provision experiences are intended to respond to the needs and situations created in this time of emergency. The various models of policy processes that have emerged demonstrate that there are many ways in which research may be influencing policy. However, instead of expecting just-in-time, ready-to-use knowledge, we should be prepared to find solutions to shared problems and thus have a “a flexible, context-situated social science” (Nowotny, 2011, p. 336). Studies on quality of life at country level are traditionally based on statistics obtained from quantitative indicators and usually neglect the use of qualitative indicators that provide data on citizens’ perceptions and opinions. Thus, the study of individual well-being (micro dimension) does not appear as necessarily related to the study of the general situation of a country (macro dimension). In the past few years, researchers have shown an intention to engage with society directly. They face the challenge of overcoming the traditional systems of transmission and transfer of science, in order to improve their communication with policy makers for the understanding and resolution of people’s everyday problems. Policy makers have also been confronted with changes. In the face of the complexity of current social problems, policy making can no longer be a vertical process. Instead, the interaction of the different actors is needed. Thus, the challenge facing policy makers is to be able to work with researchers that may not belong to their political party or to their group of personal relations, prioritizing decision making that leads to the effective resolution of problems affecting people’s quality of life. To conclude, we can state that in the current complex societies, the relationship between science and society has become an “important political interface” (Nowotny, 2011, p. 339). Then, quality of life research results can make a significant contribution to finding solutions to social problems that have an adverse impact on people’s quality of life. This requires a close examination of the key role of the different actors interacting in the process.

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