Challenges for Quality of Life in the Contemporary World Advances in quality-of-life studies, theory and research

Wolfgang Glatzer Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universitiit Franlifurt am Main, Germany ABSTRACT Challenges for the quality of life in the contemporary world were the focus of the Fifth International Quality of Life-Conference in Frankfurt am Main in the year 2003, hosted and organized by the Interna­ tional Society for Quality of Life Studies. The first part of this introductory article is concerned with a general assessment of contemporary quality of life research. At present, the concept of quality of life is a kind of umbrella which keeps together a reasonable number of international social scientists who have similar research interests. The second part of the introduction describes the topics of this book: The five chapters are concerned with the societal goal discussion on quality of life, the scientific monitoring of quality of life, the economic challenges for quality of life, its cultural challenges, and finally the options and restrictions for improving quality of life. Altogether, the contributions are related to present interna­ tional investigations and discussions of basic questions of quality of life. ATTENTION FOR QUALITY OF LIFE Challenges for the quality of life in the contemporary world were the focus at the Fifth International Quality of Life-Conference in Frankfurt am Main in the year 2003, hosted and organized by the International Society for Quality of Life Studies. There are new threats and new prospects for the quality of life in each generation, and securing and improving quality of life is a never-ending task.

Acknowledgments.- 1. Challenges for Quality of Life.- I: Goal Discussions on Quality of Life.- 2. Social Quality and Quality of Life.- 3. Bringing together the Concepts of Quality of Life and Sustainability.- 4. Subjective Measures of Well-being in Developing Countries.- 5. Towards Enhancing the Quality of Life in Africa. Challenges, Problems, and Prospects.- II: Monitoring Quality of Life.- 6. World Database of Happiness. Continuous Register of Research on Subjective Appreciation of Life.- 7. Comparative Survey Questions on Quality of Life. The “Dynamic Information Centre”.- 8. An Evidence-Based Approach to the Construction of Summary Quality-of-Life Indices.- 9. The Social State of the Netherlands. A Model Based Approach to Describing Living Conditions and Quality of Life.- 10. Biographical Analysis of Quality of Life Processes in Migration.- III: Economic Challenges For Quality Of Life.- 11. Monetary Stability and Quality of Life.- 12. Segmented Quality of Working Life. Regular vs. Non-Regular Workers in Korea.- 13. Does Happiness Pay? An Exploration Based on Panel Data from Russia.- IV: Cultural Challenges for Quality of Life.- 14. Happiness as an Expression of Freedom and Self-Determination. A Comparative Multilevel Analysis.- 15. Satisfaction with Life Domains and Salient Values for the Future. Analyses about Children and their Parents.- 16. Parental Divorce and the Well-being of Adolescent Children. Changes between 1984–1999 in the Netherlands.- 17. Belief in Values and their Perceived Realization as Determinants of Quality of Life. The Case of Kibbutz Members.- V: Options and Restrictions for Quality of Life.- 18. Quality of Life in a Divided Society.- 19. Satisfaction with Health Care Systems. A Comparison of EU Countries.- 20. The Quality of Death as aComponent of Quality of Life.- 21. Life Satisfaction: Can We Produce It?.- About the Authors and Editors.