A cohort analysis of subjective wellbeing and ageing: heading towards a midlife crisis
- Authors: Otterbach, Steffen , Sousa-Poza, Alfonso , Moller, Valerie
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Aging -- Social aspects Gerontology
- Language: English
- Type: Book , Text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/65401 , vital:28782 , ISBN 978086810641
- Description: In this paper, we analyse how different domains of subjective wellbeing evolve within seven years in three different cohorts born 10 years apart. On average, general life satisfaction – as well as satisfaction with leisure time, social contacts and friends, and family – declines substantially between the ages of 15 and 44, with the most significant decrease taking place at a young age (early 20s). Nevertheless, trajectories among the three cohorts differ markedly, indicating that, ceteris paribus, responses on subjective wellbeing differ greatly between cohorts born just a decade apart. The results further indicate that the two older cohorts assess family life and social contacts more favourably than the youngest cohort.
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- Date Issued: 2018
South African hopes and fears twenty years into democracy: a replication of Hadley Cantril's pattern of human concerns
- Authors: Moller, Valerie , Roberts, Benjamin J
- Date: 2014-05
- Subjects: Cantril, Hadley, 1906-1969
- Language: English
- Type: text , Book
- Identifier: vital:546 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017240 , ISBN 9780868104850
- Description: Fifty years have elapsed since Hadley Cantril (1965) published his work on the Pattern of Human Concerns. His line of inquiry has stood the test of time. In late 2012, the nationally representative South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS) replicated Cantril’s 1960s questions and methodology to elicit South Africans’ hopes and aspirations and worries and fears for self and country and their ratings of where self and country stood – past, present and will stand in future. Although Cantril’s ‘ladder‐of‐life’ scale is still regularly used as a measure of subjective well‐being, to our knowledge his full line of preliminary questioning has not been fielded again to date. Our study found that South African aspirations for self were mainly material ones for a decent standard of living and the means to achieve this goal. Hopes for the nation concentrated on economic and political progress to consolidate South Africa’s democracy. A large number of personal and national hopes were mirrored in fears that these aspirations might not be met. Cantril’s method also allowed us to review the main concerns and ratings across the diverse groups of citizens that make up the ‘rainbow nation’. There was a substantial degree of consensus on top hopes and fears but levels of standing on the Cantril ladder of life were still graded according to apartheid‐era inequalities with black South Africans scoring lower than other race groups. Nonetheless, the majority of South Africans rated their present life better than five years ago and projected life to get better in future. Such optimism may place considerable pressure on the state to deliver on personal and societal hopes as the country enters its third decade of democracy.
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- Date Issued: 2014-05
Living in Rhini : a 2007 update on the 1999 Social Indicators Report
- Authors: Moller, Valerie
- Date: 2008
- Language: English
- Type: Book , text
- Identifier: vital:541 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1010770 , ISBN 9780868104461
- Description: [From the preface]: This report is a sequel to ‘Living in Grahamstown East/Rini – A Social Indicators report’ published by the Institute of Social and Economic Research in 2001 as Number 6 in its Research Report series. The No. 6 monograph was based on results of a sample survey of householders conducted in May 1999 in the area of Makana generally known as Grahamstown East or Rini at that time. This report is based on information collected in November 2007 in the same area. The ‘Living in Rhini’ project takes its title from a series of reports on social indicators initiated by Statistics South Africa (then Central Statistical Services). The popular series aimed to communicate to ordinary people the statistics on living conditions in various parts of the country. The 1999 sample survey conducted among 862 households from all neighbourhoods of Grahamstown East/Rini was a large survey by most standards. The 2007 sample similarly comprises over 1000 households spread over all neighbourhoods of Rhini including the ones developed since 1999.
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- Date Issued: 2008
South Africa’s new democrats : a 2002 profile of democracy in the making
- Authors: Moller, Valerie , Hanf, T
- Date: 2007
- Language: English
- Type: Book , text
- Identifier: vital:539 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1010768
- Description: [From the introduction]: South Africa’s dramatic conversion to democracy has been heralded as a modern-day miracle. In former Nobel peace prize winner Archbishop Tutu’s words, it was ‘touch and go’ whether all conflicting parties would participate in the first non-racial elections in April 1994. The ‘rainbow nation’, as the new South Africa liked to call itself in the first years of democracy, was heralded as a beacon of hope and enlightenment for Africa and the world. Since 1994, South Africa has successfully conducted two further national elections that have been declared essentially free and fair. The country has emerged as a leading representative of the economic and political interests of developing countries and the South in the international arena. The question is whether living under democracy has influenced the manner in which South Africans see themselves, their country and the world around them. This report seeks to document how South Africans think and feel some eight years into democracy about issues that are important in their own lives and have significance for the future of their society. The study covers personal experiences, attitudes and beliefs, and the aspirations and fears of ordinary people. It seeks to identify the sentiments and collective experiences that may contribute to or hinder the consolidation of democracy in years to come. The report is based on an inquiry conducted in March 2002 among over two thousand South African adults over 16 years of age in a nationally representative MarkData survey that included all regions of the country. , Lettres de Byblos / Letters from Byblos. A series of occasional papers published by UNESCO Centre International des Sciences de l’Homme International Centre for Human Sciences
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- Date Issued: 2007
Living in Grahamstown East/Rini: a social indicators report
- Authors: Moller, Valerie , Manona, Cecil W , Van Hees, C , Pillay, E , Tobi, A
- Date: 2001
- Language: English
- Type: Book , text
- Identifier: vital:540 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1010769
- Description: [From the preface]: The ‘Living in Grahamstown East/Rini’ project takes its title from a series of reports on social indicators initiated by Statistics South Africa. The popular series aims to communicate to ordinary people the statistics on living conditions in various parts of the country. The first two booklets in the series, Living in South Africa and Living in Gauteng, were based on survey data for South Africa and Gauteng Province (CSS: 1996; 1997). In similar vein, this booklet presents statistics on living conditions in Grahamstown East/Rini for ready reference by community organisations, local planning and policy-makers, scholars, and the general public. [From the introduction]: This report is intended to serve the needs of information users. The source of information is a representative sample survey of 862 Grahamstown East/Rini households conducted in May 1999. The report serves as a reference work for municipal planners and policymakers, community organisations, and interested citizens. It is hoped that the reported social indicators will be useful for drawing up business plans for community development projects. The information in this report is mainly factual. It is based on self-reports collected from households in Grahamstown East/Rini. In time, the facts contained in this report will date. They will then gain historical value for scholars with an interest in learning "how things were" to compare the situation in Grahamstown East/Rini in 1999 with later developments and changes in living conditions and lifestyles , This was edited by Valerie Møller, with contributions by Cecil W. Manona, Charlotte van Hees, Edmund Pillay and Andile Tobi , Digitised by Rhodes University Library on behalf of the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER)
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- Date Issued: 2001