Concerns about what constitutes a ‘happy’ or ‘fulfilling’ life are not new – indeed this has been a topic of intellectual debate since the times of the early Greek philosophers. This is perhaps not surprising, given that underlying many aspects of everyday practice and experience is the motivation to improve the quality of life for ourselves and those around us. But although individually there may be many different concepts of what constitutes ‘well-being’, the attention being given to such an ideal in academia and politics signals a growing awareness of the importance of a collective understanding of what ‘well-being’ is and how it may be achieved.

This chapter provides new insights from the research. It sets out some of the principal issues that have emerged through studying high subjective well-being directly and considers the implications for the direction of future research. Earlier chapters have explored the underpinnings of positive well-being and found them to be complex – and at times counter-intuitive; this chapter explores the parameters of the theoretical and conceptual debates. It suggests that well-being cannot be understood within existing explanatory (predominantly economic) frameworks, and that a multi-disciplinary approach is needed. It then considers one of the key constraints in the advancement of the study of well-being: methodological and data limitations. It does this through two key aspects: firstly, the construction and level of measures of well-being, and secondly, the moral aspects underpinning well-being from a health perspective. Finally, it will consider the social and political underpinnings and suggest ways forward for enhancing the study of well-being.

Beyond economics

Theoretical understandings of well-being have been – and still are – dominated by two key strands of thought: hedonism and eudaemonism (for a review see Waterman, 1993; Ryan and Deci, 2001). The hedonic view concentrates on the pursuit of happiness and has formed the basis for much of the economics-inspired debate on improving welfare and well-being.