Networks of well-being in the Global South: a critical review of current scholarship

Abstract

The subject of human well-being continues to gain traction in disciplines as diverse as psychology, sociology, development studies, and economics. Current scholarship, however, is still largely framed by normative assumptions about what being well means, and the overwhelming majority of conceptual approaches to well-being being have been conceived and applied by researchers in the industrialized, wealthy contexts of the global North. We critique the current conceptualizations of well being and assess their applicability to research in the global south, particularly in contexts marked by poverty and inequality.