The Quality of European Societies: A Compilation of Composite Indicators (Social Indicators Research Series Book 75)

This volume presents a compilation of composite indicators created in order to measure important aspects of the quality of European societies. It examines three main questions: do Europeans live in good societies and enjoy good lives; are European societies becoming better as time passes, or is their quality slowly deteriorating; is the quality of life of Europe’s citizens improving over time or is it gradually and irrecoverably getting worse. The volume uses a precise and rigorous system of information to answer these questions and to assess the current situation and monitor the quality of European societies. It describes and discusses fourteen key domains, and per chapter, presents five rankings of EU countries based on composite indicators, which are used as one of the best instruments social science has to synthesize a large amount of information, and they are especially well suited to measure multidimensional social phenomena. The new System of Indices on the Quality of European Societies (SIQES) presented in this volume offers a very broad and rich empirical overview of more than 70 social composite indicators and their nearly 300 dimensions. One of the key findings coming out from the SIQES is that, according to the societal quality of European countries, there exist five different “Europes” inside Europe. Front Matter ....Pages i-xvii Towards a System of Indices on the Quality of European Societies (SIQES) (Eduardo Bericat, Mercedes Camarero, María Luisa Jiménez-Rodrigo)....Pages 1-26 The Quality of European Societies: An Overview (Eduardo Bericat)....Pages 27-49 Quality of Life (Mercedes Camarero)....Pages 51-74 Subjective Well-Being (Eduardo Bericat)....Pages 75-91 Social and Political Participation (Mercedes Camarero)....Pages 93-109 Cultural Practice, Creativity and Innovation (Manuel Herrera-Usagre)....Pages 111-132 Democratic Quality and Governance (Alex Tusell Collado)....Pages 133-147 Consumption (María Dolores Martín-Lagos)....Pages 149-165 Job Quality (Eduardo Bericat, María Cascales-Mira)....Pages 167-186 Environmental Sustainability (Katharina M. K. Stepping)....Pages 187-206 Social Equality (María Luisa Jiménez-Rodrigo)....Pages 207-229 Gender Equality (Eduardo Bericat, Eva Sánchez-Bermejo)....Pages 231-250 Children Well-Being (Juan Miguel Gómez-Espino)....Pages 251-270 Elderly Well-Being (María José Dorado-Rubín, María José Guerrero-Mayo)....Pages 271-293 Health Conditions (María Luisa Jiménez-Rodrigo)....Pages 295-312 Crime, Security and Rule of Law (Manuel Jesús Caro-Cabrera)....Pages 313-334