Synonyms
Definition
The word affluence is associated with an abundant amount of something, most often money and material goods. Affluence is also a synonym of wealth, and it has been found to have a positive relationship with Happiness or subjective well-being and overall Quality of Life.
Description
Economic development is one of the main goals around countries in the world, and economic success is sought-after by individuals. Consequently, personal and national success is often measured in terms of ability to generate or raise the amount of available wealth. Wealth is associated with positive outcomes in life. Diener (2009) summarizes some of the positive effects of wealth found in the literature. For instance, affluent people live longer (Wilkison, 1996) and have better health, and their children are less likely to become school dropouts or to become pregnant as teens (Mayer, 1997). Affluent people also benefit from wealth intangibles such as social...
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bradburn, N. M. (1969). The structure of psychological well-being. Chicago: Aldine.
Diener, E. (2002). Will money increase subjective well-being? Social Indicators Research, 57, 119–169.
Diener, E., & Biswass-Diener, R. (2009). Will money increase subjective well-being?: A literature review and guide to needed research. In E. Diener (Ed.), The science of well-being: The collected works of Ed Diener. New York, NY: Springer.
Diener, E., Horwitz, J., & Emmons, R. A. (1985). Happiness of the very wealthy. Social Indicators Research, 16, 263–274.
Diener, E., & Oishi, S. (2000). Money and happiness: Income and subjective well-being across nations. In E. Diener & E. M. Suh (Eds.), Subjective well-being across cultures. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Fuentes, N., & Rojas, M. (2001). Economic theory and subjective well-being: Mexico. Social Indicators Research, 53, 289–314.
Heady, B. (1991). An economic model of subjective well-being: Integrating economic and psychological theories. Social Indicators Research, 28, 97–116.
Inglehart, R., Foa, R., Peterson, C., & Welzel, C. (2008). Development, freedom, and rising happiness: A global perspective (1981–2007). Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3, 264–285.
Lane, R. (2000). The loss of happiness in market democracies. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Mayer, S. E. (1997). What money can’t buy: Family income and children’s life chances. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Ouweel, P., & Veenhoven, R. (1991). Cross-national differences in happiness: Cultural bias or societal quality. In N. Bleichrodt & P. J. D. Drenth (Eds.), Contemporary issues in cross-cultural psychology. Amsterdam: Swets and Zeitlinger.
Veenhoven, R. (1991). Is happiness relative? Social Indicators Research, 24, 1–34.
Veenhoven, R. (1993). Happiness in nations: Subjective appreciation of life in 56 nations, 1946–1992 (p. 127). Rotterdam: Erasmus University Press, Center for Socio-Cultural Transformation, RISBO.
Weiting, N., Diener, E., Raksha, A., & Harter, J. (2009). Affluence, feelings of stress, and well-being. Social Indicators Research, 94, 257–271.
Wilkison, R. G. (1996). Unhealthy societies: The afflictions of inequality. London: Routledge.
World Value Survey Group. (1994). World values survey, 1981–1984 and 1990–1993. Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research, ICPSR.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this entry
Cite this entry
Fuentes, N. (2014). Affluence. In: Michalos, A.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_47
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_47
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-0752-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-0753-5
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law