Qualità della vita e benessere soggettivo: riflessioni e proposte per il caso italiano

This work directs its interest towards the subject of measuring and evaluating the “quality of life” of people in Italy. Despite being a field of classical reflection in the social sciences, a significant recovery of interest was recorded on the subject as the recent economic crisis unfolded its pejorative effects on the preexisting standards of living for large sections of the population. More precisely, the contribution is framed in the context of the debate on the procedures and tools of analysis and study of “subjective well-being”, taking into consideration the main scientific observations, the methodologies and some recent applications of particular interest for our country. Therefore, after some brief historical considerations that help to frame the evolution of the concept of quality of life and the current situation, the essay will focus on the careful exposition of the technical system and the main results of a recent experimental study on “subjective well-being”conducted within Istat.