Sociology uses a set of variables social stratification, ability of people to access public services and political participation of people to measure the social indicators. Herrmann (2012) offers that a society can assess the performance of people concerning the opportunities and the choices they make. The disposable income is insufficient to measure the social performance. Income plays a minor role in explaining individual’s well being than the standard of living. The academic flanks question the use of Gross Domestic Product as the only measure of social performance. The concept to measure social performance affects the design of public policies and the development strategies. The significance of economic growth helps the policymakers to address situations that people face in a daily life.
Rojas (2011) states that the measure of performance signifies an activity switch from home production to market production. People in this era have shifted from healthy lifestyles. Recently there is a shift from public production to private production. In most developed countries, people prefer to take their meals from hotels and restraints and seldom eat at home. The few times that they take meals at home, they tend to use the pre- prepared meals. Herrmann (2012) provide that only a small number of people in the developed countries make own clothes as in the traditional families. Most countries fashion the imported clothes, as the world becomes a global village. Nowadays the modern families purchase the clothes at the market. The home production applies the electronic gadgets to ease work. For instance, the modern family uses the automatic dishwasher, vacuum cleaners, and washing machine among others.
Since 2008, the world has experienced several dramatic events (Hermann, 2012). The world developments can act as metrics to base our configuration. Goldstein (2012) provides that the revelation of the financial crisis have enough metrics to suggest a downward trend in economy. This affects the well-being of people since the financial crisis reduces availability of jobs. People have anxiety as their savings dwindle in the financial market. People face threats of losing their homes due to the exaggerated bubble prices of the real estate. Rojas (2011) cite that GDP is not an enough measure of wellbeing to ascertain social progress. Goldstein (2012) provides that one can assess the market activity to measure the wellbeing. Measuring the individual disposable income can give a better picture on the happenings in a society than GDP per capita. Many people assume Americans were performing well while their incomes display stagnation and decline. In the future societies must adopt sustainable systems that employ accuracy in the social’s wellbeing. One can use society’s wealth to project future activities. The use of a comprehensive measure of wealth has to apply correct valuations.
The aftermath of earthquakes leads to increased fear in people. Earthquakes present significant health effects to the populace. Countries that suffer earthquakes such as Japan have used many funds to purchase drugs and compensate for the destruction. Japan can in no way end up being better after the calamity. The Japanese suffer irreversible losses in the earthquake catastrophe in 2008 (Goldstein, 2012).
The recent revolution in the Arab world leads to lower growth rates in the quest for political liberty. Countries such as Tunisia that undergo the revolution suffer retribution due to lack of democracy. The gain of political freedom comes with an addition cost of luxury. The risk of fighting for freedom fails to live up to the dream. This is because there is reduced well being as the political class strives to amass wealth to the detriment of the citizens.
The European countries are sharing a common currency and are currently assessing the financial sustainability indicator for each country. The European countries look on the partial view of sustainability that leads them to impose policies on the member countries. This risky engagement can lead to lower growth rates and financial unsustainability in future. The developed countries use social indicators as health, education, and housing condition to determine the well-being of people. The assessment employs surveys that are subject to ongoing research to ascertain the improvement of the societal well-being (Rojas, 2011). For the developed countries to experience future growth there is need to adopt selective approach to the public policies to increase the GDP. Unemployment has an adverse effect on the people’s lives. The unemployed people have lower quality of life occasioned by no income. Additionally, the unemployed suffer psychological stress in the face of the impending situation. Hermann (2012), argue that the costs of unemployment exceed the loss of income suffered by the unemployed people. This can translate to anxiety to the rest of the people in the society.
Economic fluctuations can present an adverse effect on society’s well-being. The business cycles and economies present discrepancies that affect the well-being of people. Instance, a business cycle performs in relation with the available human resource. Governments have to devise policies that have the objective of minimizing unemployment in the business cycles. A good policy strives to affect the well-being of people in the labor market to ensure stability in the economy.
References
Goldstein, H. (2012). Francis Galton, measurement, psychometrics and social progress. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 19(2), 147-158.
Herrmann, P. (2012). Economic Performance, Social Progress, and Social Quality. International Journal of Social Quality, 2(1), 41-55.
Rojas, M. (2011). The 'Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress' Report and Quality of Life: Moving Forward. Social Indicators Research, 102(1), 169-180.
