PhD Proposal

Family Relationships and Identity: Socio-Cultural Construction of

Wellbeing in a Bangladesh Community

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 PhD Proposal

Family Relationships and Identity: Socio-Cultural Construction of

Wellbeing in a Bangladesh Community

Background

Well-being is coined by many terms such as quality of life, well-being, happiness,

subjective well-being, psychological well-being, objective well-being, life satisfaction,
and hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. The presence and quality of key relationships is
increasingly recognised as a fundamental component of wellbeing universally. In
Bangladesh, people are essentially constituted through interpersonal, intergenerational,
and inter group relationships (White 1992). In the process of negotiating the terms of any
relationship people obtain both a sense of identity and a sense of position within the
relationship. In the context of Bangladesh, people's networks of relationships have a
significant contribution in the construction of happiness and thus family relationship is
vital one (Camfield et al: 2006).

This research idea comes from a long-term global research project (2002 to 2007)
'Wellbeing in Developing Countries' (WeD). The goal of WeD is to develop a conceptual
and methodological framework for understanding the social and cultural construction of
well being in specific developing societies. It tries to bring together a range of diverse but
related conceptual discussions about poverty, inequality and people's experiences of their
quality of life (WeD: 2002). Family Relationships' has been identified as a major issue in
different research approaches applied in WeD research in Bangladesh (Camfield et al:
2006). Therefore, I have found the proposed research theme theoretically important in the
existing local context.

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Aim of the Research

The aim of this research is to explore the significance of family-based identities and
relationships to the social and cultural construction of wellbeing in Bangladesh.

Understanding Wellbeing: A multi-disciplinary Perspective

Gasper (2004) acknowledged the academic enthusiasm around the term 'well-being' and
complied with the different meanings, giving them various names such as 'well-living',
'well-feeling' and 'well-having'. According to Sen, a persons well-being should be
viewed in terms of the functioning vector (totality of beings and doings) s/he actually
achieves. A persons capability, on the other hand, represents the different functioning
vectors (combination of beings and doings) s/he is able to achieve (Clark and Gough
2002: 6). Sen defines functioning as an achievement of a person: what she or he manages
to do or to be (Sen 1985, p.12). Sen viewed well-being in terms of human functioning
and capabilities instead of income or consumption. Following Aristotle, Sen reiterates the
well-known arguments that wealth is evidently not the good we are seeking; for it is
merely useful and for the sake of something else. He again pointed out that, the
commodity requirements for more complex social functioning (such as avoiding shame
or entertaining others) typically depend on cultural factors such as social convention
and custom, or status and class, inter alia (Sen, 1985, cited in Clark and Gough 2002:6).
Criticising Sen's capabilities theory, Nussbaum (2000) introduces a capability framework.
Her ten "central human functional capabilities (CHFCs)" includes life, bodily health,
bodily integrity, sense, imagination and thought, emotions, practical reason, affiliation,
other species, play as well as control over one's environment. She argues that every one
of these ten human capabilities is central to any human life. Her list can be different for
different culture and society, not very particular for each society and varied but each of
these capabilities is central for human. Bentham defines well-being as the access to
pleasure over pain.
For the judgment of satisfaction with life domains and overall happiness it can be
distinguish two notions of happiness or well-being: Subjective well-being and objective
well-being. Objective well-being is derived from a record of instant utility over the

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relevant period (Kahneman, 1999) objective happiness is ultimately based on subjective
data: the good/bad experiences of moments of life. (Kahneman, Wakker, and Sarin 1997
cited in Kahneman, 1999). Objective well-being is explored by different features like
economic solvency, good health, education, jobs, food, and housing. Subjective well-
being (SWB), refers generally to people's own evaluations of their lives (Diener and
Lucas, 1989). People evaluates of what is happening in their lives, what lay people might
call happiness or satisfaction (Diener et al, 2003). SWB consists of three components: (i)
life satisfaction, (ii) the presence of positive moods, and (iii) the absence of negative
moods, which together are often summarized as happiness. In other word Subjective
well-being entails happiness where happiness is a state of having good physical and
mental condition and satisfaction of life (Diener & Lucus, 1999, cited in Ryan and Deci,
2001). Christoph and Holl (2003) state: "life satisfaction is supposed to reflect a cognitive
personal evaluation of the total life situation against the background of individual
aspirations, expectations and value orientations" (p.3). The other component, affective
balance, is related to the term 'happiness'. Happiness is orientated to the assessment of
well-being leading to a "preponderance of positive affects over negative affects"
(Christoph and Holl, 2003, p.4). Ryff (1989) developed an alternative approach, which
she refers to as psychological well-being (PWB). She constructed a measurement of well-
being around six sub-scales: autonomy, environmental mastery, positive relations with
others, purpose of life, personal growth and self-acceptance. Ryff (1989) argues that well-
being has positive as well as negative dimensions, which serve as indicators of happiness.
Keyes, Shmotkin and Ryff (2002) stated that subjective well-being is evaluation of life
in terms of satisfaction and balance between positive and negative affect and that
psychological well-being entails the perception of engagement with existential
challenges of life. Ryan and Deci (2001) include the terminology hedonic well-being
versus eudemonic well-being. Hedonic well-being can be equated with happiness most of
the time, and is defined as greater positive effects than negative effects, and larger life
satisfaction. Ryan and Deci (2001) use the eudaimonic definition of happiness as the
basis of a self-determination theory (SDT) that specifies three basic psychological
needs: competence, relatedness and autonomy. Competence refers to the need to feel
effective and to have control with respect to ones environment, which is facilitated by

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both optimal challenges and effectance supportive feedback. Relatedness refers to
meaningful connections with intimate others and social groups, and is facilitated by
warmth, caring and a sense of significance. Autonomy refers to the need to experience
volition, and to self-endorse ones own actions (Ryan and Deci 2001; Ryan 2004).

Conceptualising Family Relationships in the Construction of Wellbeing in

Bangladesh

It is considered that in a country like Bangladesh family-based relationships are

fundamental to peoples material, social, political, and psychological wellbeing. In
Bangladesh, however, there has been relatively little social science exploration of the
kinds of resource people gain through these relationships, and the terms on which these
exchanges take place. The predominant approach to these issues has been through either
gender and development or child rights concerns. These have tended to operate with
rather crude models of power and decision-making, and to look at one relationship
(conjugal or parental) in isolation from others. It will be good, therefore, to look at people
in multiple interlocking relationships across generation and gender, and how these fit
together. Countering a tendency to focus attention (and sympathy) on women in studies
of intra-household relationships, it is important to bring men in to the family, exploring
the kinds of benefit and constraint they experience. I will also aim to explore how far
actual practice differs from the cultural rules governing relationships of different kinds,
and what social and other resources people can draw on if problems in key relationships
arise.
People draw on different kinds of cultural resources in their understandings of how
family-based relationships are and ought to be. In any particular context, there may be
several different bundles of these cultural resources available, reflecting for example
different religious traditions; political orientations; economic positions or social
experiences (e.g migration). These may be thought of as constituting different
discourses. It thus leads us to explore peoples perceptions about what kinds of cultural
shift may be taking place in values and meanings of the family based identity and
relationships combining both traditional and modernist way in constructing wellbeing..

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Objective of the Research

To understand how cultural resources on family-based identities and relationships

differ between different social groups and how they are changing over time

To understand how family-based identities and relationships are used in practice

in the exchange of differing kinds of (tangible and intangible) resources

To understand how family relationships figure in the sense men and women make
of their lives as a whole.

To contribute better understanding of family-based identities and relationships to

policy debates on gender, development and wellbeing.

Key Research Question

How do family-based relationships and identities feature in peoples understandings and

experience of personal and social wellbeing in Bangladesh?

Specific Research Questions

1. What are the key cultural resources that people use to describe family relationships?

Scope: The aim of this research question is to gain a broad view of the range of cultural
resources generally available in Bangladesh, and how the character and balance between
these is shifting.

2. What kinds of (tangible and intangible) resources do people exchange through family-
based identities and relationships in practice? What are the terms on which these
exchanges take place?

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Scope: The aim of this research question is to provide specific, cross-sectional
information on particular dynamics within present family relationships.

3. How do family-based identities and relationships figure in the sense men and women
make of their lives as a whole?

Scope: The aim of this research question is to gain a sense of how a sense of family and
the identities based in that affects peoples sense of their lifes pattern as a whole, and the
meanings it has for them.

Methodology

My research site is one of the six WeD research sites in Bangladesh where all the WeD
instruments have been used in the three phases of WeD work. To make clear the WeD
research process, the following matrix gives an overview of the methodology followed:
Phase Work Methods
Ist Phase Community profile
Grounding
2nd Phase RANQ: Resource and Need Quantitative
WeD
RANQ Questionnaire-250 Households
Research 3rd phase IES: Income and Expenditure
Process research Survey-50 HHs Quantitative
QoL: Quality of Life-62 HHs
Thematic Issue Qualitative
Material wellbeing
Collective action
Family, Identity and
Relationships
Crisis

During the fieldwork, as a team WeD group covered multidimensional issues relevant to
people's wellbeing. As the research manager of the country team of Bangladesh I have
managed the whole fieldwork under the supervision of the country collaborator.

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Additionally, finding this theme important to explore, I therefore focused my specific
interest on collecting detail data linking with the proposed theme. Data collected on the
proposed theme following the methods presented in the matrix below:
50 HHs-RANQ Qualitative:
FGD- with married men and women
Mapping-with married men and women
Life History-with old aged people
Proposed Research
Informal discussion-with adolescent
15 HHs Qualitative: In-depth Interview with 14 married
couple and a widow (29 interviews)
Quantitative: QoL, IES

** I will mainly use the WeD (both qualitative and quantitative) data. But further
fieldwork will be conducted based on the research requirement and according to the
supervisor's advice.

Time Schedule: Approximate Time plan can be:

March 2007-March 2008: Literature Review.

April 2008 - September 2008: further primary data collection (if required), and
initial writing.

October 2008 -October 2009: writing up.

(This time plan will be finalised by the advice of the supervisor)

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Reference

Camfield, L, choudhury, K, and Devine, J, (March 2006), 'Relationship, Happiness and

Well-being: Insights from Bangladesh', WeD Working paper 14, ESRC.

Christoph, B and Holl, H (2003), J, Vogel (ed.), 'Subjective Well-Being in the European
Union during the 1999ies,' European Welfare Production, Institutional Configuration and
Distributional Outcome, Germany.

Clark D and Ian Gough (2002) 'Needs, capabilities: relating the Universal and the Local',
Paper to the inaugural workshop of the ESRC Research group on Wellebing in
developing Countries, Jan 13th to 17th 2003, Bath, December 2002

Diener, E and Lucas, R. E (1989), 'Personality and Subjective Well-being,' in Kahneman,

D et al. (1999) (ed.), Well-Being, The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology, Russell
SAGE Foundation, New York, USA

Diener, E., Oishi, S. and Lucas, R. E. (2003). Personality, Culture, and Subjective Well-
Being: Emotion and Cognitive Evaluation of Life. Annual Review of Psychology, 54, pp.
403-425.

Gasper,D. (2004). Human Well-Being: Concepts and Conceptualisations. UNU/WIDER

Discussion Paper No. 2004/06

Kahneman, D. (1999). Objective Happiness.

Keyes C. L. M, Shmotkin, D., and Ryff C.D. (2002). Optimizing Well-being: The
Empirical Encounter of Two Traditions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82
(6),

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Nussbaum, M.C (2000), 'Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach',
Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, UK

Ryan, R and Deci, E (2001), 'On Happiness and Human Potentials: A Review of Research
on Hedonic and Eudiamonic Well-being,' Annual Review of Psychology, no. 52,

Ryan, R. (2004). 'Basic Psychological Needs Across Culture: A self- Determination

Theory perspective.' Paper for International workshop on Research Well-being in
Developing Countries, Hanse Institute for Advance Study Delmenhorst, near Bremen
Germany, 2-4 July.

White, S.C (1992), Arguing with the Crocodile: Gender and class in Bangladesh,
London: Zed.
Ryff, C.D (1989), 'Happiness Is Everything, or Is It? Explorations on the Meaning of
Psychological Well-being,' in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 57, No.
6,

Sen, Amartya K. (1985), Commodities and Capabilities, Oxford, Elsevier Science

Publishers

WeD (2002), The programme 'WeD', University of Bath, UK.

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