Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/288541 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Citation: 
[Journal:] Social Indicators Research [ISSN:] 1573-0921 [Volume:] 154 [Issue:] 2 [Publisher:] Springer Netherlands [Place:] Dordrecht [Year:] 2020 [Pages:] 693-723
Publisher: 
Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht
Abstract: 
This paper examines the association of opportunity and choice enhancing societal conditions and perceived autonomy with life satisfaction in Europe. Building on the capability approach, I investigate whether the positive effects of six basic functionings—safety, friendship, health, financial security, leisure, and respect—on people’s life satisfaction are weaker when people have more opportunity and choice. This paper addresses two main questions: (1) Are people more satisfied with their life when they have more opportunity and choice? (2) Do basic functionings play a smaller role for life satisfaction in societies that enable more opportunity and choice and for individuals with more perceived autonomy? The analyses are based on the European Quality of Life Survey (2016), covering 36,460 individuals in 33 European countries and using multilevel linear regressions. My study finds that both choice and opportunity enhancing societal conditions and individual’s perceived autonomy are positively associated with on life satisfaction. Further, all six basic functionings are conducive to individual life satisfaction. The positive effects of health, financial security, respect, and friendship are reduced when people experience a great deal of autonomy over their lives. Societal conditions that provide people with more opportunity and choice further lower the positive effects of financial security, leisure, respect, and safety on individual life satisfaction. This corroborates the importance the capability approach attributes to individual opportunities and freedom of choice.
Subjects: 
Autonomy
Life satisfaction
Capability approach
Opportunity and choice
Basic functionings
Europe
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
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Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version

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