Lydia Lewis' presentation at Sociology of Mental Health Study Group symposium: What does sociology need to contribute towards or against the wellbeing agenda? held on 10 June 2013.

1. What does sociology need to
contribute towards or against
the well-being agenda?
BSA Mental Health Study Group symposium
10th June 2013
Lydia Lewis
Study Group co-convenor
lydia.lewis@wlv.ac.uk

2. Purpose
To provide a space for critical
sociological discussion of the current
UK government ‘wellbeing’ agenda and
its implications.

3. Origins of the wellbeing agenda in
schools (Coleman, 2009)




Daniel Goleman’s book, Emotional
Intelligence (1996)
Levels of mental health problems in
children and young people and
associated costs
Growing international movement for
mental health promotion in schools in
countries such as Australia and North
America
UK policy development under New
Labour concerned with addressing social
inequalities and social exclusion.

4. What is well-being?
Theoretically-informed research, two components:
 hedonic wellbeing - happiness, life satisfaction and interest in
life
 eudaimonic wellbeing - optimal psychological functioning,
positive relationships with others and personal growth.
NICE (2008):
 Emotional - feelings
 Psychological -characteristics such as resilience and coping
skills
 Social - understanding and managing social relationships
Friedli (2011a)
 subjective well-being - how we feel about ourselves and our
lives
 social well-being - relationships and connections
 sense of meaning or purpose

5. But definitional problems remain ...
Mental wellbeing has become prominent in
policy circles and in public discourse more
generally, and in many areas, including health,
public policy, social studies and work.
Wellbeing is also presented as a general
indicator of social and communal stability.
However, there is still significant confusion in
theory, policy and practice about how
wellbeing, and other connected terms, such as,
happiness, satisfaction, resilience, fulfillment
and flourishing, and communal terms, such as
stability, sustainability and assets, should be
understood. (Weich and Tew, 2013)

6. Five ways to wellbeing
(NEF, 2011)

7. Some further points of critique







Assets agenda – ‘psycho-social roll call’;
material inequalities risk being ignored
(Friedli, 2011)
Promotes blaming people for their own
disadvantage (ibid)
Universal approach detracts attention from
those most in need
Medicalisation of learning (Lewis, 2012)
Detracting from other curriculum areas
Teaching well-being implies an emotional
deficit (Ecclestone and Hayes, 2008)
Are social and emotional and academic
‘effectiveness’ in schools necessarily
complementary? (see Gray, 2012)

8. Programme
12.30-12.45: Introduction to the day
12.45-2.00. Session 1
Reinserting the social and the holistic: moving beyond individuals and
diagnosis to a sociology of (mental) wellbeing, Dr Cath Quinn, Plymouth
University Peninsula School of Medicine and Dentistry
Intersections in Innovation; mindfulness-based therapies as part of the wellbeing agenda, Kate Spiegelhalter, University of Sussex.
2.00-2.20: BREAK
2.20-4.00pm: Session 2
Developing resilience in educational settings: Challenging policy discourses
of ‘risk’ and ‘vulnerability’, Professor Kathryn Ecclestone, University of Sheffield.
Governance and the excluded citizen; tensions among housing practitioners
and the wider community, Allison Savory, Buckinghamshire New University.
To make an army of illness? The politics of well-being, Dr Helen Spandler, UClan
4.00-4.10: BREAK
4.10-4.30: Overview, general discussion and close.

9. References









Aked, J. and Thompson, S. (2021), Five Ways to Wellbeing, New
applications, new ways of thinking. NHS Confederation and NEF.
Cole man, J. (2009), Wellbeing in schools, empirical measure or
politician’s dream? Oxford Review of Education, 35(3): 281-92.
Ecclestone, K. And Hayes, D. (2008), The dangerous rise of therapeutic
education, London, Routledge.
Friedli, L. (2011a), What we know about: mental health and wellbeing,
In J. Foot (Ed.), What makes us healthy? The asset approach in
practice: evidence, action, evaluation. Local Government Group:
London, pp. 12-15.
Friedli, L. (2011b), Always look on the bright side: The rise of assets
based approaches in Scotland, Scottish Anti-Poverty Review, Winter,
11-15.
Gray, J. (2012). Wellbeing Matters Too. Research Intelligence, 117, 30.
Lewis, L. (2012), The capabilities approach, adult community learning
and mental health, Community Development Journal, 47 (4): 522-537.
NICE (2008), Promoting young people’s social and emotional well-being
in secondary education: consultation on the evidence. London, NICE.
Weich, S. and Tew, J. (2013), Mental Wellbeing, Public Mental Health
and Recovery. Application for a MHRN Local Clinical Research Group.