Contextualising Human Wellbeing in London and Madrid

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to explain the objective conditions typifying the situation of Peruvian migrants in London and Madrid that in turn frames what they can be and do. It is recognised that the objective conditions relating to economic, political, social and cultural institutional contexts in London and Madrid differ markedly and are likely to affect subjective human wellbeing outcomes. One critique of human wellbeing analysis is that it centres solely on people’s own subjective understandings of their situation and misses wider structural issues that frame what people are able to be and do. As cautioned by Sen, focusing solely on the happiness levels of, for example, a cripple with a ‘jolly disposition’ (Sen, 1980: 217) risks obscuring multiple levels of deprivation. Similarly, as Gasper and Truong (2010: 348) argue, ‘cheerful migrants’ might not be contented overall or may be content despite their circumstances, not because of them. Though these cautions in examining subjective wellbeing are important to bear in mind, the assumption that human wellbeing analysis focuses solely on subjective understandings is a misreading of human wellbeing theory, as discussed in Chapter 2. Human wellbeing analysis crucially also encompasses analysis of the objective situations that typify people’s situations (including aspects such as income and employment or housing) as well as people’s own subjective understandings of these.