Abstract
Drawing from surveys done over a eight year period, we find some important effects on well-being coming from economic boom and bust in a Western Canadian city. This effect is buffered, however, by the important role that family and friends play for young people and health and non-working activities play for the adjustment of older people. Because of these factors, difficulties in the objective condition of economic downturn has had less impact on the general social well-being of the public than previously reported.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
Bibliography
AngristS.: 1976, ‘Subjective social indicators for urban areas: How useful for policy?’, Sociological Focus 9 (3), pp. 217–230.
DurkheimE.: 1983, The Division of Labor in Society (Free Press, N.Y.) first published in 1893.
FinsterbuschK.: 1982, ‘Boomtown disruption thesis: Assessment of current status, Pacific Sociological Review 25, pp. 307–322.
FreudenbergW.: 1984, ‘Boomtown's youth: The differential impacts of rapid community growth on adolescents and adults’, American Sociological Review 49 (Oct.) pp. 697–705.
Greeley, A.: 1981, ‘The state of the nation's happiness’, Psychology Today (Jan.), pp. 14–15.
KennedyL. W., H.Northcott, and C.Kinzel: 1978, ‘Subjective evaluation of well-being: Problems and prospects’, Social Indicators Research 5, pp. 457–474.
McCallS.: 1975, ‘Quality of life’, Social Indicators Research 2, pp. 229–248.
MichalosA.: 1983, ‘Satisfaction and happiness in a rural northern resource community’, Social Indicators Research 13, pp. 224–252.
MichalosA.: 1985, ‘Job satisfaction, Marital satisfaction, and the quality of life: A review and a preview’, in: AndrewsF. M. (Ed.), Research on the Quality of Life (U of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor).
SchneiderM.: 1975, ‘The “Quality of Life” in large American cities: Objective and subjective, Social Indicators Research’ 1, pp. 495–509.
TeppermanL.: 1984, ‘Musical chairs: The occupational experience of migrants to Alberta, 1976–80’, Social Indicators Research 16, pp. 51–67.
WirthL.: 1938, ‘Urbanism as a way of life’, American Journal of Sociology 44, pp. 1–24.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kennedy, L.W., Mehra, N. Effects of social change on well-being: Boom and bust in a Western Canadian city. Soc Indic Res 17, 101–113 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00302416
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00302416