Between Social Sustainability and Subjective Well-being: The Role of Decent Work

Abstract

Sustainability is one of the main topics of this century, and social sustainability is a declination of that principle embracing the concepts of human development, quality of life and subjective well-being for the entire humankind. This study introduces in synthesis the concept of sustainability, and in particular, social sustainability in relation to decent work. Decent work is a multidimensional concept which embraces universal individual rights, human needs and social justice. The article briefly presents different ways to assess decent work and short comments on actual working conditions in the world. Then it illustrates the choice of a particular set of indicators and their relationship with the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals. It introduces in a discursive way the method adopted for the synthesis of the indicators. The method is that of partially ordered sets (Poset), which is based on discrete mathematics. This method is considered particularly suitable for the synthesis of multidimensional social concepts. It allows synthesizing, in a non-aggregative and non-compensative way, multi-facetted information related to decent work. The paper proposes an example of a two-step synthesis, and some results concerning the achievement of sustainable development targets in terms of decent work in European Union countries.