Social Inclusion Challenges and the Future of Relational Wellbeing: The Case of Indonesia and South-Korea

Abstract

This research focuses on enriching the dynamics and contextual explanation of relational well-being as a representation of sustainable quality of life. Previous studies rely on economic explanations and have not shown an adequate synergy model with social factors in explaining social well-being conditions. This research intends to fill and enrich this gap by examining how vertical and horizontal forms of social inclusion have impacted on the well-being in its relational forms: the capacity to trust others, the degree of interaction, and proactivity in communal participation. By comparing the differing socio-economic conditions of Indonesian and South Korean society through correlation and multiple regression analysis, we found that a sustainable and balanced form of relational well-being does not only consist in economic attributes vertically, but also social-horizontal dimension, which is manifested through social capital and cohesion facilitated by cultural, religious and gender groups in local communities. Economic (material) factors are more dominant in explaining relational well-being at the individual level, while social (non-material) factors are dominant as explanations at the community level. This research presents a novelty related to the Easterlin Paradox thesis that the improvement of well-being in the context of societal development, does not only rely on economic attributes alone, however it is complemented and balanced by social dimension such as horizontal forms of social inclusion. The policy implications of this research show that inclusive government policies at the personal, relational, and societal level, is very fundamental to create sustainable well-being.