European social quality theory and the life quality theory

Abstract

The paper discusses the social quality theory which has been developed by European scientists in the second half of the XX century. The doctrine of the life quality already exists in social science quite a long time, while the social quality theory is relatively new. The authors point out the similarities and differences between the two theories, their advantages and disadvantages. A common feature of these concepts is that they pursue ultimately the same goal: to identify areas for improvement of the life of society. The key differences between the concept of social quality and the life quality theory are the theoretical degree of validity, as well as the fact that the index of social quality is more aimed at the future, and the index of life quality, in turn, aims to evaluate the activities conducted. The authors propose the following definition of "social quality" concept: "It is a condition in which citizens are able to participate in social and economic life of the society in order to improve their well-being and own powers". At the moment, in Russian society there are many unresolved problems, and possibly the use of experience of European sociology would contribute to the improvement of methods of the domestic sociology and achievement of positive results.