Home > Research > Research Areas > Social Inclusion and Quality of Life
1

Social Inclusion and Quality of Life

There are two central themes in the Social Inclusion and Quality of Life (SIQoL) area:

  • Social inclusion – the process through which lack of access to material resources limits participation in social and economic life, and 
  • Quality of life - the balance between material well-being, physical and mental health, family life, labour market participation and social participation.

Current and recent research in this area focuses on:

  • Multi-dimensional measurement of deprivation and poverty.
  • Understanding unequal access to material resources and social participation among children.
  • Key factors influencing the quality of life of different life cycle groups (people of working age, older people, children, people with disability) and of communities.
  • Participation in sport.
  • Subjective well-being in Europe.
  • Impact of the “New Economy” on the labour market, inequality, poverty and well-being in Ireland.
  • Work-Life conflict.


As part of the programme for research for the Social Inclusion Division of the Department of Social Protection, ESRI researchers were involved in preparing a series of Social Portraits, designed to be of use to members of the public as well as policy makers, on different life cycle groups and communities.

The report Financial Exclusion and Over-indebtedness in Irish Households published in March 2011 examined the extent of financial exclusion in Ireland, covering bank current accounts, credit, savings and home insurance. It also detailed the extent of household over-indebtedness and the underlying risk factors. The report Monitoring Poverty Trends in Ireland 2004-2007: Key Issues for Children, People of Working Age and Older People, published in September 2010, monitors the evolution of poverty in Ireland from 2004 to 2007. The period marks the end of the first ten year National Anti-Poverty Strategy (NAPS) in Ireland and coincided with the final stages of the economic boom in Ireland. The study identifies the groups who were vulnerable at the onset of recession and highlights the longer term processes that underlie poverty risks.

In collaboration with researchers from University College  Dublin, ESRI researchers are contributing to a work programme funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences in delivering a series of papers and publications on the impact of the “New Economy” on the labour market, inequality, poverty and well-being in Ireland.

Comparative research on quality of life and social inclusion at the European level continues, arising from the ESRI’s involvement in the EU EQUALSOC Network of Excellence and through work for the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound). ESRI researchers worked with other Irish and international colleagues on reports on poverty and social inclusion in Europe (Living Conditions, Social Exclusion and Mental Well-being ) and on Subjective Well-Being in Europe, both using data from the second European Quality of Life Survey 2007, which were published in 2010. Arising from programme of collaborative work funded by Eurofound, in which the ESRI has been a leading partner, The Handbook of Quality of Life in the Enlarged European Union was published by Routledge in 2007. It contains a number of contributions arising directly from ESRI research.

The Research Programme on Sport and Exercise, funded by the Irish Sports Council, has generated a range of interesting papers, in what is an expanding international research area. In 2007 the ESRI published work revealing the strong negative link between participation in sport and social disadvantage: Fair Play? Sport and Social Disadvantage in Ireland.  A follow-up study, published in early 2008, Sporting Lives: An Analysis of a Lifetime of Irish Sport documented trends in participation in Irish sport over recent generations. Between 2007 and 2009, the ESRI also conducted the Irish Sports Monitor, a survey which revealed striking trends in participation in sport and exercise during the recession, and permitted the first analysis of participation levels by region and county.

Within the EQUALSOC Network of Excellence, ESRI researchers edited a special issue of the leading international journal on quality of life, Social Indicators Research, on Reconciling Work and Family Life using the European Social Survey. In a follow-on project on Work, Family and Recession, which involves a range of contributors from leading European institutions, researchers are analysing the impact of recession on work-family issues using a repeat special module of the European Social Survey which they designed.

Future research will focus on the following areas:

  • Poverty and social exclusion in an enlarged EU.
  • Intergenerational transmission of sense of control.
  • Children, families and poverty.
  • Impact of recession and deteriorating labour market conditions on poverty trends and distribution.
  • Effect of poverty and social exclusion on mental and physical health.  
  • The impact of recession on quality of life, in Ireland and in an enlarged EU.
  • Environmental factors and quality of life.
  • The extent and impact of social participation and volunteering.
  • The quality of family and partnership relationships and their impact on the provision of care for children and older people.

Programme Coordinator: Dorothy Watson and Helen Russell.

Other researchers who work in this area include: Richard Layte, Pete Lunn, Bertrand Maître, Fran McGinnity.