Abstract

Although material resources are insufficient, wellbeing becomes a promise concept which leads to an argumentthat wellbeing is a socially and culturally defined concept. Therefore, wellbeing can be varied with manydifferent perspectives whose definition is challenged. This paper proposes to explore the local notion ofwellbeing within the social cultural contexts of Lao PDR. The study adopted a qualitative method, 35representatives of the households participated in the focus group discussion in Sangthong district, and 15 keyinformants were in-depth interviewed. The content analysis and triangular technique were employed for dataanalysis and reviewing. This study argues that to develop the measurement of development should include thewellbeing of social and cultural dimension. The result shows that the notion of wellbeing’s meaning in local Laopeople conception are comprised of seven dimensions, including family; society; health; education; security,leader and public management; environment; and economic dimension. This finding suggests that the socialcultural construction of wellbeing should be considered a form of work to develop the measurement ofdevelopment in Laos by including the social and cultural wellbeing.

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