Ruut Veenhoven
In: Messman Schulz, K., Koster, J.T.A., Leeuw, F.L. & Wolters, B.
(eds'Between sociology and social practice. Essays on social policy research' Liber
Amicorum didicated to Mark VanderVall, ITS Institute For Applied Social Sciences, 1993,
Nijmegen, ISBN 90-6370-920-X, pp 195-206
ABSTRACT
Social-policy typically serves multiple goals: shortterm goals as well as longterm goals
and symbolic goals as well as substantive ones. A major longterm substantive goal of
social policy is to improve the quality of life. The effectiviness of policies in that
respect is mostly a matter of faith. This contribution is about some problems that rise if
one tries to measure the consequences of social policy on quality-of-life.