Social Well-Being in System of Traditions and Innovations

Abstract

Social well-being as a multifactorial phenomenon in the process of social development plays a different role in the systems of traditions and innovations. The purpose of the article is to study characteristics and interrelationship of traditional and innovative values in the context of the Easterlin paradox. Under the traditional economy based on the agrarian structure and natural economy, traditions determine limits of the use of natural resources and needs of the society and the individual. The era of post-reform modernization and market relations changes the social structure of society and increases needs. The analysis of results of the sociological research using formalized interviews shows that events and phenomena of the external environment are refracted in respondents' minds resulting in a conglomerate of traditional innovative values. Thus, the Easterlin paradox is both evidential and unproven.