Subjective Wellbeing in Large Cities: a Comparative Analysis of London and Mexico City

Subjective wellbeing (SWB) encompasses experiencing positive emotions, the absence of negative emotions and judgments of life satisfaction. One might expect that individuals living in societal conditions that better fulfil predictors of SWB are happier than those living in less favourable conditions. However, levels of SWB in some Latin American countries are similar or even higher than those in some more developed countries in Western Europe, despite the well-documented social challenges faced within the region. This discrepancy highlights an important issue in SWB research: the discounting of diverse cultural factors in the construction of happiness. Bringing together social representations theory and cultural models, this thesis examines SWB in common sense thinking –and its underpinning cultural forces– of people living in London and Mexico City. Two cross-cultural studies were conducted using the Grid Elaboration Method (GEM), a novel free association and interview technique. In the first study, experiences of the city of 24 London and 24 Mexico City dwellers were investigated. Thematic analysis of the data suggested that representations of the self and the other guided participants’ emotional and cognitive experiences associated with living in the city. Moreover, it identified the special relevance that feelings of detachment and relegation from the environment had in London dwellers’ unhappiness and the influence that family had for Mexico City dwellers’ SWB. Building on these results, the second study examines in more depth the representation of family in 24 London dwellers and 24 Mexico City dwellers. Following the same methodology it was found that cultural values underpinned conceptualisations of relatedness and autonomy, which shaped participants’ practices and affective experiences associated with family. This work makes a unique contribution in contextualising the plethora of quantitative SWB data and invites the consideration of socio-cultural factors in the design and implementation of SWB-related interventions and policies