Social Cohesion and Subjective Well-Being
Project Overview
WELLCOH seeks to explore the relationship between social cohesion (SC) and subjective well-being (SWB) in the case of foreign-born residents in Vienna and Budapest. Its innovative approach is not simply the strong linkage of the two concepts, but rather the attempt to understand their two-way relationship within one research framework.
The aim of the project is to answer the following questions. How do immigrant communities perceive social cohesion (social exclusion, perceived tensions, intergroup trust etc.) and subjective well-being (life satisfaction, happiness, eudaimonia) in comparison with the native-born population and the European statistics? Has immigrants' well-being improved linearly with their material gains, or has it failed to reach the expected level due to the immaterial factors? What role do social relationships play in this process and how does SWB influence their migration intentions (stay permanently, return to the country of origin, or leave for another country)? How do the group-specific SWB differences influence the strength of social cohesion in Vienna and Budapest, and what are the main differences between the two cities regarding the social cohesion-subjective well-being nexus?
The project applies a mixed methods approach, including secondary analyses (literature review, statistical data, international and national surveys: EQLS, EU-SILC, VQLS and the Hungarian microcensus) and the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods: focus groups, interviews and two additional surveys in Vienna and Budapest. The empirical findings will contribute to improving the existing theoretical literature, and they are expected to facilitate more effective, evidence-based policies in both countries.
The Challenge of Urban Futures Research Platform at the University of Vienna hosts the project under the supervision of Prof. Yuri Kazepov.
Funding
The project receives funding from the European Union’s 9th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (Horizon Europe) under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions. Grant agreement No. 101066352.
Project Outputs
Research Reports
Németh, Á., Kazepov, Y. (2025) Subjective well-being and social cohesion in Vienna and Budapest: An analysis of secondary data. WELLCOH Research Report, No.1. 144 p. (PDF – not digitally accessible)
Conferences
Paper at the 21st Annual Meeting of the Hungarian Regional Science Association, 2 November 2023, Pécs, Hungary. Title: “Social Cohesion and Subjective Well-Being: the Study of their Dynamic Interplay in Vienna and Budapest”
Organised sessions at the 10th EUGEO Congress, 8-11 September 2025, Vienna, Austria:
Nr. 120 – “Migration, Transnationalism and Subjective Well-Being. Drivers, Impacts and Spatial Factors”
Nr. 153 – “Migrant Transnationalism. Concepts, Empirical Findings and Spatial Patterns”
Paper at the 10th EUGEO Congress, 8 September 2025, Vienna, Austria. Title: “Different sources, Different Conclusions? Survey-based Insights on the Subjective Well-Being of Migrants in Vienna and Budapest”
Paper at the Annual Conference of the Hungarian Sociological Association, 17 October 2025, Budapest, Hungary. Title: “Participation or Passivity? Civic Engagement Patterns in Vienna and Budapest”
Paper at the ESA RN35 Sociology of Migration Midterm Conference, 28 November 2025, Athens, Greece (forthcoming). Title: “Subjective Well-Being in Vienna: Native and Foreign-Born Perspectives in the “World’s Most Liveable City”
Contacts
