The fragile future: Interpreting well-being and uncertainty in the OECD data on life satisfaction

Abstract

Background: Modern societies pursue well-being amid persistent uncertainty, where risk, inequality, and insecurity redefine how individuals imagine and measure a good life. While the OECD Well-Being Indicators offer numerical representations of life satisfaction, these data also reflect deeper social meanings of fragility, trust, and adaptation. This study aims to interpret how uncertainty shapes collective understandings of well-being and the future as social constructions. Methods: Using an interpretive approach to secondary data from the OECD Well-Being Indicators (2017–2024), this research focuses on dimensions of life satisfaction, trust, work-life balance, and perceived security. Rather than employing statistical inference, the study treats descriptive patterns as narratives of meaning. The theoretical component integrates Giddens’s Reflexive Modernity, Beck’s Risk Society, and Sen’s Capability Approach to analyze how well-being operates as a moral negotiation under conditions of risk and reflexivity. Findings: The results indicate that although many societies report moderate satisfaction, underlying uncertainty and social distrust persist. Well-being appears more dependent on trust, relational stability, and moral confidence than on material prosperity. These findings reveal that life satisfaction embodies both optimism and precarity, reflecting the paradox of progress in late modern societies. Conclusions: Well-being represents a fragile equilibrium between hope and insecurity, offering insights into how societies sustain meaning under uncertainty. Novelty/Originality of this article: This study reinterprets OECD well-being data as cultural expressions rather than economic metrics, introducing a sociological framework that connects well-being, uncertainty, and social sustainability through interpretive analysis.