Quality of Life and Social Change: Individual and Collective Paths of Social Change that Nurture Quality of Life

Social and behavior change outcomes have been the at the heart of communication approaches in the development field for several decades. As part of that journey, the focus of the theory and practice about the role of communication to contribute to and achieve those outcomes has moved in the form of a pendulum—at times with an emphasis on behavior change on one end, and in others with an emphasis on broader social and structural change on the other end. Recent trends in the field have tended to bring these two types of outcomes together, to overcome what, ultimately, is a false dichotomy. In this abstract, we draw on our many years of experience doing research and applied work in social and behavior change communication in regions of the world to argue that what is missing is a holistic perspective about the nature of change that often leads researchers and practitioners to focus on one type of outcome or the other. However, the human experience, including efforts towards an optimal quality of life, however it is defined by communities, is often determined, or driven by changes in social and behavioral dimensions that are, at a minimum, indivisible, and often intrinsic to people’s life experiences. In the lines below, we draw upon relevant examples from our own professional and practical experience in indigenous and local communities to illustrate the false dilemma of social and behavior change and put forward recommendations to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration that promote research and applied perspectives that are based on holistic approaches to theory and praxis such as the application of the socio-ecological model of change and, very importantly, the engagement of and dialogue with local communities to identify bottlenecks and community-led perspectives about change.