Quality of Life in Georgia: The 1980 Experience

Southeastern Geographer Vol. 24, No. 2, November 1984, pp. 78-98 QUALITY OF LIFE IN GEORGIA: THE 1980 EXPERIENCE Sanford H. Rederman and Truman A. Hartshorn Evaluating the social well-being ofa population on a continuing basis is a vital and necessary responsibility of both the social scientist and of government agencies involved with the delivery of human services. By mapping the variation of quality of life (QOL), measured by carefully selected social indicators, we are able to pin-point where in a city or a state human suffering exists, obviating guesswork in the allocation of needed social assistance. Concerning the necessity for such ongoing evaluation, Ben-chieh Liu has concluded that "our ability to evaluate what we have done, and to plan ahead, is dependent on our ability to assess how we are relative to how we were." (J) Studies relating to the measurement and spatial distribution of social well-being in Georgia proliferated during the past decade. (2) This is the case even though no broadly accepted method exists by which QOL is measured, nor is there a commonly agreed upon definition. Those who have attempted to quantify QOL have had to provide their own definitions and justify the social and economic indicators employed in their statistical models. Identifying how QOL is distributed in space compounds an already difficult problem. It is relatively easy to compare two or more states or metropolitan areas with one another, because comparable socioeconomic data satisfying almost any definition are available at those scales. Determining internal variations within cities or states is another matter, for rarely are data accessible for all the same variables at the county, tract, or block levels. Accepting the fact that no single definition exists, it is still possible to make general consensual comments about social well-being and what it means. David M. Smith, for example, carefully describes what he thinks comprises a well society: It should be expected that in a well society people will have incomes adequate for their basic needs of food, clothing, shelter, and a reasonable' standard of living. In a well society, people do not live in poverty. Good quality education and health services are available to all, and their use is reflected to a high level of physical and mental health. People live in Drs. Bederman and Hartshorn are Professors of Geography at Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303. Vol. XXIV, No. 2 79 decent houses and neighborhoods, and enjoy a good quality of physical environment. They have access to recreational facilities, including culture and the arts, and adequate leisure time in which to enjoy those things. In a healthy society a low degree of disorganization is shown with few social pathologies, little deviant behavior, low crime incidence and high public order and safety. The family is a stable institution, with few broken homes. (3) Whereas individual QOL studies may emphasize some indicators at the expense ofothers, almost all (including this paper) in one way or another attempt to measure the "well society" explicated by Smith. It must be pointed out that no matter how carefully conceived, studies that quantify QOL variation experience criticism. The term, for example, implies both psychological and physical elements, and developing comparable systems of measurement for both is extremely difficult saving huge expenditures for ongoing attitudinal surveys. Also, a life quality in one place might be accepted as "good," whereas somewhere else the same condition could easily be considered "poor." A recent critic of the use of territorial indicators to measure QOL is John Shelton Reed. (4) He tells us, for example, that even though every QOL index reveals the South as being at the bottom of the scale, the figures are meaningless because most of the people in the region actually prefer to reside there than elsewhere. He further claims that the South's climate is never considered in developing a QOL index, yet it seems to be an important factor luring people into the region, and it also accounts for a broad satisfaction with living conditions. In spite of what Reed says, it is doubtful that husbandless mothers and fatherless children in Hancock and Stewart counties (Georgia) would proclaim that they are content with their...