Reimagining Quality of Life in a Turbulent World: A Commonist Perspective on Well-Living
This presentation introduces the Well-Living Paradigm as a radical and transformative alternative to mainstream and reformist discourses on well-being. Developed through critical reflection on global post-capitalist and Indigenous movements, the paradigm responds to the growing failure of dominant metrics and institutions to address the entangled socio-ecological crises of our time. Rather than merely reforming the existing frameworks, the Well-Living Paradigm offers a new civilizational logic grounded in conviviality, liveability, autonomy, solidarity, authenticity, and alterity. It draws on the “commonist value theory”, originated by the speaker through a series of works including his latest book Capital Redefined (2024, with Gills).
The paradigm is processual and relational, engaging both material and symbolic dimensions of life. It resists both individualistic and utilitarian interpretations of flourishing, while also avoiding reification. Through its nine interlinked qualities and holistic orientation, well-living can empower communities to envision integrated modes of living that transcend capitalist and anthropocentric constraints, forging pathways toward a pluriversal, regenerative, and more-than-human future.
While the presentation centers on the conceptual and political foundations of the Well-Living Paradigm, it concludes by inviting interdisciplinary dialogues with other emerging frameworks, such as post-developmentalist ideas of Pluriversality, and JYU’s Planetary Well-Being approach. Such cross-paradigmatic engagement may offer opportunities to collectively explore transformative pathways beyond the dominant systems of valuation and development.
About the speaker
S. A. Hamed Hosseiniis a JYU Visiting Fellow 2025, hosted by the Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy. With a PhD in Sociology and Global Studies (ANU, 2006), he is a senior sociologist at the University of Newcastle (UON), Australia, and a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science. He is the author of Capital Redefined (2024, with Barry Gills), The Well-Living Paradigm (2023), Conscientious Sociology (2013), and Alternative Globalizations (2010). He is the lead editor of Globalizations’ Volume 22, Issue 2: The Prospects of a Pluriversal Transition to a Post-Capitalist, Post-Carbon Future(2025, with Dunlap and Gills), and of The Routledge Handbook of Transformative Global Studies (2020). Hosseini founded and directed the UON’s Alternative Futures Research Network (2018-2024), and the ‘Common Alternatives’ initiative.
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Zoom-link for remote participants
The event is organized by the JYU Development Studies Programme, School of Resource Wisdom (JYU.Wisdom), and Finnish Society for Development Research.
