The Social Progress of Nations Revisited, 1970–2020

Dr. Estes' international activities have been extensive and have involved considerable field research in countries of special intererest to the investigator. Among other assignments, he has held visiting Professorships in Iran, Norway, and the People's Republic of China, Morocco, South Korea, Hawaii, Japan, Mongolia, the Russian Federation, Belgium, Sweden, Mexico, Hong Kong and elsewhere. In the United States, Dr. Estes is founding President of the Philadelphia Area Chapter of the Society for Inter-national Development (SID). He is a former president of the Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education (GADE), and is a former Chair of the Council on External Relations of the Global Commission of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). In 2004 he was elected President of the International Society For Quality of Life Studies (ISQOLS). Until 2010, Dr. Estes served as Chair of the graduate concentration in Social and Economic Development (SED) where he also directed the School's international programs. Dr. Estes has been the recipient of many awards and grants for his research on international social work and comparative social development including two Fulbright-Hays Senior Research Awards (Iran, 1978 and Norway, 1979) and a Fulbright Scholar Award to Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea (1994). In 1992, he was elected "Social Worker of the Year" by the Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers for his international activities. In 1996 he received the Alumni Recognition Award from the University Of Pennsylvania School Of Social Work. In 1997 he was awarded the Distinguished Recent Contribution to Social Work Education Award by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), the International Rhoda G. Sarnat Award of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and the "Best Article in Social Indicators Research Award" of the International Society of Quality of Life Studies (ISQOLS). In 2002 he was appointed Distinguished Visiting Scholar of United College of the Chinese University of Hong Kong where he served as an External Examiner for the University's Department of Social Work until 2008. In 2005, the Global Commission of the Council on Social Work Education awarded Dr. Estes its Partner in International Education Award. In 2007, Dr. Estes received the Distinguished Quality of Life Research Award of the International Society for Quality of Life Studies (ISQOLS) and, during winter, 2012, he spent three months as University Distinguished Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and two weeks at Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.

Chapter 1. Quality of Life and Well-Being in Historical Perspective.- Chapter 2. Quality of Life, Well-Being, and Social Development: Conceptual Continuities.- Chapter 3. Methodology.- Chapter 4. Well-Being from a Global Perspective.- Chapter 5. Well-Being from a Regional Perspective.- Chapter 6. Well-Being from a National Perspective.- Chapter 7. Population Groups and Well-Being.- Chapter 8. Towards a More Positive Future.