Recently, she encountered the expression ‘quality of life’. However, whenever she hears the term, she wonders what it means and what criteria are used to judge it. This is because the concept of ‘quality of life’ functions to justify material abundance, consumerism, and hedonism, and sometimes as a tool to explain the spread of euthanasia or eugenics.
The government has published the ‘National Quality of Life Report’ every year for 20 years. The issues for the past 5 years have been as follows: “Despite achieving industrialization and democratization, Korean society is not satisfied with people’s lives, nor does it have a high level of happiness, and is facing various social problems. The vitality of society is weakening due to the low birth rate, rapid aging, high suicide rate, and the gap between the rich and the poor. Accordingly, a policy response and social attention are needed to improve the quality of life from the existing economic growth-centered policy.”
In this report, the government defines quality of life as “a concept that encompasses the elements that make life worthwhile, consisting of living conditions and the subjective perception and evaluation of these by the people.” At the same time, it explains that it is “a relative concept that changes depending on the level of economic and social development of a society and the values and norms of its members.” Ultimately, this means that what society recognizes as a “desirable state” significantly impacts the “quality of life.”
This can also explain why the advertising slogan “Get rich!” gained such a great response in the 2000s. Our society’s perception of economic wealth as very important reflects this. Accordingly, economic efficiency, usefulness, and the individual’s status are key factors in determining the quality of life.
Decreased productivity due to deteriorating health, reduced social contribution, unemployment, and other factors is interpreted as a decline in quality of life. This is also related to our society's high suicide rate. A quality of life based on social external conditions and an individual’s subjective and arbitrary values carries the risk of making people disregard or give up on life.
However, the government’s understanding of the quality of life has not changed much. To truly improve the quality of life, we must first consider how the concept of ‘quality of life’ is applied. Our society uses this concept in various ways, but ‘quality of life’ increasingly leads to the ranking of human lives. Our society secretly regards bedridden patients, people with disabilities, and the elderly as burdens or as ‘unproductive lives’.
This implicitly acknowledges the existence of inequality among human lives and justifies such inequality through the legislation of physician-assisted suicide, thereby abandoning our society’s social obligation to protect lives. Of course, medical suicide or euthanasia will superficially emphasize that it is an individual’s autonomous choice and is an expression of dignity. However, this claim greatly minimizes and distorts the meaning of human life.
Pope John Paul II warns that when surrounded by the quality of life thinking, “the deeper dimensions of existence, such as the spiritual and religious dimensions of human interaction, are neglected” (Encyclical Evangelium Vitae, 23). Life in the sense of ‘quality of life’ is based on sanctity and dignity. Therefore, we must remember that we can discuss the quality of life only when we recognize the inherent value of human life itself and base it on respect for life and the right to life.
