Personal experience of social and societal reciprocity has profound ontological significance for an individual and it is one the most important factors in creating well-being. In order to have a full understanding of how well-being can be created and supported from a citizen-oriented point of view, we need a thorough analysis of how experiences of reciprocity are generated in the 21st century.

There are plenty of descriptions of experiences or the state of well-being, whereas there is an obvious lack of studies identifying the experiences that create well-being and analysing how the state of well-being is created and maintained. This research project concentrates on filling this gap by analysing the concept of reciprocity and relevant empirical data. Research into social and societal reciprocity may also provide proof and further knowledge of societal shifting away from individualism towards reconstructed communal experience.

This multidisciplinary and international study will produce knowledge about individuals’ well-being and how it is constructed, created and maintained during critical periods of everyday life. Both construction and erosion of well-being are difficult to examine. Research into reciprocity can be seen as a contribution to international social welfare research, where the attention is focused on well-being and the communities that hold people together (see Becker 1986; Ostrom & Walker 2003).