Implications of Structural Fit for Subjective Well-Being

Considerable research links individuals’ needs, values, and goals with their social environment to subjective well-being (SWB). However, this literature often overlooks congruence with the social structure’s objective properties. Our model integrates this congruence into a single framework. Specifically, structural fit, which includes both cultural fit and resources/opportunities fit (e.g., resources, defined as both tangible and intangible assets, are mobilized by individuals or groups to exert power and achieve objectives, while opportunities are the social structure openings that enable effective use of these resources, together shaping social action and individual agency) as two aspects of social structures. The concept of structural fit bridges sociopsychological literature on value congruence and the duality of structures in sociology to understand agent- structure fit's implications for SWB comprehensively. Utilizing data from the joint EVS/WVS 2017-2022, we demonstrated the implications of the fit between personal gender norms and public gender norms, and personal gender norms and societal gender equality for SWB. The results indicate that a structural fit in both cultural and objective aspects of the social structure is related to SWB levels. We also demonstrated how we use the case of individuals' and collectively shared perceptions of democracy to examine how the alignment between personal and public cultures explains SWB within the political system. Moreover, we expand the concept of cultural fit to include the quality of democracy, collectively defining this as "structural fit." The results showed that individuals with a more positive perception of democracy in their country experience higher levels of life satisfaction when they also live in societies with a more positive collective representation of democracy. These findings provide significant empirical and theoretical contributions, offering substantive implications for the literature on cultural sociology and SWB.