Sharing and Social Well Being: Regional and Contextual Differences

Our social life is played out every day in terms of relationships, where people seek to fulfil their psychological needs such as acceptance, recognition, inclusion and belongingness. Such experiences of sharing and other positive exchanges between different groups lay the foundation of social well being and harmony. In case of relations between Hindus and Muslims in India, we find Hindus and Muslims living peacefully in several regions of India however, in some other areas relations between the two groups continue to remain conflict-ridden and tense. In this study, we have examined the relationship of sharing and social well-being across four different regions in India in some selected cities differing in incidences of violence among the Hindus and Muslims. Data were collected from 4 states in India. In total 1357 respondents participated in this study. From each state, data were collected from 2 cities one which was more conflict prone and the other which was comparatively less conflict prone in the last 10 years in terms of communal violence between Hindus and Muslims. Results showed differences across the four states and also that the context of conflict or peace influences sharing between communities and social well being. Results have implications for building cohesive societies.