tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73146377655372503022024-03-12T21:03:51.008-04:00Advancing the Spirit of EconomicsVesallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138008896889279733noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314637765537250302.post-21434380551232687312011-07-08T17:06:00.016-04:002011-07-09T05:55:22.680-04:00Social fragmentation in a world growing unequal<blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">"The arrangements of the circumstances of the people must be such that poverty shall disappear, that everyone, as far as possible, according to his rank and position, shall share in comfort and well-being. We see amongst us men who are overburdened with riches on the one ha</span><span style="font-style: italic;">nd, and on the other those unfortunate ones who starve with nothing; those who p</span><span style="font-style: italic;">ossess several stately palaces, and thos</span><span style="font-style: italic;">e who have nowhere to lay their head. Some we find with numerous courses of costly and dainty food; whilst others can scarcely find sufficient crusts to keep them alive."</span><br /><blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><div style="text-align: right;"><div style="text-align: right;"> - The Baha'i Writings</div></div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><br /><br />It might seem a little odd that in a world with approximately one billion people living in poverty, economists and thinkers worldwide are beginning to raise concern that wealth is increasing.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwgzuXTv52LBXGVgKTFmBP3tiRAf3XEvdvKJ0bVYzXH8Rp9P5MH7Dj5CwgLEtWCnD-JrPynuG5Uc1f9LZ9Hjeym9TyT1EJykILM7gBr_973zVet6ckcCBT2uJolF_jxKXCWFatNG7I8m4/s1600/Wealth.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 197px; height: 159px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwgzuXTv52LBXGVgKTFmBP3tiRAf3XEvdvKJ0bVYzXH8Rp9P5MH7Dj5CwgLEtWCnD-JrPynuG5Uc1f9LZ9Hjeym9TyT1EJykILM7gBr_973zVet6ckcCBT2uJolF_jxKXCWFatNG7I8m4/s200/Wealth.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5627119985270211330" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">But increasing among whom? The fact is, billions of dollars are becoming more and more concentrated into the hands of the very few. And while we are seeing many of the world's traditionally poorer countries increasing in wealth and living standards, inequality is nonetheless on the rise <span style="font-style: italic;">within </span>most countries.<br /><br />In a recent <a href="http://www.oecd.org/document/52/0,3746,en_21571361_47089446_47401524_1_1_1_1,00.html">talk</a> on social inequality at the OECD, <a href="http://www.oecd.org/document/54/0,3746,en_21571361_38481278_47428470_1_1_1_1,00.html">Richard Freeman</a>, a Professor of Economics at Harvard University, demonstrated that an increase in the income of those at the extreme top has significantly widened the inequality gap, a trend he describes as "the development of the global billionaire elites." Freeman provided a number of potential explanations for this trend, including the increasing power of big banks and larger incentives to pay high bonuses. But he also spoke of an absence of much-needed social institutions to support more inclusive growth and more socially desirable outcomes - a reconnection between social and economic objectives.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUqt-xUeH8J_iUohREDnWqW_iFt3q2gifZU_8fjjqx7fbqSzauw-ELMvuf_lozjcGi4xYYWsVM_qSv817k4cc9Uja_NzWCLGS4WsZsQPH7nILQ_oTIN3zv8NCLo6FqjwMNTjCksemVKUg/s1600/inequality1.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 174px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUqt-xUeH8J_iUohREDnWqW_iFt3q2gifZU_8fjjqx7fbqSzauw-ELMvuf_lozjcGi4xYYWsVM_qSv817k4cc9Uja_NzWCLGS4WsZsQPH7nILQ_oTIN3zv8NCLo6FqjwMNTjCksemVKUg/s200/inequality1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5627125747149089602" border="0" /></a><br />Since we are talking about an increase in wealth, and not an increase in poverty, this problem may not seem so obvious. Freeman thus sought to illustrate some of the potential consequences of increased within-country inequality, and this included a break down in social cohesion and trust, and the widening segregation of different groups in society, who live not only with differentiated access to opportunities, but pretty much in different worlds. In an <a href="http://http//dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/working-wealthy-predominate-the-new-global-elite/?scp=3&sq=super-rich&st=cse">article</a> published in the New York Times earlier this year, economist Dan Ariely described similar findings:<br /><blockquote><br /><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">One thing that inequality does is it creates not a single society but multiple societies. It might be that inequality is creating another layer of separation between the in group and the out group.</span></blockquote><br />According to Ariely, society is becoming more fragmented. The inequality he describes is not concerned with the natural unequal distribution of income due to inherent differences in individual talent and capacity; rather, he is describing the social consequences of the coexistence of extreme wealth and extreme poverty in society. As Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum, noted in the same <a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/working-wealthy-predominate-the-new-global-elite/?scp=3&sq=super-rich&st=cse">article</a>: "2011 is defined by a 21st century paradox: as the world grows together, it is also growing apart."<br /><br />In a talk on <a href="http://www.oecd.org/document/39/0,3746,en_2649_33731_46804455_1_1_1_1,00.html">social cohesion</a> at the OECD earlier this year, UN Under-Secretary, Rebecca Grynspan, addressed the role that social policy plays in contributing to (or potentially remedying) this inequality. She discussed the problem of "blind" social policy (that is, policy that does not explicitly take social cohesion into consideration). In her example, even policies with very noble goals - such as universal healthcare or education - if applied indiscriminately can increase inequality by creating a "dual system". Essentially, this would offer "poor services" for the poor at inferior - even inadequate - standards compared to the rest of society, reinforcing inequality at the systemic level. Quality control of these systems, she argued, comes from offering the same system to those who have the buying power to demand - and choose - a decent system.<br /><br />Grynspan introduced the importance of building a more participative type of democracy into the discussion, highlighting that this problem is more than an economic one. She talked about the need for the establishment of norms and institutions that encourage and facilitate participation in decision-making by those very individuals who are affected by these policy decisions. In this context, Grynspan asserted the need for a "common project for society" - and here the ramifications of inequality and its creation of "multiple societies" became manifest. Grynspan asked: how can we build consensus for this "common project" among class divides? This problem, she pointed out, is not just a philosophical one of differing ideologies and values, but also a highly practical one - inequality leads to spatial segmentation as well as social:<br /><br /><blockquote><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">Where do unequal societies meet in a spatially fragmented society? What is it that gives us grounds to think we are capable of having one project for all of society, and not fragmented groups with fragmented projects?</span><br /></blockquote><br />Inequality undermines not only social cohesion, but also segregates the spaces within which we interact, that is, everything from the transport systems we use to the markets we exchange in. By segmenting society into untouchable pockets of 'extreme rich' and 'extreme poor', humanity is being denied the passageway to realising its oneness. If we agree with Grynspan - that one indicator of a truly cohesive and prosperous society is that its members not only get along but can work together purposefully as peers and as agents of their own transformation - side by side to improve the wellbeing of their individual and collective lives - then some basis for unity and common ground is vital.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAJ_Rf4UD-tRiQgN3HSxLV5xhyWQ30E4nU3QD6hp_iTHdSrnl_kuP34uXmg4RRxsQd3IsSt2IW8ysVnFixCpUbDsWm9oFwiTHHc-zUPdQpm9ToSmeuXlhQOI_t4cql1auEdV018X7uskY/s1600/photo_money_scales.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 189px; height: 196px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAJ_Rf4UD-tRiQgN3HSxLV5xhyWQ30E4nU3QD6hp_iTHdSrnl_kuP34uXmg4RRxsQd3IsSt2IW8ysVnFixCpUbDsWm9oFwiTHHc-zUPdQpm9ToSmeuXlhQOI_t4cql1auEdV018X7uskY/s200/photo_money_scales.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5627118445451157810" border="0" /></a>As the opening quote alludes to, the quest to overcome extreme inequality does not aspire to uniform equality - this is impossible and even highly undesirable for our diverse human race. But neither should we accept the unjust fate that a billion of the world's people should <span style="font-style: italic;">"scarcely find suffic</span><span style="font-style: italic;">ient crusts to keep them alive"</span> in a world where income is actually increasing overall. Particularly when this repartition is based on little more than unequal opportunity and systemic injustice, rather than actual capacity or effort.<br /><br />The various commentators cited in this post suggest that there is a role for public policy to play in rectifying this. What principles should guide this policy? In addition to a principle that calls for the elimination of extreme wealth and poverty, how can justice be conceived of as an operating principle? Economist Amartya Sen offers an interesting insight in his book <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674036130">The Idea of Justice:</a></span><br /><br /><blockquote style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">What moves us, reasonably enough,<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>is not the realisation that the world falls short of being completely just - which few of us expect - but that there are clearly remediable injustices around us which we want to eliminate. Our own sense of justice is an innate force that we strive to develop by the belief that we can make some changes even with the fractured governance structures that hold our world together.</blockquote><br />What could be some other guiding principles? Freeman and Grynspan stress the need for social institutions - what kind of systems or social institutions could address these social ails, to promote more inclusive growth and more social cohesion?<br /><br />The Sen quote also suggests that there is a role for the individual to play in overcoming remediable injustices through the innate force of "our own sense of justice". What could be the individual's role in trying to overcome the issues discussed here?<br /></div>Taliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211162385011892935noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314637765537250302.post-61585140446779637562011-06-27T21:39:00.000-04:002011-06-27T21:39:29.193-04:00Worker Identity<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><blockquote style="text-align: center;"><i><span lang="EN-GB">“In most of contemporary thinking, the concept of work has been largely reduced to that of gainful employment aimed at acquiring the means for the consumption of available goods. The system is circular: acquisition and consumption resulting in the maintenance and expansion of the production of goods and, in consequence, in supporting paid employment. Taken individually, all of these activities are essential to the well-being of society. The inadequacy of the overall conception, however, can be read in both the apathy that social commentators discern among large numbers of the employed in every land and the demoralization of the growing armies of the unemployed.”</span></i></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB">Report after report sites the chronic underemployment of the American population and decreasing home prices afflicting communities throughout the country. Many approaches within the field of economics take a view of systemic failure on the side of market-influencing policy - both fiscal and monetary. Yet not many economists have attempted to examine the question from the perspective of the identity of the American worker. How has mainstream economic thinking changed the concept of work for the average American worker? The quote above suggests that for much of society, work is losing its meaning. Rather than being a realm through which individuals apply and develop their talents for the wellbeing of society, work has become a means to secure the income needed to fuel a consumer lifestyle.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB"><b>To what extent does this loss of values in an approach towards work contribute towards declining motivation and work ethic? What impact might such a trend have on the economic recession?</b> This is an area of study that has perhaps received inadequate attention. </span><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://advancingeconomics.blogspot.com/2010/11/purpose-maximization.html">However, recent studies have indicated that even higher salaries are not a great enough incentive to overcome declining motivation to perform well in one’s job</a>. These studies do not on the whole conclude that low morale is characteristic of human nature, but rather that motivation comes from a different part of the human being, a part that cannot flourish so easily within the cogs and spokes of the labor market. Economists such as E.F. Schumacher have supported this idea, claiming that this growing apathy is an attitude that is reinforced and even promoted by a system that places the American worker in the same category as other goods that can be traded on a market. In his book <i>Small is Beautiful</i></span><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 9pt;"><span> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-GB">, Schumacher shares the following related thought:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
</span></div><blockquote><span lang="EN-GB">"In the market place, for practical reasons, innumerable qualitative distinctions which are of vital importance for man and society are suppressed; they are not allowed to surface. Thus the reign of quantity celebrates its greatest triumphs in "The Market." Everything is equated with everything else. To equate things means to give them a price and thus to make them exchangeable. To the extent that economic thinking is based on the market, it takes the sacredness out of life, because there can be nothing sacred in something that has a price. Not surprisingly therfore, if economic thinking pervades the whole of society, even simple non-economic values like beauty, health, or cleanliness can survive only if they prove to be "economic."</span></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB">Schumacher was not the first to read the effects of the market on humanity in this way. A related thought is shared by great thinker and historian, Karl Polanyi in his book <i>The Great Transformation</i>:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
</span></div><blockquote><span lang="EN-GB">"The crucial point is this: labor, land, and money are essential elements of industry; they also must be organized in markets; in fact, these markets form an absolutely vital part of the economic system. But labor, land, and money are obviously not commodities; the postulate that anything that is bought and sold must have been produced for sale is emphatically untrue in regard to them. In other words, according to the emperical definition of a commodity they are not commodities. Labor is only another name for a human activity which goes with life itself, which in its turn is not produced for sale but for entirely different reasons, nor can that activity be detached from the rest of life, be stored or mobilized..."</span></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB">When it comes to causes we believe in – whether this is our family, acts of volunteering or even our jobs - humans value qualities such as diligence, purpose, mastery, autonomy and dedication among others. As Polayni points out, human motivation to work - for our lives to be productive and to contribute something to others - goes well beyond the narrow goal of selling our labor. It is part of <i>who</i> we are, and a daily activity that can add purpose and richness to our lives, if undertaken in the right spirit and for a noble purpose.<a href="" name="_GoBack"></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB">There is enough evidence to suggest that markets and institutions need to value these qualities, not simply because they will function more effectively as a result, but because these systems are not at the centre of society – humans are. They should thus be designed to reflect our nature and spiritual needs, and not the other way around. What, then, are the characteristics of societies, institutions and markets that also value these qualities? How can the American economic system incorporate these values into its functioning?</span></div>Vesallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138008896889279733noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314637765537250302.post-57419399702525892042010-11-16T22:47:00.022-05:002010-11-20T20:31:05.783-05:00Discourse and Identity in the Community<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn72uVhVlSRmH8mDfQy2ctlsP-0Ax7bxz9ERHfF7457nfNnj9D9qPR408yREgRhzbSjFvPm1P3ZYtcRjI8CAyaItfVu5vEhDj9YgVUmv3JOUPwIaymjQfqBnFc4dBOIlqc5Nke8MJsKzA/s1600/colourcomm.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 230px; height: 208px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn72uVhVlSRmH8mDfQy2ctlsP-0Ax7bxz9ERHfF7457nfNnj9D9qPR408yREgRhzbSjFvPm1P3ZYtcRjI8CAyaItfVu5vEhDj9YgVUmv3JOUPwIaymjQfqBnFc4dBOIlqc5Nke8MJsKzA/s200/colourcomm.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5540530170655196418" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">"The c</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">ommunity is, of course, more than a mere collection of individuals, but is characterised by a sense of it</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">s own identity and purpose"</span><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">- Tones & Green</span><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">The purpose of a community</span></span></span><br /></div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Lev, of <a href="http://www.mollusc.org/wordpress/">Anonymous Cowgirl</a>, provided a thoughtful <a href="http://www.mollusc.org/wordpress/knowledge-community-building/">response</a> to o</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">ur post on the purpose of the community:</span></span></span></span></span></span><blockquote><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">If the generation and application of knowledge for spiritual and material development is placed at the centre of the community, then whole wor</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">lds open up. Now our community has a purpose</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">. The endeavours undertaken with this new conception of community would be more than gathering together to watch a favourite television show or a favourite sports team.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></blockquote><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">This distinction between 'community' as an end</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> in itself, and a 'community' united to work for a greater purpose - its own spiritual and m</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">aterial development - is essential. As more of us are drawn towards the idea of a 'community', partly as an alternative route to the atomistic and isolating nature of an increasingly individualistic society, we will naturally seek to understand how best to channel the powers of u</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">nity and cooperation characteristic of com</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">munity life.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:130%;" >Who belongs to the community?</span><br /><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;">The community can be conceived of as a '</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;">place'. Our community building efforts occur within our neighbourhood, and it seems that </span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;">in these small settings, relationships are formed and reinforced organically, in the shared spaces of local markets and playgrounds, where paths cross as naturally in the elevator as they do on the footpath on the way to the local school. Where by living, working and learning together, communities can come to understand the value of cooperation and reciprocity.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;">However, a collection of atomised individuals whose front doors happen to be facing the same corridor is no match for Lev's description. A community's identity i</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;">s extrin</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;">sically linked to its purpose, towards which its members work collectively.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" ><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">How does the community perceive itself?</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Our community</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> resides primarily in a cité</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">, the name given to </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">French s</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">ocial housing typically made u</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">p of a cluster of high rise apartment towers. The image of the </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> cité portrayed in the media, </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><div style="text-align: left;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi78AtYd-jafhxFiW9NOsgAqpjRT0jDpWgC4lL5FGjW6t8iOnYUJ7-LVzUHRVSXiNyky9h3wkcq8geZ6mLYSKlSy_b8V_gqMLs-wovKy-gIVUmL15IYHt_ZrDkNC_LjpsyZgs4WzB0yt-4/s1600/cite%25C3%25A9.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 265px; height: 184px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi78AtYd-jafhxFiW9NOsgAqpjRT0jDpWgC4lL5FGjW6t8iOnYUJ7-LVzUHRVSXiNyky9h3wkcq8geZ6mLYSKlSy_b8V_gqMLs-wovKy-gIVUmL15IYHt_ZrDkNC_LjpsyZgs4WzB0yt-4/s200/cite%25C3%25A9.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5541028401844007554" border="0" /></a></div></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">i</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">n political discourse and - by extens</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">ion - the consciousness of French soci</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">ety, is a stark contrast to its reality. Though life in the </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> cité is hardly rosy, a shared playgroun</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">d and grassed area have encouraged children of </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">diverse backgrounds to grow up together, giving birth to a rare sense of neighbourliness. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Its residents, our friends, are warm, giving and hardworking. Despite their va</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">rious talents and capacities, many of them are disempowered by structural </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">constraints such as limited education and lack of employment.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Overarching these structures is something much more powerful - the stigma attached to living in the </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> cité. Picking up a newspaper, one ge</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">ts the impression that the </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> cité is the state's problem, filled with violent youth threatening the security of the nation and its citizens. In reality, a couple of isolated incidents of</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> violent outbursts by </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> cité youth, spanning back a couple of decades, sparked a </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">media-led metamorphosis of the social entity the '</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">cité' (and by default its residents). The '</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">cité' of the media's imagination is something </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span>to be contained and controlled.<br /><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVKa8BYdUhgFEqC_cUY0hZhkRjG97RO1C10ZY3BIsWTZj2kyvbIVYRztW5dCW4GFgzQ4MH-frnlwO59mj4RFYZuJNgvp9OnBGxzdNTPtmw886pN27l_t70ebwnLoXaGl7nFRaFtaPSVAw/s1600/talking+heads.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 180px; height: 165px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVKa8BYdUhgFEqC_cUY0hZhkRjG97RO1C10ZY3BIsWTZj2kyvbIVYRztW5dCW4GFgzQ4MH-frnlwO59mj4RFYZuJNgvp9OnBGxzdNTPtmw886pN27l_t70ebwnLoXaGl7nFRaFtaPSVAw/s200/talking+heads.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5541031797335498546" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span>These ideas about the </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> cité exist because of the power of discourse, and because of the discourse of those in power. French sociologist Pierre </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Bourdieu describes this as "the discourses and categories developed by professionals in the representation of the social world - politicians, journalists, state managers, experts in public and private sectors, civil and religious leaders, academics, activists, etc. and the reality effects they wield."</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span><span> Bourdieu's</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></span><span>description of the "reality effects" </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span>of discourse assumes that discourse does not sit apart from the world. Rather, it shapes norms, structures, practices and even individuals. Discourse in this sense not only describes reality; it creates reality.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span>In our neighbourhood, some teachers have internalised ideas about these youth, seeing their 'education' as a way to channel them towards easy, vocational exits. Added to this, a lack of trust in </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> cité residents can disadvantage individuals in various social undertakings (e.g. job applications, interactions with police, educat</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">ional choice).</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">By seeing the </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> cité as a problem, the government conceives of its own role as being to prescribe the remedy. Political parties gain favour by promising to combat the very problems they helped invent. La</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">rger and more brutal police forces are installed. An endless provision of social services (welfare, social housing) is the bandaid of choice, bringing with it a set of values that promotes dependency on the state over the social ties of </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">the community, where individuals are encou</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">raged to become the consumers of state prod</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">ucts.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaKXvGQTIVC1sD_DO9-b2XOuVEpnGG7iqVXrwqrcbeRRVvMPQ2Q7cJyar9Djwg9ZyBuwqe1tQNXt5I73r94k1TJmZlzB-V6zqK4V0cHK4GYhxfPUOOiUXKZgYnUh6m8NGgMPEonQxA1n0/s1600/bandaid2"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 157px; height: 95px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaKXvGQTIVC1sD_DO9-b2XOuVEpnGG7iqVXrwqrcbeRRVvMPQ2Q7cJyar9Djwg9ZyBuwqe1tQNXt5I73r94k1TJmZlzB-V6zqK4V0cHK4GYhxfPUOOiUXKZgYnUh6m8NGgMPEonQxA1n0/s200/bandaid2" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5541048321526479874" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Of course, in amongst the neighbourliness, real problems exist in the </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> cité. As Bourdieu describes, discourse creates reality and is reinforced by the persistence of this reality, and that includes the shaping of individual identity. Many sociologists, such as <a href="http://books.google.fr/books?id=APjN-RQuW-sC&printsec=frontcover&dq=wacquant,+loic+2008&hl=fr&ei=x77lTJ7_Ion5sgavzIiyCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false">Loic Wacquant</a>, will talk of the cycle of identity crisis, where some youth, seeing themselves portrayed as 'problem youth', take ownership of this image, partly in retaliation to a world that's given up on them, and partly because th</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">is is the image they've grown up knowing.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I don't have the first hand experience to comment on this theory, though it's certainly worth exploring. What I have noticed is that there are many youth who overtly reject the 'problem youth' identity - and yet, their talents and capacities remain hidden, even from their own eyes, just as they are hidden from the eyes of their educators and local politicians. Though this discourse may not define them, it can deny them an awareness of their own latent potential, without which their faith in the potential of their neighbourhood to be transformed into that community who participates in the generation and application of knowledge for its own spiritual and material development, and in their own ability to become actors in this process, fades away.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Such an </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">environment could be accompanied by a decline in community trust and a breakdown of bonds. Wacquant <a href="http://books.google.fr/books?id=APjN-RQuW-sC&pg=PA4&dq=wacquant+2008&hl=fr&ei=KsHlTJiIHsWgOoaF1MIK&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=wacquant%202008&f=false"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">warns of</span></a> "territorial stigmatisation", where "communal places bathed in shared emotions and joint meanings, supported by practices and institutions of mutuality" give way to "indifferent 'spaces' of mere survival and contest."</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:130%;" >The missing words</span><br /></span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">During conversations with youth from our neighbourhood, I've noticed that society's discourse can produce contradictions within their minds, between their actual lived experiences and memories in their home, the </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> cité, and the skewed perception of these memories when articulated through the language of the media (and of the myriad friends and families who, having internalised this language, constantly repeat it).</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Though these youth regularly describe their neighbourhood as <span style="font-style: italic;">'pourri' </span>(rotten) and 'beyond fixing', when I question them about the real characteristics of their neighbourhood (or at least those I've witnessed), using the words "friendliness", "sense of community", "service" and "safety", and describing the actions through which these qualities are expressed (people greeting each other politely, children able to wander freely about the neighbourhood without supervision, shopkeepers appreciating their acts of service...), they immediately contradict themselves and even praise the </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> cité. It's as though the manifestation of these words and images elevate their thoughts beyond the 'rotten' tag and free their eyes to re-evaluate the potential of their community against these newly discerned benchmarks.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br />What is missing are the words.<br /><br /><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2-XPPa2V-vCW1R9Jxr7G2J9cqYRrA8sP3m4AUHBrD9svkYbS-HYwwK5oizhIPgQsVfc1hFEzshhJ_GmSNzeN19R3mtSCmsQl9qLm0K-tWUh84BSAQXXbRFBeOR-z5p7303v-Jk2fZ25M/s1600/newspaper.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 213px; height: 204px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2-XPPa2V-vCW1R9Jxr7G2J9cqYRrA8sP3m4AUHBrD9svkYbS-HYwwK5oizhIPgQsVfc1hFEzshhJ_GmSNzeN19R3mtSCmsQl9qLm0K-tWUh84BSAQXXbRFBeOR-z5p7303v-Jk2fZ25M/s200/newspaper.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5541037155911687474" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">To take another example - French policy forbids the word 'community', (which it defines as a collection of homogeneous interests that come together as a potential threat to French national identity). One cannot study 'community development' in university, and governments cannot create departments for the 'community.' It's as though the concept has vanished from French consciousness. As noted, 'community' is already happening - on some level. Parents mind each others' children, youth contribute to the running of the household, and look out for the wellbeing of the younger ones. But without the language, these examples of social relationships cannot be brought into conscious existence. So just how are we to build a vision of empowerment without the community? How are we to create adequate descriptions of reality when language itself is impoverished?</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >New words</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">It seems that a renewed language and connected set of images is needed, one that expresses more completely the potentialities of the individual, the community, and the structures that give expression to this potential. In acting as the lens through which individuals can more authentically interpret and conceive of their experiences, such language can bring to light those elements of reality hidden by want of the right words.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The acquisition of language is closely linked to the development of spiritual perception. Spiritual perception in an individual is that power that enables him/her to recognise, evaluate and act upon the discursive constructs and the forces in individual and collective life. E.g. What is injustice? What is prejudice? What are my talents and capacities? How can I make greater efforts to apply them? What effects do our acts of service have on ourselves and our community?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">In this sense, individuals learn to distinguish between destructive and constructive forces, and to build on the latter. And perhaps conceiving of this new reality gives birth to a desire to create it, finding expression in new social practices - like youth mentoring younger youth, parents supporting their children's development, all serving the needs of the neighbourhood.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Small steps of 'acting' through service to the community are having a minor but noticeable effect on reshaping reality in our neighbourhood. E.g. In accompanying youth on their 'service' projects, I noticed the surprise in some neighbours who were forced to question their assumptions that kids from the </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"> cité caused nothing but trouble. </span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Can a new image of these youth be created if they first believe in it themselves? And if they understand their identities as predominantly spiritual, as the bearers of God-given talents and capacities that reach their fruition when put to service in their efforts to improve themselves and their own community? What effects could that have on the wider community's identity and social practices?</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"></span><br /><br /><br /></div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><blockquote><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></blockquote></span></span></span></span></span><br /></div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div></div></div></div>Taliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211162385011892935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314637765537250302.post-59598941875772299542010-11-03T12:55:00.002-04:002010-11-03T12:56:49.808-04:00Purpose Maximization?So... I've been thinking a lot about how to implement economic models that implement ideas associated with spiritual empowerment and spiritual growth. After all, one of the motivations for this blog is a feeling that we need to stray away from models of profit-maximization and towards models that more adequately explain human motivations and behaviors. This video's got me thinking that purpose maximization has got to play a role somewhere in the process. Check it out!<br />
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<object width="384" height="231"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/u6XAPnuFjJc?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/u6XAPnuFjJc?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="384" height="231"></embed></object>Vesallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138008896889279733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314637765537250302.post-41943539912401686292010-08-12T19:01:00.019-04:002010-08-16T05:07:11.213-04:00Food for Thought<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0BU5gJz3kCmx_J0InUmO9Uw83dD-mW0idZCTXw-nIRO-r1932O5ES_Ss9q2yQKSPQEq8aHQpD6IquR5sbGgs01yyUpCbjc6E0qBcnCsjjHAE9w4JUCYGa6AOZF1d_PdgGcxXioaw0KmE/s1600/Vegetable-Question-Mark.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504682554723412690" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 140px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 182px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0BU5gJz3kCmx_J0InUmO9Uw83dD-mW0idZCTXw-nIRO-r1932O5ES_Ss9q2yQKSPQEq8aHQpD6IquR5sbGgs01yyUpCbjc6E0qBcnCsjjHAE9w4JUCYGa6AOZF1d_PdgGcxXioaw0KmE/s200/Vegetable-Question-Mark.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Today I was reading a journal article by Ingrid</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> Burkett of the <a href="http://www.iacdglobal.org/">International Association for Community Development. </a>The article discuss</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">es the idea of <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">re-localisation</span>, and particularly the recent interest in local food:</span> <div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><blockquote>Yes it could be said that local food systems potentially contribute to ecologically sustainable development because they can reduce the food miles of our diets...it could also be said that local food systems play an important role in building strong and vibrant local economies...however, many of the 'organic' and 'slow food' events that are occurring around the world reach out to the 'gourmet' food market with relatively little attention paid to questions regarding how poverty, access and inequality are addressed by local food production.</blockquote>I think the last point that Burkett makes i</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">s an i</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">mportant one, as it tries to get to the heart of the real purpose of local food production.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">A very simple example of 'local food' production I read recently can be found <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/magazine/18food-t.html?_r=1&emc=eta1">here</a>. It tells the story of Alexandra Reau, a fourteen year-old girl from Michigan, who has converted her family's backyard into a small farm. She g</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">rows fruit and vegetables and sells them to</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> regular customers in her neighourhood, who claim </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">to value both the quality of her produce, and the fact that this initiative comes from a local </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">youth. The story is testament to how much </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">a fourteen year-old can accomplish when he</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> or she makes efforts towards a noble goal.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Reau's farm contributes to her own development (she tells us that farming requires a lot of patience!) and in some sense to the local economy, both commendable ends in themselves. But what would change if this project were linked to a larger goal of community building? Or, more simply, was conceived of as providing a service to one's community? How would this change the concept of local food?<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:+0;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:+0;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6NDhFuBNzRl4xq8NffHY1_8eid-KIS9L3qn5sSR6okVP3nfxyQGHgNeI5jKVj3A4GWbX5FPsd-4VoG8NQAy-lvlrQUZ3gKU-mwgAuCUR4eQiH_tAPqoq7WHLpeNG7-AhIqyaK3qJ2tX0/s1600/community-veg-garden.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504675695373802450" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 119px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6NDhFuBNzRl4xq8NffHY1_8eid-KIS9L3qn5sSR6okVP3nfxyQGHgNeI5jKVj3A4GWbX5FPsd-4VoG8NQAy-lvlrQUZ3gKU-mwgAuCUR4eQiH_tAPqoq7WHLpeNG7-AhIqyaK3qJ2tX0/s200/community-veg-garden.jpg" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Burkett believes that "a renewed longing for community" is the real "starting point" and "social push" behind local food movements.</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><blockquote>If we are to re-localise our communities, our motivations could be based on building strong relationships with our neighbours, engaging with the local cultures/s, improving our health and the health of those with whom we live, generating friendships across diversity or even just eating healthier, tastier food.</blockquote>These "strong relationships" could be build</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> on </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">trust, love and a mutual stri</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">ving for individual and collective progress, and would naturally lend themselves to an exchange of material goods and services for the wellbeing of all.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I use the term 'naturally' because of a fundamental belief that each one of us has been created to bear fruits (metaphorically, at least), to develop our various talents and capacities for the benefit of others and ourselves. And where else would this service be expressed but in the spiritual and material wellbeing of one'</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">s community, the latter imply</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">ing the nee</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">d for a vibrant local economy to facilitate this exchange of services.</span><br /><span style="font-size:+0;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:+0;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br /></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:+0;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:+0;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKYGcM6YyODNS4O4A5KDqjC4167MkLzEO9vjDzOhRXw5zIi5nYayyDGhHJgv-y_i_eY7d8bkePkL8hp-BBct2IG834u0BwzN1unVfpPiw0uq2GWri9Z9vanOb6J_iPyIL5aE_Mr-dulTY/s1600/community+lego+2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504678777293008498" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; WIDTH: 218px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 69px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKYGcM6YyODNS4O4A5KDqjC4167MkLzEO9vjDzOhRXw5zIi5nYayyDGhHJgv-y_i_eY7d8bkePkL8hp-BBct2IG834u0BwzN1unVfpPiw0uq2GWri9Z9vanOb6J_iPyIL5aE_Mr-dulTY/s200/community+lego+2.jpg" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Understanding the link between communities and service, of which loca</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">l food is just one example, helps us better </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">conceptualise on</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">e purpose of the practice kno</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">wn as 'community developme</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">nt'.</span><br /><span style="font-size:+0;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:+0;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:+0;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:+0;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:+0;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:+0;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikr4DarEhsvbKZG7I1wg93LHaqD9ZiA64tskS-rXfDgwRRVl16Gixdk6_iDyCYzBqtP1g8KhXJg8HkBMacXBVt1LDGlAh4M72BNGXbGyzNiJRraRGFjUApUMI9PTWyuueV-sFIcsVmOKg/s1600/community+lego+2.jpg"><br /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Burkett does warn against romanticising the local food movement as a move back to past 'traditional' ways. The OECD has echoed this warning in its publication </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a href="http://www.oecd.org/document/31/0,3343,en_2649_34417_43882783_1_1_1_1,00.html">Community Capacity Building: Creating a Better Future Together</a>, </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">in the context of community capacity build</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">ing:</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><blockquote>Community capacity building and/or economic development should not be an attempt to recreate the communities or businesses of the 1950s. The world - its people and its economy - has simply changed too much...we should guard against the assumption that the past, or an alternative vision of the future, are the only or the most appropriate visions for the futures of communities today...it is clear that the concept of community is changing. Nevertheless the geographic, indeed local element, cannot be overlooked.</blockquote></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Another trap to avoid falling into is believing that the greatest power an individual possesses is his or her buying power, so that the act of choosing to <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">buy</span> local becomes an end in itself. Human beings are not mere consumers, even though modern urban cities have been desig</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">ned to promote the values of a consumer society. Brenda and Robert Vale explain this in the book <a href="http://www.earthscan.co.uk/?tabid=21001">Designing High Density Cities:</a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Most recent planning theory has ignored the vi</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">tal relationships between food, energy, water and land because of access to cheap and plentiful fossil fuels. This has meant that food can be grown at a long distance from settlements and transported to them...</span></blockquote><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><blockquote>A capitalist society would best operate with everyone living at high densities so that the maximum number of people would need to buy everything they required, having little opportunity to provide basic services, such as growing food themselves. A high-density city is necessarily a consumer city.</blockquote></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Burkett describes how the concept of local food does more than change our buying habits but "challenges us to move from being consumers </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">and passive recipients in these systems to bei</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">ng active participants, citizens and co-producer</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">s of the systems."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:+0;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:+0;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:+0;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:+0;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:+0;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:+0;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkbn5ps4QyKeFvmPiDFAKpjLW5rocv9uqtC9498A-eBJBs3KmZhDB86ekQ94DDOPNZcSfRtYQsckIDKxe9N0oGRb9Lb96-dwKn0EL_r2PfI8k40u7pWxcB3dAxkMs6HhNlfhSNgOQQVi0/s1600/shovel.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504676390998781474" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 141px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 179px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkbn5ps4QyKeFvmPiDFAKpjLW5rocv9uqtC9498A-eBJBs3KmZhDB86ekQ94DDOPNZcSfRtYQsckIDKxe9N0oGRb9Lb96-dwKn0EL_r2PfI8k40u7pWxcB3dAxkMs6HhNlfhSNgOQQVi0/s200/shovel.jpg" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>I love this idea of moving from consum</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">ers </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">to actors, and would love to hear some more practical examples about community farms and gardens within the framework of community building. In particular, reflections on the role of the community as a "starting point". If anybody is involved in this area, please share - we're keen to learn more about it!</span> </div>Taliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211162385011892935noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314637765537250302.post-18963293060561430672010-08-12T16:23:00.015-04:002010-08-12T17:46:21.318-04:00the city's heart<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQntBYC6lcapYcxSIWqPLHU9X1LlhN9WCR5EELqysxvI7tDvOdUqJ8Rj_Nhek9AeWuooEtwGJ2qwY5valAPSwMwi9iL6C53tUK_SRopBKQmVKcIeXTVPWS3mDVYXHldp9dGRhkrYQRzh8/s1600/city-love-heart.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 253px; height: 253px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQntBYC6lcapYcxSIWqPLHU9X1LlhN9WCR5EELqysxvI7tDvOdUqJ8Rj_Nhek9AeWuooEtwGJ2qwY5valAPSwMwi9iL6C53tUK_SRopBKQmVKcIeXTVPWS3mDVYXHldp9dGRhkrYQRzh8/s200/city-love-heart.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504630965596834242" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">A quote I read from Jane Jacobs' iconic book <span style="font-style: italic;">The Deat</span></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-style: italic;">h and Life of Great American Cities</span> got me thinking recently:</span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" >When a city heart stagnates or disintegr</span><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" >ates, a city as a social neighbourhood of the whole begins to suffer.</span><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" > People who ought to get together, by means of central activities that are failing, fail to get together. Ideas and money that ought to meet, and do so often only by chance in a place of central vitality, fail to meet. The networks of city public life develop gaps they cannot afford. Without a strong and inclusive central heart, a city tends to become a collection of interests isolated</span><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" > from one another. It falters at producing </span><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" >something greater, socially, culturally and economically, than the sum of its separated parts.</span><br /></blockquote></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The "heart" whose passing Jacobs mourns seems </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">to be no other than that of the community - that arena in which a mélange of minds, ideas, backgrounds and talents unite to build on and reinforce one another. Where human beings shed the burden of individualism in order to contribute to the building of something that transcends merely the sum of their separate parts.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Today's discourse on the value of the 'community'</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> is often housed within a wider discourse on community development and local economy; yet there appears to be a universal struggle to get to the heart of what the term really means. How relevant is community life in today's urban-centred working world, with its constant flux of moving house and migration, its faster t</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">rains and all-you-can-eat internet? Are the com</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">munities of today online networks, are they those fading memories of 1950's sports clubs and church groups, are they defined by common interests, or along geographical lines like neighbourhoods?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We think the time is ripe to reconsider the purposes of the community, and to trace an outline of the potential destiny of the communities of today and tomorrow. This is not the first time we have posted about the </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://advancingeconomics.blogspot.com/2010/02/what-about-community_06.html">community</a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">, but this time around, we'd like to think about the role of the community in individual and social transfor</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">mation.</span> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">And so, our main question:</span><br /><blockquote face="trebuchet ms">When so many forces are pulling us the other way, why make the effort to learn about the ways and methods of community building?<br /><br /></blockquote> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Some initial thoughts....</span> <span style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" ><br /><br />What if our true identity, as a community, is spiritual, consisting of members working together to enable each individual to embark upon a process of learning to become protagonists of their own spiritual and material development?<br /><br />What if we conceive of unity as both the instrument and the goal of creating this kind of community?<br /><br />What if a commitment to this 'unity' implies a collective process of inquiry, of walking together - consulting, acting and reflecting on the process of community building?<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The Baha'i writings state:</span> <blockquote style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Let us take the inhabitants of a city....if they establish the strongest bonds of unity among themselves, how far they will progress, even in a brief period....</blockquote> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Please share your thoughts!</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" ><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span></span><br /></span> </div>Taliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211162385011892935noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314637765537250302.post-69765319377289715572010-05-17T15:54:00.050-04:002010-05-17T20:35:38.129-04:00Consumer Society: Who Really Buys It?<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:180%;">R</span>ecently I was having a conversation with a group of 13 year old youth from my neighbourhood on the effects that the media and marketing have on us. We wanted to learn how to use the media to share positive messages within our community, so we started by studying some typical examples. I was surprised at how conscious the girls were of the manufactured nature of the "beauty" being sold to them through luxury advertising in order to convince them to buy things. The importance of developing the habit of analysing and reflecting on the media's messages became clear. We concluded that in a world where it's too easy to become a passive recipient to these messages, this habit helps us make decisions about whether those values correspond with our own.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">But of course being completely immune to a force that permeates our day to day lives is almost impossible. One of the youth, noticing the prevalence of female models in marketing campaigns, concluded that advertisements are geared towards men. "Women don't need to be convinced as it is natural for them to go shopping." <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibiSWZ0chEfetUcjF6cuqrJOFG5ueQfwutMmmqi6OJ-w9WQegY_s3ZLyvrRNC-saSyjrfNStebwhWAw28MIktSPbfWBpfl8eObIUib_7leg-CYMW0pSeG223VjCUraS8DfmvTxU8TqcLo/s1600/shopping.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 178px; height: 242px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibiSWZ0chEfetUcjF6cuqrJOFG5ueQfwutMmmqi6OJ-w9WQegY_s3ZLyvrRNC-saSyjrfNStebwhWAw28MIktSPbfWBpfl8eObIUib_7leg-CYMW0pSeG223VjCUraS8DfmvTxU8TqcLo/s200/shopping.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472334890752169266" border="0" /></a><br />The comment certainly raises an interesting question in the world of rising consumerism, where both men and women increasingly dispose of their income for the acquisition of more material goods. Is this daily ritual really at the core of human nature? There are, evidently, powerful social forces at play that are shaping both our habits and our behaviour. Just how is the story of <span style="font-style: italic;">who we are </span>being retold through the fictions of the media? And to what extent is our spiritual nature being worn away by a growing, pervasive materialism?<br /><br />Last week, we posted a link to a document entitled <a href="http://bic.org/statements-and-reports/bic-statements/10-0503.htm">Rethinking Prosperity: Forging Alternatives to a Culture of Consumerism</a>, a statement of the <a href="http://www.bic.org/">Baha'i International Community</a> (BIC). I really encourage you all to take a look at it if you haven't already. It discusses the challenges facing the realisation of a more sustainable development, citing consumer culture - a distortion of humanity's true nature and purpose - as one of several hindering factors to a lasting, shared prosperity.<br /><br />Another interesting resource, <a href="http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/publications.php?id=914">Prosperity Without Growth</a>, was written by Tim Jackson of the <a href="http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/">Sustainable Development Commission of the UK</a>. As the title suggests, the document questions the sustainability of an economic model that has 'growth at all costs' at its centre, so that the pursuit of economic growth pushes forward at the expense of sustainability and well-being. Jackson asks us to consider what a new model for prosperity could look like.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-KCZPKOaMnTX29KFR2h595ngAJvaLuOedXAC4Wr7bB8kXBzbVeed452gSBArx_FhmlslwXm_pFVFtZv3WPw8TUmoYBAwMbB26c1MY2mSb9_cDJKYIjGWExXpd0kijsKt3sRYZRDxBdCQ/s1600/loudspeaker.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 166px; height: 246px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-KCZPKOaMnTX29KFR2h595ngAJvaLuOedXAC4Wr7bB8kXBzbVeed452gSBArx_FhmlslwXm_pFVFtZv3WPw8TUmoYBAwMbB26c1MY2mSb9_cDJKYIjGWExXpd0kijsKt3sRYZRDxBdCQ/s200/loudspeaker.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472346666099673522" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: justify;">Chapter 6 deals specifically with consumer culture. Jackson introduces the idea of a "language of goods." In this "language", material possessions say something important about who we are, turning objects of no value into objects of status and competition. And as the BIC document points out, this in turn "reduces human beings into competitive, insatiable consumers of goods and objects of manipulation by the market." Is marketing using this same language to create the 'shop-a-holic' image of women?<br /></div><br />Jackson also explains how not only do we buy these possessions, but we also become attached to them. Citing examples like our CD collections or our favourite pieces of clothing, he describes how we come to think of these objects as part of the "extended self." If he's right, then it shows just how quickly our spiritual nature can become encroached by a material one. If these objects define in part who we are, then what room does that leave for our inner reality?<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Both documents urge us to think about new models of prosperity and sustainable development - where the endless production and consumption of goods is no longer the purpose of life nor the cause for further social inequalities and environmental destruction. And where traits like competition, greed and apathy cease to be rewarded over behaviour that promotes unity, justice and sustainability. As it turns out, the link between the consumer urge and our current model of development (powered by a ruthless economic growth) is very strong. The system actually depends on this excessive consumption as both a driver of growth and a marker for progress as it at once reinforces and feeds off a human addiction to spending. In Jackson's words:<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote>On the one hand, the profit motive stimulates newer, better or cheaper products and services through a continual process of innovation...at the same time, the market for these goods relies on an expanding consumer demand, driven by a complex social logic...taken together, these two self-reinforcing processes are exactly what is needed to drive growth forwards. </blockquote></div><div style="text-align: justify;">People of all ages aspire towards bigger, better, newer things, even when their current versions work just fine. Marketing is the science of creating 'needs' that never existed. And of selling dreams. And preci<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikT4BQJ3UpMo-5ugvyjd0TRc0_VmVnPNqHAoEGAWPf-BjPNbnrZNFhi30VrTRPEhwSnn92ZtinCsrWZ-JCLAwab5i66_YFLaD88lOzpDUNUMgNMuhd7DDIQMClZZ4CqqR5LOkovuoXnGw/s1600/dollars.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 201px; height: 146px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikT4BQJ3UpMo-5ugvyjd0TRc0_VmVnPNqHAoEGAWPf-BjPNbnrZNFhi30VrTRPEhwSnn92ZtinCsrWZ-JCLAwab5i66_YFLaD88lOzpDUNUMgNMuhd7DDIQMClZZ4CqqR5LOkovuoXnGw/s200/dollars.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472362408712347282" border="0" /></a>sely because this material acquisition will always fail to provide the ideals that the language of marketing promises us, we keep wanting more. "Consumer culture perpetuates itself precisely because it succeeds so well at failure." It's no surprise that these dreams allure us. In a world of increasing injustice, economic crisis and unprecedented environmental distress, having something to hope for is important. In a secular world, consumer culture is nourished by the human need for hope.<br /><br />Both the BIC document and Jackson make no secret of the scope of change required. Jackson writes:<br /><br /><blockquote>It is also vital to recognise that this pathology is not simply the result of some terminal quality in the human psyche. We are not by nature helpless dupes, too lazy or weak to resist the power of manipulative advertisers...rather, what emerges from this analysis is that the 'empty self' is a product of powerful social forces and the specific institutions of modern society...we need to identify opportunities for change within society - changes in values, changes in lifestyles, changes in social structure - that will free us from the damaging social logic of consumerism. </blockquote><br />And the BIC document:<br /><br /><blockquote>The transformation required to shift towards sustainable consumption and production will entail no less than an organic change in the structure of society itself so as to reflect fully the interdependence of the entire social body - as well as the interconnectedness with the natural world that sustains it.</blockquote>So it seems that change necessitates an entire restructuring of the way we conceive of both human nature and modern society, notwithstanding the institutions that join it together, and a reconceptualisation of the 'growth at all costs' paradigm within which we currently live. It also seems that the consumer society promotes a culture of lethargy. Rather than creating protagonists of change, it specialises in manufacturing passive, distracted beings, chasing after glittery ideals that forever elude them.<br /><br />The BIC document asks us what happens when we think of individuals as having "a contribution to make to the construction of a more just and peaceful social order." What happens when we step out of our role as 'producer' or 'consumer' and rephrase both our reason for being and our reason for exchanging with others? When we see ourselves as being capable of making valuable contributions to our community and society at large? When bonds of love are built and nurtured with those who are working with us? Where has this definition of human relationships, of the human being gone?<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-yEJwnN0dI3pzwlv_UWE3KLoMJC-22T4ssF9h8jEnZpbPoyjTUSJl7AzfoCwGSAhwBoXP2YIy_L5J7FOkkXnZ2XUz5Oo4SwBxcEny2Qdnwz9v91WVP3nsfhpun6sF-79UzsQSMFyz54Y/s1600/hands.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 174px; height: 153px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-yEJwnN0dI3pzwlv_UWE3KLoMJC-22T4ssF9h8jEnZpbPoyjTUSJl7AzfoCwGSAhwBoXP2YIy_L5J7FOkkXnZ2XUz5Oo4SwBxcEny2Qdnwz9v91WVP3nsfhpun6sF-79UzsQSMFyz54Y/s200/hands.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472373596696735602" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />Do these values have to be at ends with a stable economic society? I don't think so. I think they can even be a motor towards the type of sustainable prosperity that both the BIC and Jackson - and I daresay most of us - hope for.<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj9fEUytkqaNagvWkD6C-B_44g9-JOr8xx0WEE32wcE9V4A7ArQCAliHtR1PPJaplzXl3J6aeJTdGXVzrD4puWrElzxev_AOTtHcl6eZkSjrgoKWWMtQRofaNxv13BPv4arZcpCAfs99A/s1600/action6.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 144px; height: 130px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj9fEUytkqaNagvWkD6C-B_44g9-JOr8xx0WEE32wcE9V4A7ArQCAliHtR1PPJaplzXl3J6aeJTdGXVzrD4puWrElzxev_AOTtHcl6eZkSjrgoKWWMtQRofaNxv13BPv4arZcpCAfs99A/s200/action6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472374477567741746" border="0" /></a></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi37pxVYGREco7hZe3I3JU-zZ3_As10_6trXOHQI13eOLduk2QlcYPTlJqQ3ZRiJbRFUzdUoUiQyVXxr0LI9uoG3YPfMVrc09nd_3aEBf6ry8J_u9p5wLPrfvcrfMypp9Dr8eKAak2DZgA/s1600/action4.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 117px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi37pxVYGREco7hZe3I3JU-zZ3_As10_6trXOHQI13eOLduk2QlcYPTlJqQ3ZRiJbRFUzdUoUiQyVXxr0LI9uoG3YPfMVrc09nd_3aEBf6ry8J_u9p5wLPrfvcrfMypp9Dr8eKAak2DZgA/s200/action4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472374164493952274" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><br /><br /></div></div></div><span style="font-size:180%;"><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;">* * *<br /></div><span style="font-size:180%;">C</span>learly, the scale of change being called for is much greater than creating the right media campaign. However, those thirteen year old youth feel like it's a good place to start. And why not? The media is their voice to the world, it can be used to provoke thought, to rewrite what being human means and also to remind individuals that they do have a choice in all this. If the media tells us who we are, then we need to create images of the human nature we believe in.<br /><br />So as part of their desire to learn about changing the neighbourhood, they have created posters that ask their neighbours to think about the characteristics of their ideal community. In a sense, they are reminding those neighbours that they too have a role to play in its realisation. This weekend we're going to stick those posters around the neighbourhood, in local shops and apartment buildings. Perhaps it won't change so much too quickly. But it's their opportunity to act, and to give voice to their approach to transformation.<br /><br />So now there are some questions we'd like to throw out to you, our readers:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEwrdiSjl-H8qzg0VTtr4Fck5uJ3Vw8TY14NDYjz6CoZwIH4pseGGcXyVxXVZ9PNioYmEA4HFgMn_l2dt_O_VHBjPAA6fFXwRxchHugz7rjffQksoDGxVdPAOdzGGO7YPJse44BVe4hlA/s1600/question+mark.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 95px; height: 128px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEwrdiSjl-H8qzg0VTtr4Fck5uJ3Vw8TY14NDYjz6CoZwIH4pseGGcXyVxXVZ9PNioYmEA4HFgMn_l2dt_O_VHBjPAA6fFXwRxchHugz7rjffQksoDGxVdPAOdzGGO7YPJse44BVe4hlA/s200/question+mark.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472377280194670706" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">How would this conception of the human being change the language of the media: the messages we share and the people we portray?<br /><br />Do you have any examples of work being carried out in your community that illustrates the nature to serve humanity, to serve as an actor for change?<br /><br /><br /></span>Building blocks for the new model of a post-consumer world, we could call it. <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><blockquote> <div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></div><br /></div></blockquote><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /></div>Taliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211162385011892935noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314637765537250302.post-61769429738261943542010-05-08T08:05:00.053-04:002010-05-11T10:15:17.723-04:00How do we measure gender equality?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmDXlTrWfcx4nS-Pu-P8dyx0zP83DUoMEqb1tnD0mRqW4me-7Bel1rQFTstj_JxRb0bFF9FGeKcMpaRYYVPCUs6xojyikIgB7Q4GjFZKvjQSTgZtYIn30_8gSO1Y8H8cZa_gRoOEz15xI/s1600/measureTape.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468869381122371186" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; WIDTH: 241px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 166px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmDXlTrWfcx4nS-Pu-P8dyx0zP83DUoMEqb1tnD0mRqW4me-7Bel1rQFTstj_JxRb0bFF9FGeKcMpaRYYVPCUs6xojyikIgB7Q4GjFZKvjQSTgZtYIn30_8gSO1Y8H8cZa_gRoOEz15xI/s320/measureTape.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><br />"We Measure what we Value."</span></span><br /></span><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="font-size:100%;">I really like this creed. It's being thrown around a lot lately, with the wave of soul-searching that has swept over us in the 'aftermath' of the financial crisis. It makes a lot of sense. After all, the indicators that we choose to measure progress ultimately describe how we define that progress. </span><span style="font-size:100%;">Very often I hear this creed being used to raise questions abou</span><span style="font-size:100%;">t the relevance of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) as a tool to measure a nation's progress. The Economist just recently closed a live online debate on this subject, which </span>I think squeezes the nuts and bolts of the wider discourse into one compact, accessible discussion. You can check it out here: <a href="http://www.economist.com/debate/days/view/504" target="_blank">http://www.economist.com/<wbr>debate/days/view/504.</a><br /></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><br />As a part of this same wave, I recently attended a workshop on <a href="http://www.wikigender.org/w/index.php/International_Workshop:_Gender_Equality_and_Progress_in_Societies">measuring the progress of societies and gender equality</a>, hosted by UNESCO and the OECD's Development Centre in Paris. The context? Gender equality and development. The aim? To consider the link between what we choose to measure, and how this can help us to create lasting change.<br /><br />Persistent injustice against women rears its head in a myriad of ways. I'm sure you all have examples. At the workshop, one woman talked about being empowered as an actor working for social change in the public sphere, yet subordinated behind the closed doors of her home, because her husband had been taught that her value as a woman didn't equal his as a man. Others expressed disappointment at an economy that valued their work so long as it generated an income, forgetting the hours they consecrated gratuitously for the benefit of their families and communities.<br /><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">We've lived through an era where economic solutions have been the social scientist's lab test of choice for solving complex social problems. Maybe the time is ripe to concede that the solution to gender inequality does not lie in simply legislating to give women greater access to land or building more schools to educate more girls. These structural inequalities are but symptoms of a more profound injustice. This is not to imply that material solutions are futile; rather that the prevalence of this injustice, in spite of longstanding attempts to eradicate it, suggests that we cannot remedy these inequalities without understanding the reasons they exist in the first place. The desire to set a process of genuine transformation in motion begs the question: what's going on beneath the surface? What should we be measuring when we talk about gender equality as an aspect of development?<br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV4UzEMgCqSaEfNLnMPJqpfXAvhQMg-7EfHPGayr2_XaS1Zw8WSUdRe9Bub2_hHQJtbsFjqwDg-wi6lyCl0eBIxwr4sVg-O703Q-8O2oN0AqM9MRYN2H6kR7CYDfcZU36ndkmbvwvVjI0/s1600/scalesmw.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468932127315321602" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 253px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 189px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV4UzEMgCqSaEfNLnMPJqpfXAvhQMg-7EfHPGayr2_XaS1Zw8WSUdRe9Bub2_hHQJtbsFjqwDg-wi6lyCl0eBIxwr4sVg-O703Q-8O2oN0AqM9MRYN2H6kR7CYDfcZU36ndkmbvwvVjI0/s320/scalesmw.jpg" border="0" /></a></span><br />One of the tools presented at the workshop was the <a href="http://genderindex.org/">Social Institutions and Gender Index</a> (SIGI). Rather than measure outcomes (e.g. how many girls go to school, how many women have a place in parliament, how many women receive health care...), the index measures the prevalence of <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">social institutions</span> that promote gender inequality. Social institutions are defined as <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">long lasting codes of conduct, norms, traditions and informal and formal laws, </span>and are considered the building blocks of human behaviour and social interaction. The SIGI indicators range from violence against women or inheritance rights to the practice of female genital mutilation or women's lack of access to land, and is being pitched as a new way of thinking about gender equality. And it's an interesting premise. Instead of asking, how many women are going to school, the SIGI asks: why aren't women going to school? Let's measure that, find out more about it. It's an inquiry that aims to drill deeper and this to me seems to be the SIGI's strength: it attempts to embed culture and the economy within society, and recognises the organic link between social conditions and development. No quick bandaid solution here. And it does feel like a genuine attempt to get to the heart of the barriers preventing true social and economic development by pushing us to think more profoundly about the root causes of injustice, and the beliefs, values and cultural norms that vindicate this injustice.<br /><br />Earlier on we discussed how the eradication of all injustices is an indispensable part of development - an enabling aspect even, for both social and economic progress. Yet perhaps this injustice permeates deeper than these social institutions - as deeply as the eyes and minds of the human beings who created them. For how can both men and women become truly empowered when the sources of disempowerment rest primarily in the relationships and expectations of their own families and communities - and within themselves?<br /><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPGJQKvnGc1GFwvEUvOYmSy7TqvUjPfdBguaZ-5d6Q0evEDh40GUH9KabRrRtXXFAhQK7srgfR0Ju1qWr9vrRGyQ4oA17VV1plQmBkEvHQUmucaRM7420rApQ8fFob-h_3UA48mQJbMAU/s1600/sowing-seeds.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468918438793324066" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; WIDTH: 280px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 184px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPGJQKvnGc1GFwvEUvOYmSy7TqvUjPfdBguaZ-5d6Q0evEDh40GUH9KabRrRtXXFAhQK7srgfR0Ju1qWr9vrRGyQ4oA17VV1plQmBkEvHQUmucaRM7420rApQ8fFob-h_3UA48mQJbMAU/s320/sowing-seeds.jpg" border="0" /></a></span>Once we start measuring in this way, it becomes clear that the solution to gender inequality must lie in raising consciousness of the nature and capacities inherent in every human soul and empowering each individual to set off on a path of learning to discover their social implications. Conceiving spiritual education as an integral complement of material education opens up the possibility of unleashing human potential to become active champions of justice. Such education could offer humanity a nobler vision of how the world should be, and thus empower it to take action to implement justice in the institutions and structures of the world.<br /></div><br /><br /></div></div>Taliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211162385011892935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314637765537250302.post-87516032487311884922010-05-08T00:21:00.000-04:002010-05-08T00:21:21.885-04:00LinksThe<a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/kiran_bir_sethi_teaches_kids_to_take_charge.html"> I Can Bug</a> can be viewed as a direct reaction to contemporary conceptions of work reduced to "gainful employment aimed at acquiring the means fort he consumption of available goods" (<a href="http://statements.bahai.org/95-0303.htm">Prosperity of Humankind</a>). This program enables junior youth to learn what it might mean to address work from the perspective of service to humanity. More importantly, it allows them to analyze the needs of their community in a humanitarian manner as opposed to market demands.<br />
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Money quote from<a href="http://www.newsweek.com/id/236298"> this article in Newsweek</a> a couple weeks ago: "Much as Washington is still captured by Wall Street, the economics profession remains captured by the false idea of rationality - the "religious belief" (as Stiglitz calls it) that science can fully explain human economic behavior."<br />
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A new document from the Baha'i International Community "<a href="http://www.bic.org/statements-and-reports/bic-statements/10-0503.htm">Rethinking Prosperity: Forging Alternatives to a Culture of Consumerism</a>"<br />
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<a href="http://steadystate.org/money-and-the-steady-state-economy/">Herman Daly explores steady state alternatives to monetary policy</a>. Good article if you're trying to learn a bit more about how the use of money has evolved... especially if you're interested in alternative methods.Vesallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138008896889279733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314637765537250302.post-86418609987818733162010-05-07T23:49:00.000-04:002010-05-07T23:49:37.491-04:00BACK! (Hopefully)We apologize for our hiatus the last month or so. There have been a few aberrations in our schedules, which have caused us to shift priorities on other projects in our lives, but it seems that we will be able to slowly balance these out and thus apply more effort towards the blog.<br />
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We are also hoping to experiment with a couple new features. One basic feature we'll be introducing is a link-sharing post which will introduce other writings/media that are relevant to the type of discourse we hope to engage in as we rethink the policy framework of economics and prosperity.<br />
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Second, we hope to introduce a more practical element to our posts. We would obviously not prefer for our musings to be devoid from action in fear of seeming hypocritical, so the collaborators of this blog will start writing "community profiles" of work that we engage in in our communities that might shed light on the more theoretical ideas we've been toying with. Hopefully, this will serve as somewhat of a diary/reflection space for the community building activities we're engaged in. We hope all of our readers will also contribute towards this learning via site comments!<br />
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We hope to hear from you soon! Thanks for your support!Vesallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138008896889279733noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314637765537250302.post-18206647427529130342010-03-22T22:15:00.000-04:002010-05-08T18:57:51.053-04:00Women's Empowerment Pt. II: On Microfinance<div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="MsoIntenseEmphasis"><span style="color: windowtext; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">In <a href="http://advancingeconomics.blogspot.com/2010/03/womens-economic-empowermenttowards-new.html">a previous post on women's empowerment</a>, we briefly discussed the role of framing economic development in the context of an ever-advancing civilization in which spiritual and moral empowerment go hand-in-hand. This concept may be difficult to conceptualize, so we think it might be beneficial to analyze a current trend with regards to microfinance institutions that have, in recent years, placed particular emphasis on women's empowerment. Though we do not claim to have experience dealing with this topic, recent reports and analyses of the declining effectiveness of these institutions have inspired this post.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="MsoIntenseEmphasis"><span style="color: windowtext; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">In what is considered the birthplace of microfinance, the story of this institution has taken <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703315004575073510472268430.html?KEYWORDS=grameen">a turn for the worse in India</a>. This turn has been documented through decreasing repayment rates (<a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2010/02/microfinance">the rate of delinquency has almost doubled in recent years</a>) as well as a seemingly rising trend that emphasizes the use of traditional moneylenders to pay back loans acquired through microfinance. The WSJ article quoted a borrower as saying:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span class="MsoIntenseEmphasis"><span style="color: windowtext; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">"Group pressure makes us go to moneylenders... We get small loans for 15 days to fill the gaps when we can't pay. If you lag behind, the rest of the group members can't get new loans."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="MsoIntenseEmphasis"><span style="color: windowtext; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">There is increasing interest by donors to fund microfinance efforts because of the expectation that providing access to finance will lead to empowerment; however, it is not clear whether these initiatives are <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ultimately beneficial. Part of the reason may be a result of the divergent interests of lenders from <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703315004575073510472268430.html?KEYWORDS=grameen">promoting social goals</a>:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span class="MsoIntenseEmphasis"><span style="color: windowtext; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">"On the one hand, private capital helps finance the growth of the sector and expand its reach. 'At the same time, if the mission of microfinance institutions is only to maximize profit, then the social goal of helping people out of poverty is not reached,' …'The problem is that a lot of the new private investors in the sector see it mainly as a way of making a lot of money.'"<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="MsoIntenseEmphasis"><span style="color: windowtext; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Our point in sharing these trends is not so much to criticize the efforts of the microfinance programs described in these articles. Indeed, principles such as the equality between women and men that <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>have been infused into such programs address truly profound social ills and have tremendously boosted the status of women in the regions in which they <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>have been implemented. After all, in many instances the concept of income generation was foreign to women, and since earning an income, these women have placed more financial emphasis on the education of future generations than was the case before.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="MsoIntenseEmphasis"><span style="color: windowtext; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Rather, our point is to share that without other moral and spiritual principles that cement processes of </span></span><span class="MsoIntenseEmphasis"><span style="color: windowtext; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">development in an ever-evolving framework, noble efforts can be undermined by other, less constructive forces. Having a strong moral and spiritual base can keep such initiatives focused and purposeful. Consider the case of <a href="http://www.onecountry.org/e124/e12411as_ECTA_sidebar.htm">ECTA</a> (which means "unity" in Nepali) in which participants are encouraged to build-capacity to analyze the needs of society and apply spiritual principles towards the advancement of their communities. Certainly, the experience here is also a fledgling effort at its early stages. However, the communities’ <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>objective seems to go beyond income generation and skill-building, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and their approach attempts to address <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>causes of social ills at a much deeper level.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="MsoIntenseEmphasis"><span style="color: windowtext; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">This same process may be taking place among other microfinance programs that seek to elevate the station of women, though are not given much attention. Perhaps the financial component of these activities is magnified in Western media, partly to demonstrate results that are more easily measured and more rapidly achieved. Perhaps the other components of community-building, which are more difficult to measure and tend to bear fruits more gradually, are left hidden to our eyes. If this is the case, then we should perhaps learn how to shift the way we measure and discuss micro-finance programs so that they fit into the context of an ever-advancing civilization. If this is not the case, then perhaps it would be helpful to step back and analyze our experiences in this field in a more holistic manner that would address principles that need to be included in order to truly propel our communities forward.<span class="msoIns"><ins cite="mailto:talia%20melic" datetime="2010-03-22T10:58"> </ins></span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>Vesallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138008896889279733noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314637765537250302.post-7964598652799051082010-03-02T13:39:00.002-05:002010-03-02T18:38:49.062-05:00At the Heart of Social and Economic Development<p>Recently I attended the Baha’i Social and Economic Development Conference in Orlando, Florida. The theme was <a href="http://www.rabbanitrust.org/bahai_sed_conference.htm" target="_blank">“Baha’i Inspired Development and the Growth Process: Partners in Transforming Society”</a>. A co-worker and I had the honor of presenting the work of the <a href="http://tahirih.org/" target="_blank">Tahirih Justice Center</a> and share the history and learnings of the organization to two very captive audiences. The conference itself offered an opportunity to learn from many others — young and old — involved with development/service work in their communities.</p> <p>Among the questions explored in the conference was the meaning and source of “development”. Of course the term “development” is not new to anyone. Nations have been striving towards “development” for centuries. And who can deny that humanity has made astounding advances in scientific and social development in the last two centuries alone? Notwithstanding these benchmarks of progress, another fact rears its unpleasantness: a <i>majority</i> of the people inhabiting the planet have been left far, far behind. Ironically the gap between poor and rich is widening even as “development” has morphed into a global enterprise that seductively (and rather self-righteously) markets itself as targeting “the poorest of the poor”.</p> <p>“Born in the wake of the chaos of the Second World War, ‘development’ became by far the largest and most ambitious collective undertaking on which the human race has ever embarked. Its humanitarian motivation matched its enormous material and technological investment. Fifty years later, while acknowledging the impressive benefits development has brought, the enterprise must be adjudged, by its own standards, a disheartening failure. Far from narrowing the gap between the well-being of the small segment of the human family who enjoy the benefits of modernity and the condition of the vast populations mired in hopeless want, the collective effort that began with such high hopes has seen the gap widen into an abyss.” (<a href="http://www.onecommonfaith.net/" target="_blank">One Common Faith</a>, 2.4)</p> <p>Why has “development” failed? The question is intimately linked to another — what is the nature of true human/societal development? Is it purely material? The experiment of the last century was an exercise in applying the notion of development defined in purely material terms. Its dogma caused us to believe that human progress rested on material accumulation alone. We therefore pursued development projects that narrowly sought the economic exploitation of the environment, promoted the violent cultural intrusion of societies, and tolerated the kind of painful structural adjustment programs which the IMF and the World Bank implemented in developing countries at the expense of health, education, local infrastructure and the overall welfare of local peoples. Unembarrassed by both the immediate and devastatingly long-term tangible human suffering caused by the injustices of these policies, our world seemingly continues to blindly follow a credo fed by an insatiable, brutish appetite for material wealth.</p> <p>The problem is not material wealth <i>per se</i> — rather it is the <i>motivating impulse</i> that drives the <i>processes</i> involved in the aim to improve the conditions of life. Consumer culture has operated under the conviction that those with means must become slaves to their senses and continuously satisfy their material wants and desires. With spending perceived as the pulse of healthy social and economic development “[s]elfishness becomes a prized commercial resource…Under appropriate euphemisms, greed, lust, indolence, pride—even violence—acquire not merely broad acceptance but social and economic value.” (<a href="http://www.onecommonfaith.net/" target="_blank">One Common Faith</a>, 2.3)</p> <p>Part of the problem lies in a deep rooted perception of human nature as incorrigibly selfish. People, we are told, are fundamentally self-interested actors. By design the social and economic structures we have built under the various development regimes are meant to harness those impulses to fuel human progress on the path to “modernization”. Or so we’d like to believe — reality tells a different story, one that is hard to ignore: the disintegration of the family, mounting violence and crime, disappearance of community life, the degradation of the environment etc.</p> <p>What if we painted a different picture of development? What would it look like? What if development was more than just a measure of income and material wealth? What if development also can start with interpersonal relationships, between two neighbors? What if we viewed true development as unlocking the potential of the individual and building their own capacity to identify problems and take social action within their own community? Does development really begin with material resources and capital? Or does it begin with collaboration and commitment to a broader vision born of a community of people who aspire for something better for themselves and future generations?</p> <p>Slowly, we are learning that at the heart of how we understand development is a fundamentally different way of looking at human nature — each of us are intelligent beings with the capacity to overcome our baser qualities, with the capacity to do good, to serve, to give sacrificially for the benefit of the whole…the choice has always been ours. We have the agency, what has been missing for far too long is the will.</p> <p>If we viewed human beings as having capacity to improve their own conditions would necessarily change the way the world “does development”. And here’s how: Currently, most development projects and programs are, by design, top-down in approach. It somehow presumes that pouring resources into a country will naturally lead to development—the project has only to be engineered and orchestrated in right way by the learned “experts”. It presumes that any failure to reach the intended results is due to missteps in the process of execution. If we are to throw out the underlying framework of the development model that is currently imposed on the peoples of the world, something else will have to take its place.</p> <p>In order to move away from a model that too often regards the “poor” as “charity” or as “untapped human resources” that simply need training by the “experts” to be productive members of society, we need to embrace the idea that every individual is the agent or protagonist of their own learning and development, as human beings with <i>capacity </i>and the ability to build upon it. This idea firmly affirms that whole communities of people can develop the capacity to identify their needs and work together to address the challenges of their community, thereby becoming truly empowered, as they have taken ownership of their learning and growth in a manner most suitable to their environment and current development. We would perhaps start to look at “poverty” as not lack of material wealth, but as a life wasted due to lack of opportunities to achieve their highest potential to contribute to the welfare of the wider community.</p> <p>So that leaves each of us — protagonists of change, agents of social transformation — at the heart of the matter.</p> <p>Social and Economic Development can begin, and in reality, does begin with each of us. We all have the capacity to contribute to the betterment of our neighborhoods, the quality of our relationships with young people, the ability to serve each other. Through these grassroots initiatives, be they formal or informal, taking part in service or “social action” and working diligently towards these ends will release the potentialities of the human spirit in ways we have yet to fully realize.</p>Anahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07388108777125559252noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314637765537250302.post-56702027160194916932010-03-01T11:13:00.006-05:002010-05-08T18:57:59.262-04:00Women’s Economic Empowerment : Towards a New DefinitionWe often hear the term women’s economic empowerment in relation to – and sometimes interchangeably with – gender equality and women’s rights. It seems therefore useful to discuss the goal of women’s economic empowerment and how this links to women’s access to meaningful work. Furthermore, how does this concept fit into a larger scheme of achieving gender equality and advancing the development of all of society?<br /><br />If we define development in strictly material terms, then progress is the result of income generation and economic growth working as key instruments to lift the less developed world out of poverty and into a state of prosperity. International policy born of such definitions brings women’s rights into the equation in the name of ‘empowerment’. Slogans such as <em>Gender Equality as Smart Economics</em> frames women’s ‘empowerment’ as a tool to advance this economic growth. And such campaigns do enjoy success at the level of rallying Government and private enterprise support for a ‘gender equality’ dimension to their development efforts. But does this definition of ‘empowerment’ have wider implications on women’s sense of identity, on their concept of ‘work’, and on an overarching definition of ‘progress’? Does it neglect and even reinforce the underlying injustice that we seek to eradicate? Our discussion on 'empowerment' and how it links to gender equality, then, must be embedded in an alternative vision of progress, one that values the role of justice and principles in combating oppression.<br /><br />An example may help us to consider this. Many development strategies promote women’s ‘empowerment’ by gearing women who live in poverty towards entrepreneurship from a young age. Resources are being directed towards a school curriculum that offers financial education on how to invest, how to save and how to access markets, as a means to equip girls with the skills necessary to manage their own businesses. Such skills are valuable in advancing the role that women can play to contribute to the material prosperity of their families and communities. But what about the qualities such as trustworthiness, cooperation and a spirit of service that go along with good financial management? Alone, are these skills enough to empower women to become actors in a process that generates sustainable change that can be integrated into a more holistic conception of prosperity? What kind of models of ‘empowerment’ can reinforce the community and local economy while addressing deeper problems of injustice and social inequality, to avoid having women become merely tools to propel economic growth?<br /><br />Any efforts for women’s empowerment and gender equality lack purpose if we don’t see them as vital ingredients in a larger, overarching agenda to advance humanity towards an age of maturity where justice reigns and both men and women are united in their efforts towards spiritual and material progress. How to get there? Certainly it implies going beyond a good combination of policies and incentives; beyond giving women the means to earn their own living; beyond the right publicity campaign. Gender equality is so much more than any of these things – it is a fundamental truth about reality. And while we agree that economic empowerment is an essential element in giving women equal access to meaningful work, the change that is first needed must take place within peoples’ minds and hearts. A change that inspires a genuine belief that like the two wings of a bird, men and women must be equal and work side by side to empower humanity to glide perpetually forward, together, as an ever-advancing civilization.<br /><br /><span style="color:#666666;"><strong>Women's empowerment in the context of an ever-advancing civilization</strong><br /></span><br />We would propose that economic empowerment should not be divorced from moral empowerment, in the same way that in the larger development picture, spiritual and material prosperity go hand in hand. In the critical adolescent years of these girls’ lives, as their identities are being formed, can we neglect a need for parallel efforts that seek to provide the strong moral foundations necessary for their progress? Or a need to ‘empower’ them to develop their talents to realize their potential to contribute to the spiritual and the material well-being of their community through meaningful work and service? That means endowing the work we are training them to undertake with a purpose that supersedes its material utility and thus providing a different definition of ‘progress’. It means a more holistic approach to education that frames productive labour as a meaningful contribution to both their own lives and the lives of the people around them.<br /><br />What happens when we integrate girls into a system built on the principles of self-interest and competition from such a young age without also providing the moral compass to guide them? The response to that question could fill volumes; it is interesting to note however how severely these principles contrast those that characterize the work that women have been historically engaged in. That is, building homes conducive to the material and spiritual welfare of children. This work is traditionally nourished with the qualities of love, service, generosity, cooperation and detachment. Is there no place for these qualities in the current model of the working world? Perhaps our current economic vocabulary does not possess the language to measure their utility.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/19/us/19census.html">Recent studies </a>indicate that qualities are not the only thing being lost: as more women move forward with their careers, less are choosing to become mothers. In achieving economic empowerment, the value of family is being compromised. The role of the mother as the first educator of children is being subordinated to economic gain. Men too have an important role to play here. For us to consider building a just and equitable civilization, the role and relationships between both men and women need to be defined not around economic gain but around building just and equitable social structures of which the family unit is at the core.<br /><br />So we start with a different premise: That ‘empowerment’ means launching women and men into a two-fold process of transformation: transformation of themselves through transformation of the world around them. So that every human being – male or female – should have access to meaningful work through which they can develop individually and contribute to the spiritual and material prosperity of society. And we cannot construct such a framework without first laying the spiritual and moral foundations that provide the conditions necessary for true development progress; for true empowerment. As discussed, this should go beyond banking know-how and involve a deeper exploration into the values and principles upon which an entire community is built. Just what kind of values could lay the foundations for a universally encompassing approach conducive to the expression of the individual soul’s desire for progress, and the advancement of humanity? Where could we turn to define these values?Taliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211162385011892935noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314637765537250302.post-12360480575332138702010-02-06T22:20:00.000-05:002010-02-06T22:26:21.648-05:00The Value of Trust: Should we be reactive or proactive?<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;"><p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">One recurring sentiment among <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/business/global/31davos.html?scp=2&sq=davos&st=cse">business and government leaders in Davos, Switzerland</a> this past weekend involved the need to build mutual trust among business entities and nations: </span> </p><p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">“Between Chinese people and American and Western people, we lack mutual understanding,” said Cheng Siwei, a former Chinese politician and a co-chairman of the International Finance Forum, a Beijing-based think tank. The only way to “keep this relationship stable,” he said, is “to build mutual trust.” </span><br /></p><p></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">Participants proposed that this lack of trust could be addressed via regulations towards the financial sector, which is seen as the main cause of the disintegration of trust. However, this too is not an ideal way to establish trust. Perhaps the billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros summed up the ambivalence most succinctly:</span><br /></p><p> <span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"> </span></p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><blockquote></blockquote><blockquote></blockquote><blockquote>You want to keep regulation to a minimum, because it is worse than markets. But you can’t do without it.</blockquote></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">Our previous blog post mentioned the value of hyper-public goods such as love, trust, etc. and their role in strengthening economic systems. Our inclination to emphasize the importance of trust seems to be confirmed by the concerns expressed by the leaders at Davos. We often hear this same concern voiced at the international level with the term ‘accountability’. For example: how do we make one government accountable to another, or to its citizens? Or in other words, how do we know we can trust them to fulfill their promises? A host of ‘solutions’ are provided, from providing the right incentives, to creating watchdogs, from protests and strikes to tying a future relationship to conditions.</span><br /></p><p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">What is lacking in this approach is a distinct difference between reactive suggestions for trust-building ( represented in Davos by regulation-driven suggestions), and proactive ones. Our sense is that everybody wants trust, but there is no agreeable manner in which to build it. What further exacerbates the problem is that most business leaders function within a system of intense competition, and most Governments prioritize the defence of their national interests. By definition, ‘competition’ has forces inherent in its structure that strive to tear at any trust that has been or can potentially be built among collaborators. </span><br /></p><p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">Our next challenge: find communities whose guiding principles emphasize the creation of virtue-based hyper-public goods and elaborate on how they change the economic climate.</span></p></span>Vesallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138008896889279733noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314637765537250302.post-58643098300078478822010-02-06T19:44:00.001-05:002010-05-08T18:58:43.753-04:00What about the Community?<span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Economic Assumptions and the Role of Hyper Public Good</span><span style="font-size:100%;">s</span></span></span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">In a world that presupposes that individuals are like atoms, orbiting within their own sphere of self, the community is, arguably, irrelevant to economics. In this conception of the world (commonplace, though far from ideal), economics would merely become an exercise in maximizing profit and individual gain at the expense of…everything else (think Darwin’s survival of the fittest.) Such is the show playing out before us on the world stage today, as we watch the gap between the rich and poor forever widen, the environment increasingly degrade, and an excess materialism continue to cast its dark cloud over moral and spiritual values.<br /><br />And yet, in these times of financial uncertainty and moral questioning, more and more people are standing up and shouting out in defense of a more meaningful rewrite of reality. A world in which the individual is part of an organic, interconnected whole. A world where economic systems cannot be divorced from the lives of the real people using them.<br /><br />One of these people is Professor Stephen A. Marglin. His current research, including that published in his book T<span style="font-style: italic;">he Dismal Science: How Thinking Like an Economist Undermines Community</span>, brings the notion of the community back into the spotlight as fundamental to understanding how economic systems ought to function. He questions the foundations of mainstream economic thought and asserts that they distort our understanding of humanity’s true nature and the purpose of human relationships in a way that renders the ‘community’ irrelevant:<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></span><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Economics substitutes a mantra of market freedom based on assumptions of dubious merit, whether considered as facts about people or ethical norms.In adopting a particularly extreme form of individualism, in abstracting knowledge from context, in limiting the community to the nation and in positing boundless consumption as the goal of life, economics offers us no way of thinking about human relationships that are the heart and soul of community other than as instrumental to the individual pursuit of happiness.</span><br /><br /></span></blockquote></div>So perhaps before we think about human relationships, we ought to rethink: who are the ‘individuals’ forming them, if not isolated ‘atoms’? One could compare individuals to the cells of the human body, which are interconnected yet diverse in their functions. The cells within a human body both depend on and fortify one another. They must work together accordingly to form more complex vital organs. Much like humanity itself, the body relies on this diversity to meet its various needs, as well as a certain harmony and coordination. The interconnectedness of the system is even more apparent when something is amiss. If one part of the body is suffering, the rest of the body must work harder, and may also suffer as a result.<br /><br />So we could evince this from current global trends in climate change, the world economy, natural disasters and health pandemics. But on a more profound level, this analogy of the human body implies a deeper thread between individuals, who share more than just a planet, but also a common purpose and responsibility to fulfill the destiny that a shared Creator has set for humanity. A somewhat daunting task. But then, if we think about the human body, it is not just the sum of individual cells that makes it work, but rather the unity among them.<br /><br />If the above-mentioned assumptions beneath mainstream economics render it incompatible with a more profound exposition of human nature and human relationships, the relevance of economics to an investigation of reality disappears. Marglin argues precisely that, pointing out that mainstream economics is getting the focus wrong. Particularly, he addresses the use of market models in economics, which economists oftentimes use as a tool to propagate assumptions associated with self-interested individuals devoid of community. He doesn’t purport that markets are inherently bad, but claims that mainstream economists use market-modeling as an end in itself. Furthermore, he claims that economists are driven to persuade the world that market-based models thoroughly describe reality as it is and create models to justify their inherent value rather than trying to understand how markets work and the insights they provide into reality:<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" ><blockquote></blockquote></span><blockquote><span style="font-size:100%;">The problem with the idea that economics is purely, or even primarily, a descriptive undertaking is that the apparatus of economics has been shaped by an agenda focused on showing that markets are good for people rather than on discovering how markets actually work.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" > </span></blockquote>Rather than helping the world to function and advance, the economy is simply reinforcing a definition of the self-interested individual that contributes to the break-down of human relationships and consequently the increase of injustice – both economic and social – in the world.<br /><br />A shift in focus, towards understanding how markets work, may just reveal profound insights about the dynamics of community life and the human relationships that define it. And it may very well change our assumptions about how the economic system ought to function in the world.<br /><br />Marglin suggests that one of the ingredients of an ideal community would be love. Faithful to an integrated, holistic vision of the economy, he calls love a “hyper public good” that “increases by being used and indeed may shrink to nothing if left unused for any length of time.” He then goes on: “The sensible thing to do is to create institutions to draw out and develop the stock of love.”<br /><br />A great start – though one can’t help but feel it’s just the tip of the iceberg. What is this love that bonds individuals of a community together and how is it linked to a greater shared destiny for humanity? What implications would this have on forming a new paradigm for economic thought?<br /><br />If we really are intent on keeping the economic system integrated in the world, we could ask: once all the cells of the body are functioning healthily, what does the human body do? The body’s functioning is not an end in itself but rather a means for that individual to engage with the world, to participate in a two-fold process of individual and societal transformation. What would the purpose of this new community be? How would a new economic system work naturally to help advance this purpose?<br /><br />We would argue that a ‘healthy body’ version of the community is still in the making, though there are certainly many models in existence today that would be worth studying. That being said, an interesting next step could be to closely study communities that are built on values such as love, and to identify other ‘hyper public goods’, such as trust, unity, or a desire for justice. As these individuals are empowered to promote the interests and well-being of all, connected by bonds of love, fortified by a collective undertaking to work together for the well-being and advancement of humanity, we could perhaps start to set the new foundations to a just, fruitful economic system. That could be a start.</div>Taliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211162385011892935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314637765537250302.post-46312743608435296242009-12-10T10:29:00.000-05:002009-12-15T09:48:42.624-05:00Ariely: Religion as a Source for Research Ideas<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:Calibri;">Behavioral Economist Dan Ariely posted some thought-provoking insights on his personal blog recently, raising questions about the potential role of religious teachings in providing insights into human nature that could be used to motivate scientific research:</span></span></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0.5in; "><b><span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:Calibri;">Given religion’s role in society and the way it evolves over time, I think we could benefit from using its wisdom to direct social science research. The key is to zero in on a religious tenet and ask why it’s there and what is suggests about human behaviour, and then to empirically test the hypothesis with the hopes of deriving science from religious texts.</span></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:Calibri;">Science, especially the social sciences, is not immune from the subjective lenses through which we view reality. All scientific inquiry requires some sort of faith in the basic assumptions that form the foundation beneath the work of a scientist. In the social sciences, these assumptions are more pronounced, given the confusion and divergence of opinion among scientists regarding the nature of human behaviour.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:Calibri;">It appears that much of Ariely’s work has led him to this realization (or vice versa). In one of the chapters of his book, <i>Predictably Irrational</i>, Ariely discusses the power of expectation in shaping our perception of reality. In one of his experiments, he provides free coffee at a University, and then asks students to state how much they would pay for the coffee if it were sold at the café around the corner. On some days, he would serve the coffee in simple Styrofoam cups next to odd containers of sugar, cream, and coffee spices. On other days, he would provide the exact same ingredients, only the serving items provided<span> </span>were more classy-looking. He found that students were prepared to pay more for the coffee with the classy set-up, suggesting that their preconceived opinion of the coffee’s value ultimately affected their judgment of how good it tasted, or of its actual value. On a broader scale, this could illustrate how human perception of reality is never neutral, but always biased by one’s preconceived assumptions and values.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:Calibri;">Let us now turn to Ariely’s thoughts on the potential of using religious teachings to enlarge the scope of scientific research. In a sense, he’s suggesting that scientists’ ‘expectations’ be informed by religious teachings. Let’s use economics as an example. We could take religion’s golden rule, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” and accept this principle about social behaviour as one conducive to individual and shared prosperity. How would this ‘expectation’ then guide an economist’s research into human behaviour? Surely he would set out to prove different theories and shed light on new areas of research previously hindered by assumptions about the individual (i.e. that an individual is motivated by self-interest). Such work could shake the entire foundation of the science of economics. What would be the consequences on economic theory as we know it?</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:Calibri;">Certainly, economic theory would be obliged to tackle new and perhaps more complex questions. Assumptions about human nature promote and institutionalize a certain vision of progress based on the perceived potential of human beings. Once these fundamental assumptions change, a scientist’s theories and expectations would naturally evolve. Thus, the objectives they set and, by default, the indicators they choose, must be raised to heights commensurate to this new vision of human potential and human purpose. Questions asked may not simply be, how do we progress human society, but rather, how do we tap into human potential? What is the role of religious teachings here?</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:Calibri;">Ariely’s research also shows that whether religious or atheist, there seemed to be a universal attraction within an individual to act in a ‘moral’ way once presented with a ‘moral reminder’. <span> </span>But there is a point Ariely doesn’t consider in much depth: what is the force that motivates an individual to follow the laws or tenets provided by religion or social norms? What are the forces that can shape – even transform – human behaviour? What motivates man to reach to higher, nobler aspirations? These are evidently the big questions perplexing social scientists today, and we should consider how religion can provide insight here, too.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:Calibri;">Some further considerations:</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0.5in; "><span style="font-family: Wingdings; "><span><span style="font-size:100%;">v</span><span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman'; "> </span></span></span><span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:Calibri;">Ariely defines religion as ‘a social mechanism that has evolved over time’. How would this definition change our understanding of religion’s role in motivating scientific research when compared with a definition of religion as a set of divinely-inspired teachings that responds to the spiritual and material needs of humanity?</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0.5in; "><span style="font-family: Wingdings; "><span><span style="font-size:100%;">v</span><span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman'; "> </span></span></span><span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:Calibri;">Could this extend beyond the social sciences to other areas in science? Are there limits to the relevance of religious teachings to science?</span></span></span></p></span></span>Vesallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138008896889279733noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314637765537250302.post-68325517232302589252009-11-11T12:23:00.000-05:002009-11-11T20:51:22.548-05:00Economic Indicators of Recovery and the Reality on the Ground<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Joseph Stiglitz provided the following quote in a </span><a href="http://www.geotimes.ge/index.php?m=home&newsid=19025#"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">recent interview</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">:</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;"></span></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">"Very clearly things are better than they were a year ago. We have pulled back from the precipice. But in a meaningful sense the global slowdown is in sight. Economists refer to crisis in terms of a series of quarters of negative growth. </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">But for most citizens the recession means [whether] they can get a job. For homeowners it means whether there is equity in their home</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, whether its prices go down 10-20-30-40 percent, for business it is whether they can sell the goods that they have the capacity to produce. In these perspectives the recession is not over, and in many respects, particularly in employment, it might get worse. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br />For the US the official unemployment rate is 9.8 percent, </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">but the broader unemployment rate shows that one out of 6 Americans cannot get a full-time job. The broader rate calculation includes discouraged workers, workers who have stopped looking for a job but are not employed and those who accept a part-time job because there is not a full-time job available.</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> There are hundreds of people who have applied for disability pay who would be working if they could get a job. It’s true that the labour market situation in America is worse than at the outset and from this point of view the recession is going on. "<br /></span></span></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Stiglitz highlights a key point related to the inconsistency between reports of economic recovery and the reality experienced by citizens in our community. I've been increasingly reflecting on the idea that even when people are employed, seldom are they able to be as productive in their employed position as their inherent training/capacity allows them to be.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">For example, a friend of mine was recently evicted from his home because he hasn't been able to pay rent for a number of consecutive months. He was working a security job at a construction site for a while, but as construction slowed down, there was no reason for his employers to keep him around. This same friend was providing wonderful services to his neighbors and other community members whenever he could. He would mentor kids that lived on his street, show them how to cook, cook food for his roommates, etc. Every day, he would go out to look for a job - any job - and would often find himself doing some sort of landscaping work just to have enough to get by at the end of the day.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I kept thinking to myself, this man is highly capable of being productive either as a chef, landscaper, construction worker, daycare worker, etc. His only shortcoming, if it can be called that, was that he was unable to figure out how to be productive within the context of the market dynamics in Durham and did not have the start-up capital to pursue an entrepreneurial career. There are no structures in place that would allow him the necessary insurance/security blanket to pursue an entrepreneurial passion, which would allow him to be far more productive than he would be with any job.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">This scenario plays itself out in less dramatic fashion for far too many individuals in society. I feel that much of this stems from the inclination for many people to think of labor as a commodity rather than a necessary component of human civilization. What I mean by this is that our indicators for success (GDP, financial indices, etc.), as mentioned by Stiglitz, do not direct us to make policy decisions in a manner that recognizes the dignity of the human station and acknowledges the unique talents and capacities that individuals possess. There are a couple related questions I will think about as I continue my daily reflections:</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">How would economic policy be shaped if ability to work was a right that we would incorporate into social reality?</span></span></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">What sorts of indicators (other than poverty levels and unemployment) can we use to demonstrate economic success? How would micro-indicators differ from macro-indicators? How would they be able to indicate worker satisfaction vs. worker discouragement? Would this be akin to saying that the worker feels as though he/she finds purpose and stability in work?</span></span></span></li></ul></div>Vesallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138008896889279733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314637765537250302.post-76968854160219327782009-11-10T23:07:00.000-05:002009-11-10T23:38:30.814-05:00Welcome<p class="MsoNormal">Dear friends, </p><p class="MsoNormal">Welcome to this site! Let's jump right into the purpose of the blog...</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Conceptual framework for the blog<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>The motivation behind this blog finds its basis in its attempt to investigate the implications of emerging understandings of a need to redefine human nature/relationships/decisions in the context of economic exchange. It is increasingly obvious that current economic models have not been able to address the inordinate disparity between rich and poor, let alone the frustration of many who are forced into work that does not correspond to the higher calling of human beings. In an attempt to redefine common assumptions of economic agents, this blog will draw from assumptions inspired by the Bahá’í writings, which state that individuals should “at all times concern themselves with doing a kindly thing for one of their fellows, offering to someone love, consideration, thoughtful help. Let them see no one as their enemy, or as wishing them ill, but think of all humankind as their friends; regarding the alien as an intimate, the stranger as a companion, staying free of prejudice, drawing no lines.”<a style="mso-footnote-id:ftn1" href="file:///C:/Users/VeSally/Documents/Downloads/Conceptual_framework_for_the_blog_published.doc#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[1]</span></span></span></span></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">This conception of the individual has implications on community and institutional interactions which are at the core of a budding synergy between material and Divine civilization. The combination of these two civilizing forces results in the desired outcome of “the felicity of mankind,” the overarching question of the discourse in economics. To this extent, Abdu’l-Bahá, a central figure of the Bahá’í Faith exclaims “Manifest true economics to the people. Show what love is, what kindness is, what true severance is and generosity.”<a style="mso-footnote-id:ftn2" href="file:///C:/Users/VeSally/Documents/Downloads/Conceptual_framework_for_the_blog_published.doc#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[2]</span></span></span></span></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">So… what does this all mean? The implications of these ideas on common economic concepts such as competition (“let them see no one as their enemy”), the nature of markets (“concern themselves with doing a kindly thing for one of their fellows”) and human choices/decision making is obvious. The resulting challenge, however, is to look for examples of the “combined application of spiritual, moral and practical approaches… entailing consultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of economic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly affected in the decisions that must urgently be made.”<a style="mso-footnote-id:ftn3" href="file:///C:/Users/VeSally/Documents/Downloads/Conceptual_framework_for_the_blog_published.doc#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[3]</span></span></span></span></a> This blog is an initial attempt to bring together spiritual, moral and practical approaches towards economic development that have been adopted in various communities, professions, circles of thought, etc. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Methodology<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">It is not assumed that this is a simple task, or even a task which has a specific direction or distinct vision that is guiding it. This begs the question… how will the blog entries be guided/directed?</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Blog entries will be multi-faceted. Many entries will consist of the thoughts of the writers (in light of the blog’s conceptual framework, which itself will be fluid and constantly updated) as responses to literature, experience, and other elements related to this discourse. From time to time, the more relevant of these thoughts will be converged into a “So What?” piece, which will seek to create a more coherent vision of how these thoughts contribute towards economic reality in light of the conceptual framework.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">The quality of the blog will depend heavily on the quality and thoughtfulness of the comments provided by its readers and collaborators. In this light, the methodology of the blog will attempt to borrow from the principles of consultation.<a style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4" href="file:///C:/Users/VeSally/Documents/Downloads/Conceptual_framework_for_the_blog_published.doc#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[4]</span></span></span></span></a> Meaningful insights will be incorporated into the “So What?” entries in an effort to elevate our understanding on this topic. People of all backgrounds are encouraged to contribute. The more diverse, the better.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><o:p> </o:p></p> <div style="mso-element:footnote-list"><br /> <hr align="left" size="1" width="33%"> <div style="mso-element:footnote" id="ftn1"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a style="mso-footnote-id:ftn1" href="file:///C:/Users/VeSally/Documents/Downloads/Conceptual_framework_for_the_blog_published.doc#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[1]</span></span></span></span></a> Abdu’l-Bahá, Tablet to the Central Organization for a Durable Peace, The Hague</p> </div> <div style="mso-element:footnote" id="ftn2"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a style="mso-footnote-id:ftn2" href="file:///C:/Users/VeSally/Documents/Downloads/Conceptual_framework_for_the_blog_published.doc#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[2]</span></span></span></span></a> Abdu’l-Bahá, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">The Promulgation of Universal Peace</i>, pg. 239</p> </div> <div style="mso-element:footnote" id="ftn3"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a style="mso-footnote-id:ftn3" href="file:///C:/Users/VeSally/Documents/Downloads/Conceptual_framework_for_the_blog_published.doc#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[3]</span></span></span></span></a> Universal House of Justice,<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>October 1985, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">To the Peoples of the World</i></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:footnote" id="ftn4"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a style="mso-footnote-id:ftn4" href="file:///C:/Users/VeSally/Documents/Downloads/Conceptual_framework_for_the_blog_published.doc#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[4]</span></span></span></span></a> Bahá’u’lláh: “The maturity of the gift of understanding is made manifest through consultation.”</p> </div></div>Vesallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138008896889279733noreply@blogger.com1