'The world is more diverse and interwoven than ever before - economically, culturally, ethnically, generationally. This is largely the result of the postwar explosion in cross-border flows of:'
ME
|
INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES
HUMANISTIC -------------------------------------- MECHANISTIC
SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL
|
*Here I am treating information as analog - attached to meaning and sense-making, human reasoning - thought; information is of course also digital and an economy in itself.
'There is no ecosystem on the planet that is not enriched by increased diversity. The complexity of rainforests and oceans explains their abundance. In social systems, the cross-pollination of ideas, cultures and practices in diverse communities has been a driver of innovation and dynamism for millennia.
Yet this is a double-edged sword. A rainforest or an ocean are vulnerable to antagonistic arrivals such as humans seeking timber or fish. If cultures clash rather than cohere, diverse communities exhibit similar fragility.
Every complex system faces this balancing act, but it can be improved by strengthening ties and trust - what Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam calls social capital. The depletion of social capital over the past half-century, documented by Putnam, has tilted the scales decisively towards fragility. Today's open, connected economies are nested in brittle, disconnected societies. Neither can flourish like this.
One policy response is to reverse economic course, tightening restrictions on cross-border flows of people, goods, technologies and information. While economists (like me) tell us that doing so would diminish economic dynamism, given these policies address the insecurities felt by many at source, it is no surprise they are gaining support - especially on immigration and trade.'
ME
|
INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES
HUMANISTIC -------------------------------------- MECHANISTIC
SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL
|
Group
My - sense of security My - trust
(AFTER) - FORETHOUGHT
|
... Rainforest : Ocean
Wetlands : Kelp forests ...^
Maps of Social Capital1
Spatial planning
|
Social capital
Social mobility Sociable housing2 Social cohesion
Social - |
Policy
Curricula Governance, Citizen Trust Nat. Strategy for social connection3
Capitalism |
'An Office of the President or Prime Minister, charged with lacing social cohesion through policy, should be hard-wired into the machinery of governments.'
(Here, here!).
1. Raj Chetty - Social Capital Atlas: https://www.socialcapital.org/
2. Richard Sennett
3. Chris Murphy
^Sometimes perhaps the map is the
territory? Discuss.
With thanks to:
Andy Haldane, How to get from the me to the we society. Opinion: FT Weekend, 14/15 December 2024, p.12.
Upswing image:
https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Robert-D.-Putnam-and-Shaylyn-Romney-Garrett-Upswing-9781800750371
orcid.org/0000-0002-0192-8965
