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The multiple directions of social progress: ways forward
chapter
posted on 2023-06-09, 14:40 authored by Erik Olin Wright, Nancy Folbre, Jenny Andersson, Jeff Hearn, Susan Himmelweit, Andrew StirlingAndrew StirlingThis chapter engages with three important themes of the larger report: the meaning of progress, its uneven nature, and obstacles to future progress. It also considers a number of political and economic alternatives aimed to overcome these obstacles, emphasizing the need for diverse strategies, open-minded experimentation, and scientific assessment. While it may be impossible to ever reach agreement, the effort to calibrate different interpretations of progress remains an important exercise for political deliberation about how to make the world a better place. The very hope of moving forward implies some agreement on a destination. All of us must take responsibility for the future. Our discussion emphasizes the complexity and multidimensionality of the interpretive debate, but also calls attention to its ideological character. Social actors-individuals, groups, and even academic disciplines-tend to define progress in ways that serve their own interests. In a way, distributional conflict undermines our very efforts to better understand and mediate such conflict. The uneven character of progress is manifest in many different domains. Increases in the global reach of formally democratic institutions have been accompanied by growing concerns about their stability, efficacy, and consistency with democratic ideals.
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Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Published version
Publisher
Cambridge University PressExternal DOI
Volume
3Page range
815-846Pages
896.0Book title
Rethinking society for the 21st Century: report of the International Panel on Social ProgressPlace of publication
CambridgeISBN
9781108423144Department affiliated with
- SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Editors
IPSP International Panel on Social ProgressLegacy Posted Date
2018-08-23First Open Access (FOA) Date
2019-01-29First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2018-08-20Usage metrics
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