Introduction —
Societies and communities are not organizational entities, but amorphous aggregates of organizations and groups of people. Because of that, attempts to move a society toward socially sustainability will fail until organizations become invested in the values of sustainability as the criteria of their decision-making. The illustration below shows this supportive relationship.
EXPLANATION. The above illustrates the decision-making priorities that are necessary to support the symbiotic relationship of the decision-makers who are consciously moving their organizations, communities, and societies toward social stability, peace, and social sustainability. The most powerful organizations are those within the three pillars of a functional society: societal-social, political-governmental, and economic-financial.
Priorities of Sustainability —
- The ultimate priority comes from the genetic mandate to sustain the species.
- The second priority is to sustain individuals/families to support the continuity of our species and culture. In a society that has chosen to move toward social sustainability, efforts are made to support the maturing social evolution of family dynamics so that families socialize and enculturate next generations to support a socially sustainable society.
- The third priority is dependent upon the willingness of organizations within communities and society to adopt socially sustainable values and practices to sustain the existence and continuity of sustainable communities and societies.
Societal sustainability becomes possible when organizations are designed to become sustainable, to stay in business, and make contributions to the continuity of communities and societies by contributing to the sustainability of individuals and families. This symbiosis is only sustainable when individuals and families also make decisions and take actions that support the social sustainability of the organizations of their communities and societies. This includes organizations in government and finance. Financial institutions have a huge interest in supporting sustainable societies, but often become predatory to everyone’s detriment as we have seen far too often in the last 500 years.
Contributions by organizations to individuals/families and communities have three symbiotic functions: 1) To aid the sustainability of the species; 2) To aid the sustainability of the individual/family/community; and, 3) To empower individuals, families and communities to reciprocate in that symbiosis by contributing their energies to the sustainability of their mutual society.
For Progressives, who accept reframing democratic values as contributing to social sustainability, the means to bring about a supportive cultural evolution of democratic nations is through organizations — all organizations in the three supporting pillars of society.
- The work of Progressives is not just to change the culture of politics, but to also change the whole culture of democratic nations and societies.
The logic and reason for doing so is fairly obvious: Until the principles of a socially sustainable symbiosis begin to be in place, neither individuals, families, neighborhoods, communities, or societies can generate “rational politics” and rational political discussions at state and national levels. Only organizations have the combinative resources to bring about a democratic societal culture of social sustainability. If organizations do not take on the mission of becoming financially and functionally supportive of the values of social sustainability, then societies will not become sustainable materially or socially.
Besides being politically active, Progressives must expand their political footprint to also walk the halls and sit on the boards of corporations, foundations, and educational organizations to name only a few. Progressives must create a rational, progressive, societal, political, and financial-economic culture that infuses and supports social evolution. Such a moral and ideological agenda would be almost impossible to fulfill if it were not for the historically proven existence of the seven core values that have sustained the UNconscious and UNintentional social, political, and economic evolution of our societies thus far.
Consciously and intentionally building upon that base of evolution and progress will provide rapid developments with known outcomes: Peace, social stability, knowing how to define social equity, social justice, “what is fair,” and the common good. …and not just for all democratic nations, but also as an example for non-democratic regimes.
An example may be helpful. When Progressives reframe the intention, operating philosophy, and mission of public education in terms of the survival of our species, of the stable existence of families, communities, and societies, then the mission of educational institutions and organizations becomes obviously clear. Of all the social institutions that are desperately in need of clarity for their intention, public education at all levels stands out above all others.
A Preliminary Test of Social Sustainability. Existent organizations can conduct a simple test of social sustainability. Using the four primary values, they can validate their organization as either contributing to socially sustainability, being neutral, or creating detrimental actions toward the social sustainability of others; and validate the gradient of their existence in those terms.
- Is the intention of your organization’s programs to improve the quality of life of consumers, clients, patients, users, citizens, etc.? Do your procedures measurably support the improvement of the quality of life of your employees, consumers, clients, and others? Which programs do, and which programs do not?
- Do your policies and procedures support your clients, employees, and others to grow into their innate potential?
- Do your services and/or products affect each of your audiences equally?
If you can answer “yes” to each question, it is very likely that your organization is making contributions to social sustainability. A full test would apply each value (quality of life, growth, and equality) in greater detail to internal and external policies that would be validated by measurable criteria of performance.
Factors that Aid Social Sustainability —
The four primary values alone cannot bring about social sustainability. There must also exist conditions that support the efforts of societies to move toward social sustainability.
- A favorable environment: Ongoing peace, not war; a stable economy, not depression or hyper-inflation; population maintenance, not over-population; a well educated public, not illiteracy; a responsible system of participatory governance, not despotism, revolution, political apathy or corporate manipulation of democratic processes for their own benefit.
- Maintenance and regeneration: A good educational system that allows citizens to develop their innate potential, whether those are great or diminished; A sustaining educational system that transfers cultural wisdom from one generation to another – the wisdom that inherently enculturates the values that support social sustainability. And most importantly, responsible parenting that instills social maturity and personal responsibility.
- Functional components: All social organizations including financial-economic, government, legislative bodies, justice and courts, family practices, education, and corporate policies contribute to the social sustainability of the individual, the family, community, and society. Decision-making at all levels is guided by a complementary three-tier morality: individual, social, and global.
The Possibility of Sustainable Organizations —
What is not obvious in the illustration is that socially sustainable organizations, such as businesses and governments, must learn how to simultaneously stay in business and also become major supporting elements in the sustainability of that society. As the global economy provides fewer and fewer large-return business opportunities, that is a signal for businesses to begin thinking in terms of “sustaining returns” on investments. Expansive returns on investment will soon be a thing of the past where growth and expansion of markets was the sure path to ever-increasing profits and dividends. Such a situation will require businesses to think in terms of their sustainable existence.
The traditional intention to simply stay in business will now require businesses to couple that intention with an intention to make meaningful contributions to the social sustainability of their employees, the community where they do business, and provide a visible demonstration that their existence contributes to the larger good of their host society. Doing so, business organizations will also thrive.
Embedded learning processes. For social sustainability to succeed, all organizations will need an embedded learning process to recognize that mistakes are learning opportunities to discover what can be learned from them so they do not occur again; and, what supports continued success. This may seem to be an obvious recommendation, except when you realize that almost all organizations were brought into existence without an intention to become sustainable. Neither were they designed as “learning organizations” to become adaptable. Without those two sustaining necessities, decline, disintegration, and failure are in the future, whether for species or societies.