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Chapter 5

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12 views16 pages

Chapter 5

Uploaded by

Marian Colorado
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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CHAPTER 5

Human Flourishing As Reflected


In Progress & Development
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this chapter, the students should be able to:

1. critique human flourishing vis-à-vis the progress of science and


technology;

2. explain Hickel's paradigm of "de-development"; and

3. differentiate it from the traditional notions of growth and


consumption.
How do we know that are progressing? What are the indicators of dvelopment?
More often than not, development is equate with growth
and greater consumption.
The more that a population is able to consume, the
wealthier it is.

Likewise, the more that a person is able to buy stuff, the higher
he/she is on the development scale. The planet, however is already
overburned with human activities.
Its about time that we rethink our standards of development if we truly
want to live the good life

Jason Hickel
Anthropologist at the london
school of Economics
Challenges us to rethink and
reflect on a different paradigm of
de-development
Its about time that we rethink our standards of development if we truly
want to live the good life

Forget “developing poor


countries”

It’s time to “de-develop” rich


countries

Jason Hickel
Human Flourishing A Reflected In Progress & Development

Heads of state are gathering in New Given all the fanfare, one might
York to sign the UN's new sustainable
think the SDGs are about to offer a
development goals (SDGs). The main
fresh plan for how to save the
objective is to eradicate poverty by
world, but beneath all the hype, it's
2030. Beyoncé, One Direction and
business as usual. The main
Malala are on board. It's set to be a
monumental international strategy for eradicating poverty is
celebration. the same: growth.
Human Flourishing A Reflected In Progress & Development

Growth has been the main object of Orthodox economists insist that all we
need is yet more growth. More progressive
development for the past 70 years,
types tell us that we need to shift some of
despite the fact that it is not working.
the yields of growth from the richer
Since 1980, the global economy has
segments of the population to the poorer
grown by 380%, but the number of
ones, evening things out a bit. Neither
people living in poverty on less than $5
approach is adequate. Why? Because even
(£3.20) a day has increased by more
at current levels of average global
than 1.1 billion. That's 17 times the
consumption, we're overshooting our
population of Britain. So much for the planet's bio-capacity by more than 50%
trickle- down effect. each year.
Human Flourishing A Reflected In Progress & Development

In other words, growth isn't an Right now, our planet only has enough
option any more we've already resources for each of us to consume 1.8
grown too much. Scientists are now "global hectares" annually-a standardized unit
that measures resource use and waste. This
telling us that we're blowing past
figure is roughly whathe average person in
planetary boundaries at breakneck
Ghana or Guatemala consumes. By contrast,
speed. And the hard truth is that people in the US and Canada consume about 8
this global crisis is due almost hectares per person, while Europeans
entirely to overconsumption in rich consume 4.7 hectares-many times their fair
countries. share.
What does this mean for our theory of dvelopment?

Economist Peter Edward argues that instead of pushing poorer


countries to "catch up" with rich ones, we should be thinking of
ways to get rich countries to "catch down" to more appropriate
levels of development. We should look at societies where people
live long and happy lives at relatively low levels of income and
consumption not as basket cases that need to be developed
towards western models, but as exemplars of efficient living.
How much do we really need to live long and happy lives?

In the US, life expectancy is 79 years and GDP per capita is $53,000. But
many countries have achieved similar life expectancy with a mere
fraction of this income. Cuba has a comparable life expectancy to the US
and one of the highest literacy rates in the world with GDP per capita of
only $6,000 and consumption of only 1.9 hectares right at the threshold
of ecological sustainability. Similar claims can be made of Peru, Ecuador,
Honduras, Nicaragua, and Tunisia.
Human Flourishing A Reflected In Progress & Development

Yes, some of the excess income and


consumption we see in the rich world yields
improvements in quality of life that are not
In light of this, perhaps we should regard
captured by life expectancy, or even literacy
rates. But even if we look at measures of
such countries not as underdeveloped, but
overall happiness and wellbeing in addition to rather as appropriately developed. And
life expectancy, a number of low- and middle- maybe we need to start calling on rich
income countries rank highly. Costa Rica countries to justify their excesses.
manages to sustain one of the highest
happiness indicators and life. expectancies in
the world with a per capita income one-fourth
that of the US.
Human Flourishing A Reflected In Progress & Development

The idea of "de-developing" rich countries might


The problem is that the pundits promoting this kind
prove to be a strong rallying cry in the global south,
of transition are using the wrong language. They use
but it will be tricky to sell to westerners. Tricky, but
terms such as de-growth, zero growth or-worst of
not impossible. According to recent consumer
all-de-development, which are technically accurate
research, 70% of people in middle- and high-income
but off-putting for anyone who's not already on
countries believe overconsumption is putting our
board. Such terms are repulsive because they run
planet and society at risk. A similar majority also
against the deepest frames we use to think about
believe we should strive to buy and own less, and
human progress, and, indeed, the purpose of life
that doing so would not compromise our happiness.
itself. It's like asking people to stop moving
People sense there is something wrong with the
positively thorough life, to stop learning, improving,
dominant model of economic progress and they are
growing.
hungry for an alternative narrative.
Human Flourishing A Reflected In Progress & Development

Negative formulations won't get us anywhere.


The idea of "steady- state economics is a step in
the right direction and is growing in popularity, Perhaps we might take a cue from Latin
but it still doesn't get the framing right. We need Americans, who are organizing
to reorient ourselves toward a positive future, a
alternative visions around the
truer form of progress. One that is geared toward
indigenous concept of buen vivir, or
quality instead of quantity. One that is more
sophisticated than just accumulating ever good living. The west has its own
increasing amounts of stuff, which doesn't make tradition of reflection on the good life
anyone happier anyway. What is certain is that and it's time we revive it.
GDP as a measure is not going to get us there and
we need to get rid of it.
Human Flourishing A Reflected In Progress & Development

Robert and Edward Skidelsky take us Either we slow down voluntarily or climate
down this road in his book How Much is change will do it for us. We can't go on
Enough? where they lay out the ignoring the laws of nature. But rethinking our
theory of progress is not only an ecological
possibility of interventions such as
Imperative, it is also a development one. If we
banning advertising, a shorter working do not act soon, all our hard-won gains against
week and a basic income, all of which poverty will evaporate, as food systems
would improve our lives while reducing collapse and mass farmine re-emerges to an
consumption. extent not seen since the 19th century.
Human Flourishing A Reflected In Progress & Development

This is not about giving anything up. And it's certainly not about
living a life of voluntary misery or imposing harsh limits on
human potential, On the contrary, it's about reaching a higher
level of understanding and consciousness about what we're
doing here and why.
THANK YOU
for listening to our presentation.

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