[Principles of Social Change]

by

Chapter 1: Introduction

Changes in the distribution of power and authority are characteristic of the processes we call globalisation (Edwards 1999). The erosion of state sovereignty and the weakening of workers' rights are two obvious examples, but globalising capitalism also re-shapes relations between women and men, adults and children, people of different cultures, and those with varying levels of technological competence. This is not just a “power shift” from public to private interests, as Jessica Mathews (1997) has claimed, but a deeper and more complex process in which large numbers of people see their position systematically eroded by economic, social and political forces which work to the benefit of a small proportion of the world's population. Left unchecked, these forces will create an unprecedented degree of inequality and insecurity within and between societies, which will never be sustainable. NGOs who wish to promote “sustainable development” must therefore decide how they are going to address this situation (Bellah, 1985).

At one level, the answers to this question are already apparent: those who are marginalised by global processes must have a “fairer deal” in economics, politics and social policy. However, at another level this is clearly insufficient without much deeper changes which encourage people to conserve scarce resources, share their wealth and opportunities, protect each-others' rights, and co-operate to advance the “common good” - the long term health and welfare of the planet and its social fabric on which all our futures depend (Chambers, 1996).

The individualism and materialism that characterise globalising capitalism make this exceptionally difficult, for they undermine the co-operative solidarities and institutions we will need to confront the collective problems that will shape the 21st century - trans-boundary pollution, global trade and capital flows, conflict and the mass movement of refugees and displaced persons (Dass, 1988). It is one ...