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    Human Flourishing in Progress and De-development

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    Human Flourishing in Progress and De-Development

    Uploaded by

    daryl.prado

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    section 2 Human Flourishing in Progress and De-development This section pres: entantas eines ae acne s Jason Hickel’s development framework fos Bena pment. As a departure from traditional frameworks of or meee hey Hickel’s concept of de-development is discusse z Sesto to narrowing the gap between rich and poor eeutle us, taking off from this alternative framework, the section critiques human flourishing vis-a-vis progress in science and technology. Intended Learning Outcomes At the end of this unit, the students should be able to: 1. discuss human flourishing in the context of progress in science and technology; 2. explain de-development as a progress and development framework; and 3. differentiate between traditional frameworks of progress and development and Hickel’s concept of de-development. agnostics ; Examine the picture and follow the prompt that follows. Condition 82 | scence, Tecnology, and Society and the Huan £ people in middle. ay,4 4d that 70% of people in mid¢ Lacon Cabanas aoremseeenetinn + Pinging e ; oa ; ee risk. Form eae af nd following: your thoughts about the : Fair, vu think overconsumption P' © Plane, ang high, ae ise Nyy 1, How do yo iety at risk? eae 2. oe the manifestations of society’s ten, dency 2 overproduce and overconsume: . 3. Should middle- and high-income can regulate a growth and consumption? Why or why not? Thoughts to Ponder fica Despite efforts to close out the gap between the Tich and poo, pete a BBC report in 2015 stated that the gap in growth ang development just keeps on widening. Although there is no standarg “Measure of inequality, the report claimed that most indicators Suggest the widening of the growth gap slowed inring the financial crisis )07 but is now growing again. The increasing inequality appear, ido having in mind the efforts that had been poured onto the nt programs designed to assist poor countries to rise from tis backdrop and in the context of unprecedented scientific sical advancement and economic development, humans Ives whether they are indeed flourishing, individually . If development efforts to close out the gap between or countries have failed, is it possible to confront the article, Jason Hickel, an anthropologist at the onomics, criticizes the failure of growth and eradicating poverty seven decades ago. More '@nonconformist perspective toward growth and iogmert | BS Human Floursting in Progress anid De devetner™ orget ‘developing’ poor countries, it’s time to ‘de-develop’ rich countries py Jason Hickel This week, heads of state are gathering in New York to sign the UN’s new sustainable development goals (SDGs). The main oe js to eradicate poverty by 2030. Beyoncé, One Direction and Malal are on board. It’s set to be a monumental international celebration. Given all the fanfare, one might think the SDGs are about to Ed a fresh plan for how to save the world, but beneath all the hype, its pusiness as usual. The main strategy for eradicating poverty is the same: growth. Growth has been the main object of development for the past 70 years, despite the fact that it’s not working. Since 1980, the global economy has grown by 380%, but the number of people living in poverty on less than $5 (£3.20) a day has increased by more than 1.1 billion. That's 17 times the population of Britain. So much for the trickle-down effect. Orthodox economists insist that all we need is yet more growth. _ More progressive types tell us that we need to shift some of the yields of growth from the richer segments of the population to the poorer ‘ones, evening things out a bit. Neither approach is adequate. Why? Because even at current levels of average global consumption, we're overshooting our planet's biocapacity by more than 50% each year. In other words, growth isn’t an option any more - we've already grown too much. Scientists are now telling us that we're blowing past tary boundaries at breakneck speed. And the hard truth is that lobal crisis is due almost entirely to overconsumption in rich ight now, our planet only has enough resources for each of us D 1.8 “global hectares” annually — a standardised unit that $ resource use and waste. This figure is roughly what the Person in Ghana or Guatemala consumes. By contrast, people id Canada consume about 8 hectares per person, while consume 4.7 hectares - many times their fair share. es this mean for our theory of development? Economist d argues that instead of pushing poorer countries to Condition wd Society and the Human Con 84 | Science, Technology ant we should be thinking of ways to i iate levels o} Bet tries to “catch down” to more sponte ns x develo We should look at societies where peoP” fieion ote sey tet relatively low levels of income and re Acie bist as P ct can, that need to be developed towards wes! i emp of efficient living. ‘ How much do we really need to re pidhepey ie : the US, life expectancy is 79 years and a2 a ae a8 $534 But many countries have achieved similar lil 4 ‘ if 'Y With a tia fraction of this income. Cuba has a compar: ea ee oy tothe US and one of the highest literacy rates in ne oi with Gpp : capita of only $6,000 and consumption of only rectares ~ Tight the threshold of ecological sustainability. Similar claims can be m4, of Peru, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Tunisia. Yes, some of the excess income and consumption We see in the i world yield improvements in quality of life that are not captured j, expectancy, or even literacy rates. But even if we look at measu,, happiness and wellbeing in addition to life expectancy, er of low- and middle-income countries rank highly. Costa Ric s to sustain one of the highest happiness indicators and lj. in the world with a per capita income one-fourth that of “catch up” with rich ones, x , perhaps we should regard such countries not as but rather as appropriately developed. And maybe lling on rich countries to justify their excesses. developing” rich countries might prove to bea ae global south, but it will be tricky to sell to by not impossible. According to recent consumer ople in middle- and high-income countries believe on is putting our planet and society at risk. A similer we should strive to buy and own less, and that mise our happiness. People sense there 1 the dominant model of economic progress and an alternative narrative. Bers he pundits promoting this kind of transition ge. They use terms such as de-growl all—de-development, which are technict! F anyone who’s not already on board. So Tun against the deepest frames we ™ Feckebsin, aman Fasting in Pores and De to uw uma e's like asking Pepe ee andl Andee the plitpoue’of life jiatt ih ae i ose of life itsel Jeaning, improving. growing Moving Positively through development | 8S, life, to stop (et US anywhere. The idea of « Tight direction and is growing reorient Ourselves toward the framing right. We need to rein 8 positive future, a t ee eaeieon » @ truer form of progress. ie ality j : sophisticated than just ace tt instead of quantity. One that ie more doesn’t get » OF good living. The west d life and it’s time we revi ?, where they lay out ns such as banning advertising, a shorter g week and a basic income, all of which would improve our le reducing consumption. er we slow down voluntarily or climate change will do it for can’t gO on ignoring the laws of nature. But rethinking our ‘of progress is not only an ecological imperative, it is also a . If we do not act soon, all our hard-won gains against » as food systems collapse and mass famine re-

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