‘How can I be a Marxist and still own a jacuzzi?’
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Wray Irwin of the University of Northampton asks some difficult questions of our society and its values. Should social innovators aim to fix or reinvent the system?
‘How can I be a Marxist and still own a jacuzzi?’
This opening gambit to an acceptance speech made by the winner of a social innovator of the year award at the Ashoka U Exchange (held in San Diego in February) rang out across the audience as though Obama himself had just proclaimed ‘Yes we can!!’ And, just as if Obama himself was there, the audience whooped and hollered, in a way that (perhaps) only Americans can.
This question is one that has never exercised my brain before. Whilst in my youth I may have wanted to ‘kick Maggie out’, ‘Ban the Bomb’, and ‘Keep Music Live’ I have never seen myself as a Marxist; and other than put the shower head in the bath when I was a child to create the illusion of a jacuzzi I have never had the desire to actually own one. For me, there was something hollow and yet appropriate about the reaction of the predominantly American, middle class, white, and privileged group of students and social innovators that responded so rapturously to the Marxist/jacuzzi question.
Social Innovation, the process of developing new solutions to social problems, is being embraced around the globe as the answer to the provision of welfare and alleviation of poverty, especially since the financial crash of 2007-09. It is being expounded as the way we can change the world for the better; addressing inequalities and reshaping the 20th century institutions which are no longer fit for purpose. Yet this award winning ‘change-maker’ with the catchy opening line, could only express his achievement in the context of him being able to continue to acquire the baubles of a successful consumer/capitalist whilst sticking two fingers up at the system he continues to embrace. I am not a personal criticism of his attitude here but the episode has strengthened my conviction that social innovation can only deliver the hoped for change IF we start adopting new ways of measuring success.
At a recent video global conference on youth unemployment, hosted by the University of Northampton, the key barrier to innovating new solutions was identified as the need to keep defining the problem in terms of existing narratives. The debates were about ‘not enough jobs’, ‘addressing skills gaps’, and ‘job creation’. The logic being that we need more young people in work and earning; and that doing this will drive competitiveness and increase GDP, boost the economy and reduce the welfare bill.
But it could be argued that that’s the sort of thinking that got us in to the financial mess we now face in the first place. There has been little real discussion on why GDP should be the sole indicator of success, why ‘any’ job is the ‘right’ job nor any challenge that says that if we acknowledge that ‘minimum wage’ is not a ‘living wage’ why are we paying people a ‘minimum’ wage upon which we know they can’t live?
It’s a problem all innovations face. Where are the social investors or commissioners who will invest in or commission an idea that measures ‘quality’ of job, ‘more time with the family’, increased ‘happiness’ rather than ‘return on investment’, ‘social impact’, increased ‘profits’ by tapping into the ‘Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid’ or more ‘efficient’ output delivery?
Until we are able to create a new paradigm in which social innovation can function, scale and sustain, with measures that redefine success we will continue to rely on 19th century thinking to solve 21st century problems; sustaining a system that embeds many of the problems social innovation it trying to address.
More importantly we will allow a whole generation to believe that they can change the world when in effect, as one renowned Pioneer’s Post Professor put it, they are just ‘Champagne Socialists’ who, when the mortgage payments kick in, the student loan needs repaying, and the jacuzzi needs replacing will throw their social values out with the bath water.