12 & 14. SPSF 2022-7: Social Inclusion, Risk & Resilience

Book 1. Sachs, J.D. (2015).

The Age of Sustainable Development, Columbia Uni Pr  

Chap. 7: Social Inclusion

Three dimensions of social inclusion:

1. The first dimension of social inclusion addresses income and wealth inequality.
2. The second addresses discrimination through legal channels: laws in many parts of the world continue to discriminate against some groups.
3. The third involves discrimination through cultural and social norms.

Six ethical approaches to social inclusion: i) Virtue ethics, ii) Monotheistic religions, iii) Deontological ethics/"duty ethics", iv) Utilitarianism, v) Libertarianism, and vi) Human rights. 

• The human rights philosophy holds that every human being on the planet has basic human rights that must be protected by the society. There are five basic categories of such rights: political, civil. economic, social and cultural rights. This approach says that societies must organize themselves, perhaps through taxation and provision of public services, to secure individuals' rights to health, education and means of livelihood. The human rights approach is the dominant framework of the current international system of nations. (cf. UDHR)
• The focus on meeting universal basic needs can be justified through the lens of human rights or through the lens of utilitarianism. We sometimes call basic need "merit good." Merit goods are those goods and services that should be accessible by all individuals in society irrespective of an individual's ability to pay. Health and education are both widely judged to be merit goods.

Divided Societies 

• Social inclusion aims for broad-based prosperity, for eliminating discrimination, for equal protection under the laws, for enabling everybody to meet basic needs, and for high social mobility (p.232).
• Ethnic diversity is sometimes measured along linguistic lines...what is called ethnolinguistic fractionalization, a measure of similarity or difference in the spoken languages in a population. When fractionalization is high, inequality is often high as well, with some groups dominating others politically and economically.
• So too are the political responses, the extent to which power is used to reduce inequalities (e.g., through tax-and-transfer policies) or the extent to which power is used to exacerbate inequalities (e.g., through displacing indigenous populations from traditional lands). Inequality is therefore a legacy of power, history, economy, and individual differences, amplified or diminished through the power of the state (p.238).

Forces of Widening Inequalities

1. One key factor is the rising gap in earnings between high-skilled and low-skilled workers. The returns to education have increased markedly, leaving those with less education behind. The rising earnings premium to education probably reflect the combined forces of globalization and technological changes, both of which have been to the disadvantage of less-educated workers.
2. use of robotics, advanced data management systems, and other information technologies.
3. the political system. In some political systems, government forces resist the widening inequality by providing extra help to lower-skilled workers, such as job training, tax cuts, or added family benefits. These countries may call on the higher-skilled workers to take on some extra societal responsibilities, such as increased tax payments to support the transfers to the lower-earning households. 

Gender Inequalities

• UNDP GII (Gender Inequality Index)

hdr.undp.orgi

• The gender pay gap in OECD countries

data.oecd.org

• The gender gap in education enrollment has been improved due to international campaigns. (continued to Chapter 8) 

Book 2. Mulligan, M. (2018).

An Introduction to Sustainability: Environmental, Social and Personal Perspectives, Routledge

Chap. 7: Risk & Resilience

- We have much to learn from the capacity of non-human ecosystems to absorb changes and still persist (Holling 1973).

- Personal and social costs of risk aversion: 

- risk aversion has less cultural influence in non-western societies: people who live with significant levels of risk on a daily basis may well be more resilient than those who have been led to believe that risk can be managed out of existence (p.108). Beck (1992) argued that the response within western societies has been: 
a) to externalise risk through the implementation of management plans;

b) to individualism risk by using legal processes to settle questions of responsibility; &

c) for authorities to minimise risk by suggesting that risk can be adequately managed. (p.110)

- individuals can become more resilient by developing their self-esteem, problem-solving skills, emotional awareness and social support networks (Ungar, 2012)... personal resilience has argued that the experience of a relatively good outcome in risk experience is a major factor in building personal resilience (Rutter 2012)

- Insights from Ecology: The focus is on the interaction between all the components of a particular ecosystem... An ecological framework highlights our human dependence on a host of non-human elements while the sociological concept of resilience, pioneered by Holling, reminds us that all systems involve complex interactions and interdependencies (p.112)... it is not diversity for its own sake that is important but rather enough "functional diversity" to allow for changes in how the system functions if and when conditions change.

- Human resilience (Walker and Salt 2006):

i) Avoid inflexible hierarchical structures by decentring the distribution of resources, knowledge and power - and by encouraging lateral connections.

ii) Introduce modularity to ensure that malfunctions within the system do not paralyse other parts of functions.

iii) Create physical spaces and allow w time for people to think creatively about their roles and functions or even the purpose of their work.

iv) Ensure good monitoring of performance and effective communication of monitoring outcomes.

v) Give all people time to think and reflect on what they are doing and ensure that people can learn from each other's experiences.

vi) Take advantage of com technologies to create "multiscale networks and connectivity" to share knowledge and create agile support networks.

vii) Seek a balance between conservation and innovation; remembering that some old ideas and practices may have enduring relevance. (p.115)

Data Activities & Discussion

A. Age at first marriage (Group)

1. Go to https://www.gapminder.org/tools/ and plot the age at first marriage for women against income.
2. What was the average age at first marriage in Sweden, China, and Niger in 2005?
3. Which countries had low age at first marriage among the countries had above $20,000 income in 2005?
4. Did you know any reasons Jamaica's average age was the highest?
5. Approximately, in what year did almost all Western European countries rise above an age at first marriage of 26? What are the results of your analysis?

B. Human Rights (Group)

1. Go to http://indicators.ohchr.org/ to find the status of Brazil, China, Japan, and the USA. 
2. When did these countries sign the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women?
3. When did they ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights?
4. What are the results of your analysis of the two questions? 

Japanese entry

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