#socialsustainability

Uncompromising Sustainability

Social sustainability is one of the more difficult facets of sustainability to address because it’s generally less measurable and less quantifiable than economic or environmental sustainability. It has been less well examined and is less consistently applied than other core sustainability concepts.

It’s also not especially well defined, but we’ll try and give you the general idea here. It encompasses a variety of things ranging from culture to politics. It revolves around being able to satisfy human needs and cater to the demands of society in a sustainable way. Quoting from the excellent video I’ve embedded below, 

in a sustainable society people are not subject to conditions that  systematically undermine their capacity to meet their needs

Possibly the most relatable explanation of social sustainability comes from Manfred Max-Neef. He identifies 9 human needs which are consistent across all human civilisations and eras.

Subsistence - health, food, shelter, etc.

Protection - safety and security

Affection - love, friendship, family, self-esteem

Understanding - curiosity, understanding, education

Participation - responsibilities, work, sharing

Idleness - free time and relaxation

Creation - imagination, skills, autonomy

Identity - sense of belonging, self-esteem, consistency

Freedom - autonomy, human equality, choosing to be different

Something which fulfils a need is a satisfier. For example, having a meal satisfies your need for subsistence. Something which covers multiple needs is called a synergistic satisfier, such as cooking a meal with your friends satisfies subsistence, affection, creation and identity.

There are also things called violators or destroyers, which are almost like false positives. They claim to satisfy a need but paradoxically prevent other needs from being satisfied. Censorship claims to provide protection, but, in fact, suppresses creation, identity, and freedom. Then, there are pseudo-satisfiers, which satisfy a need on the surface, but when you scratch the surface, aren’t as fulfilling as they seem, such as fashion trends which seem to satisfy identity, but that might not actually be the case.

It follows logically that wherever possible, we should pursue synergistic satisfiers. By satisfying more needs with the same input, we create more sustainable fulfilment - and that’s the key to social sustainability.

For a great rundown of Max-Neef’s principles, we suggest this 5 minute video. They have a tonne more over on www.sustainabilityillustrated.com, so if you want to learn more, definitely check them out.

Next time, we’ll talk about economic sustainability. Until then, be good :)

Something many people don’t realise is that “sustainability” is made up of three core concepts, known as the three pillars of sustainability. They are social sustainability, economic sustainability, and environmental sustainability.

Usually when someone mentions sustainability, they are thinking primarily of environmental sustainability, but it’s so important to remember that if we don’t create a sustainable social atmosphere and a sustainable economic structure, we will still not have successfully created a sustainable future.

Sustainability is a lifestyle choice, not just in how we treat the natural world but in how we act as economic entities and how we interact with each other.