Fixing systems, not symptoms
Social entrepreneurs are driving innovation, but there is a need to go beyond service delivery to influence the structures of a dysfunctional status quo
The rise of presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen, whose fate will be decided by French voters on Sunday, is the latest in a series of global shocks shaking systems of governance and democracy. In the face of a growing backlash from voters against the political establishment and against a backdrop of rising global inequality, the progressive agenda is stalling, prompting some to ask the question: was it progressive enough? Social change is slow at the best of times, but increasingly economists such as Thomas Piketty are warning that things may be going in the wrong direction. According to data from the Maddison Project, people living in the world’s richest country in 1960 were 33 times richer than people living in the poorest. By 2000, after neoliberal globalisation had run its course, that figure had jumped to 134 times richer. This is compelling people working in social change — including social entrepreneurs — to question the limitations of their models. For a time, the rise of soci...
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