Modernity - Lecture 1

Question 1

How did the 1972 Club of Rome speak about sustainability?

Answer 1

It discussed it in terms of limits to growth
Described it as ‘a condition of ecological and economic stability that is sustainable far into the future and capable of satisfying the basic material needs of all people’

Question 2

What did Goldsmith (1972) say about sustainability?

Answer 2

Spoke about it in terms of a blueprint for survival
A ‘stable society’ that could be ‘sustained indefinitely while giving optimum satisfaction to its members’

Question 3

What did the 1987 Brundtland’s World Commission on Environment and Development say on sustainability?

Answer 3

‘Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’

Question 4

What are the multiple dimensions of sustainable development according to Lafferty & Meadowcroft (2000)

Answer 4

• Satisfying basic needs
• Promoting welfare
• Environmental protection
• Fate of future generations
• Equity
• Participation (from society not just government)

Question 5

Therefore, what sorts of solutions do we need?

Answer 5

As a society, we move from short term fixes to long term solutions for a problem.
Solutions for problems we are facing now which can be taken into the future and do not use so much natural economic and social capital that future generations are in bad shape.
This is all about: condition of ecosystems, stresses on ecosystems and the implications of this for humans, social/institutional capacity to cope with hazards and exercise stewardship

Question 6

What is development?

Answer 6

A process of wealth accumulation which may mean different things in different contexts

Question 7

What is the idea of contraction and convergence according to Giddens?

Answer 7

A process of development whereby ‘reducing overall emergence of greenhouse gases to a safe level (contraction) resulting from every country bringing its emissions per capita to a level which is equal for all countries (convergence)’

Question 8

What are some other meanings of development?

Answer 8

Taking people out of poverty (meeting primary needs)
Economic growth and GDP growth for promoting increased consumption including ‘secondary’ needs

Question 9

What can we say about the development of wellbeing in the Netherlands?

Answer 9

It depends on the definition of wellbeing (e.g. welfare, GDP growth, natural environment)

Question 10

What can we say about the impact of the economy on energy use?

Answer 10

Use of bioresources has slowed down
Use of mineral resources increased but it is somewhat slowing down now
Use of fossil fuels keeps growing producing more money and more energy

Question 11

What impact has the EU Sustainability Norm for 2030 had?

Answer 11

Some influence as stabilised CO2 emissions a little bit but not that much. Paris Treaty helping to pull this down
SO2 emissions have declined under the norm

Question 12

What trends did we see until 1960 (GDP, Energy, Wellbeing)

Answer 12

GDP increased linearly with population and income
Energy, resource use grew linearly with GDP
People were content - wellbeing

Question 13

What trends did we see after 1960 (Energy, GDP)

Answer 13

Energy, resource use grew faster with GDP
Pollution became policy dependent

Question 14

What trends did we see since around 2000 (Fortuijn and beyond) (GDP and wellbeing)

Answer 14

GDP is not equal to wellbeing.
Growing discontent among people in both the Netherlands and all European countries and the US
Led to reconsidering welfare and wellbeing, need for change

Question 16

What did President Sarkozy do?

Answer 16

2008 he asked Stiglitz and Sen to develop benchmarks for wellbeing and sustainability

Question 17

What recommendations did Stiglitz and Sen come up with?

Answer 17

Broadening the scope of the traditional indicators used to measure economic progress to include a whole set of measures of quality of life, inequality and wellbeing
Taking greater account of sustainable development and the environment: what does welfare creation do to social, natural and economic capital
Able to see what aspects of life people are happy and what aspects people are unhappy

Question 18

What did the OECD introduce?

Answer 18

Made a system like this with different categories relating to material conditions and quality of life with measurable indicators. Done for the first time in 2015.
Making use of natural capital, economic capital, human capital and social capital to produce these well-beings and processes
Improved indicators for wellbeing and sustainability Progress of Societies and Better Life Initiative
EU- GSP and Beyond: tripartite process of re-defining societal progress

Question 19

What is the Monitor Brede Welvaart?

Answer 19

The Dutch version of measures for ‘wellbeing and sustainability beyond GDP’
June 2016 Dutch Parliament asked for a way to measure wellbeing and sustainability beyond GDP

Question 20

What are the Sustainable Development Goals?

Answer 20

SDGs to be reached in all countries around the world by 2030
There are 17 in total
UN monitoring how countries around the world do in terms of meeting them
Sustainable development isn’t just one thing, it has to be differentiated. There are so many dimensions that people will emphasise different ones

Question 21

What makes sustainability a political question?

Answer 21

It has a variety of dimensions with different perspectives yielding different wonders
It has a variety of objectives with different perspectives yielding different priorities
Has different levels of development with different development imperatives
Especially in affluent societies: relations welfare/GDP-wellbeing- ecological side effects - different perspectives may yield different appreciations of trade offs

Question 22

What are the central ideas of modernity?

Answer 22

Central ideas: empiricism (science and reality), control through knowledge (nature of reality and society, understanding and prediction of consequences to control a system, using science and technology to control reality), progress, autonomy, tolerance (through ratio)

There are institutions nurturing these ideas: nation state, science, mass media, industrial markets, democracy to produce this kind of society

Question 23

How did these ideas spread to attain a global influence?

Answer 23

Through mechanisms including diffusion and appropriation, migration, colonialism, globalisation… which allowed modernity to spread over the globe

Question 24

What is the technical project of modernity

Answer 24

Based on empirically grounded knowledge, universal laws and enabling predictions. Progress made through interventions, informed by universal laws with predictable effects, enabling control of nature (and Society) - Sorensen and Christiansen

Question 25

What is the social project of modernity

Answer 25

Generally the nation state and state system to promote stability
More specifically institutions enabling development of knowledge and knowledge based progress

Question 26

What is Ulrich Beck’s first modernity?

Answer 26

It’s central problem was how to realise socio-economic progress hand in hand with industrialisation
It was challenged by a range of factors including its success with individualisation and its unintended side effects (autonomous people)

Question 27

What was Ulrich Beck’s second modernity?

Answer 27

This was driven by side effects raising the question of how to maintain wellbeing while avoiding side effects
Disassociated from industrialisation and no longer thought of as centre stage in the idea of development as we enter information society

Question 28

How did modernisation develop in the NL after 1850?

Answer 28

The dominant problem definition on the need to alleviate poverty and low quality of life - ‘social question’ and desire for economic growth and overcoming stagnation to do this

Question 29

How did modernisation develop in the NL after 1900?

Answer 29

Women could now develop themselves into better working positions in society instead of in the 1800s
Democratisation and other political modernisation
Maturing knowledge infrastructure
Emergent supply chains
Shift from civil society initiatives to corporatist welfare state, managing natural resources
Dynamics driven by societal modernisation and political modernisation in the form of industrialisation, social initiatives driven by civil society and novel caste of experts and this shaped development between 1850 and start of C20

Question 30

What did modernisation in the NL look like in 1960?

Answer 30

Primary life needs met, emergence of mass consumption, shaping the basis for the new movement like women’s movement, emerged due to the successes of first modernity and put an emphasis on the failures
Individualisation and education leading to more autonomous and critical people
Side effects of modernity - end of pipe policies
Challenges - emergence of new social movements and politicisation of side effects, shift towards prioritising this

Question 31

What about modernisation in the NL in 1987?

Answer 31

Problem definition is gradually shifting towards ensuring well being whilst mitigating side effects
Reorientation of second or reflexive modernity

Question 32

What is the grain-for meat challenge?

Answer 32

Example describing the evolution of agricultural practices in the Netherlands 1850-1970 focussing on the transition from a traditional grain-for-meat chain to more industrialised and specialised agricultural system

Question 33

What did grain-for-meat look like in first modernity? 1850-1970

Answer 33

Society organised as a nation state with collective life patterns and a move towards individualisation
Agriculture characterised by gainful employment and instrumentalised nature
Introduction of scientific rationality and efficiency, leading to the corporatist agricultural system
Transition from traditional family farms to modernised, specialised agriculture
Post 1945 emphasis on industrial economic growth led to less labour intensive agricultural practices
Specialisation and broken circularity in agricultural processes to maximise economic benefits

Question 34

What were the challenges of this first modernity?

Answer 34

Multidimensional globalisation leading to trade flows, pollutant flows and resource scarcity
Radicalised individualisation and politicisation of side effects, with consumers becoming more organised and aware of environmental and social issues
Global environmental crisis and emergence of convenience goods
Gender revolution leading to changes in household tasks and automation in agriculture

Question 35

What were some of the side effects of this first modernity and the challenges?

Answer 35

Transition in grain-for-meat chain led to the export of GMO greens to Europe for animal feed contributing to issues associated with meat production

Question 36

What was the second modernity of grain-for-meat production post-2000 to meet these challenges and effects?

Answer 36

Post-national organisation of politics and economy
Dissolution of communities and institutions, and a shift away from full-time employment
Socialisation of nature and a critique of rationality
Integration of farms into economic chains and increased use of ICT in agriculture
Mass consumption shaping lifestyles and a focus on close cycles between nature and waste glows
Declining trust in mainstream science and the emergence of policies like the Paris Treaty and EU resource policies
Emphasis on partnerships between civil society and markets in addressing agricultural and environmental challenges

Question 37

What does the example of grain for meat chain show?

Answer 37

How agricultural practices in the Netherlands have evolved in response to changing societal, economic, and environmental dynamics, highlighting the shift from more traditional to more modernised and specialised approaches with the consequences and challenges this bought

Question 38

What is the link between political science and modernity?

Answer 38

Can see how development has been shaping societal and political modernisation and driven by modernity
Political science addresses issues bought about by political modernisation and societal modernisation and there are theories to understand these

Question 39

What are paradigms?

Answer 39

They are ways of understanding particular phenomena. Collection and a family of theories and the questions which these theories have been developed to answer. Specialise on particular kinds of questions.
They emerge as issues open up and have to be understood in the context of time and other paradigms

Question 40

What does Kuhn 1962 say about paradigms?

Answer 40

That they are universally recognised scientific achievements that, for a time, provide model problems and solutions for a community of practitioners