Reflecting on the Social Theory
In our experience, the idea of a sustainable, collaborative learning society put forward by Social Theory (ST) can be overwhelming. Therefore, the key notions of ST are summarized along with a discussion why they are crucial.
- Meta-transition: acquiring skills to tackle wicked problems. We seem to move from one transition to another. And each time, we treat a transition as something entirely new. This might be true at the surface, but underneath, similar patterns are at play. A meta-transition is required: a transition to be able to handle transitions by means of, for instance, SI processes as provided by ST.
- An assessment framework provides an explicit structure on which a society can be based. We are aware that a perfect society does not exist in the sense that disagreements and imbalances of power will always remain, but the least we can do, is to create an equal playing field the best we can which is also reinforced by an assessment framework. And perhaps having such an equal playing field is the sign of a perfect society. The framework guides and stimulates activities. And by reflecting on the activities, the framework is adapted. It reflects our current status of what we are and what we do.
- Government has the power to steer transparently on shared meaning as expressed in an assessment framework: arguably desirable and culturally feasible.
- The governments’ power stems from implementing desirable policies funded by taxes. However, it is a truly democratic process (a mixture of representative and deliberative democracy) because society as a whole determines how taxes are spent.
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