Global Interdependence

Dramatic changes have occurred in the world – imagine the state of the globe at the beginning of the 20th century, and how substantially different things are at the beginning of the 21st. There are now transnational issues like disease, air and water quality, conflict, finance, and others that don’t stop at national borders. And while we are now deeply interdependent, our global norms, or our “operating system,” have yet to be updated to meet the reality of the changes. We stand at the beginning of a revolution in our social, political, and economic systems across the world.

History of Profound Change

At various times throughout history, human society has changed not in marginal but in revolutionary ways. The American and French Revolutions are well known, as are the Prague Spring, the Velvet Revolution, and the Arab Spring. There are so many more instances of this, and the characteristic they share is a profound change in the thinking or mindset of a critical mass of the people involved.

Changing People’s Thinking Rather than Government Policy

It is in this arena of thinking or “social norms” where the greatest good can be accomplished, and we don’t need governments to make the changes. Social norms are the underlying, largely unspoken set of social rules on which society hangs its daily life. They function as an even stronger set of social regulation than local, national, and international laws, and their enforcement mechanism is approval and disapproval, approbation and scorn, social acceptability and unacceptability – what’s cool, and what’s not cool.

It’s Cool to Care

In effect, “you are what you idolize.” Society is what it collectively admires. If what we find desirable is boundless accumulated wealth, in the way we admire Paris Hilton, Donald Trump, or any number of “celebrities,” then society will have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few. If what the vast majority admires is kindness, fairness, and decency, that is the society we will get.

An example of a past effort to change how people think and subsequently act is the Keep America Beautiful ad campaign in the 1960s, which created a social norm that trash went in garbage cans rather than out the window of the car.  Another is Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk, that made it uncool to drink and drive.

Widespread admiration of certain beneficial norms can provide needed positive social change, and can be spread via media campaigns and other social forums. Creating a shift all depends on what the vast majority of people think and subconsciously expect.