Participatory Practice
a woman could legally own a bank account or take out a mortgage in her own name without a male guarantor. How do values influence people and change lives? Here is a thought from Will Hutton: The good society is one in which, through argument and deliberation, we create law and justice as a moral system enshrining human dignity and accept mutual responsibilities – and then live by its injunctions across the board. (Hutton, 2015: 44)
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Let’s hold this in mind as we explore a paradigm shift.
The invention of neoliberalism During those post-war years, when the welfare state was addressing the common good, there was a plot going on. It was as simple as that! A group of men decided to promote a very different way of seeing the world to counter the socialism of the welfare state, and the seeds of this idea led to a very different way of being in the world. I want to pay attention to this; it gives a clue as to just how easy it is to influence people to change their minds – and it emphasises the importance of critiquing democracy through the lens of values. Social justice values provide a system of checks and balances which deepen, not weaken, democracy.
A political story of corruption on the part of the rich … In 1947, hidden away in the little village of Mont Pelerin in Switzerland, a group of 40 men plotted a very different story based on very different values: one that would replace cooperation and compassion with competition and exploitation. They became known as the Mont Pelerin Society and their ideology became known as neoliberalism, and it was an extremely strange idea indeed. In fact, it was so strange that they knew better than to put it into the public domain until the time was right. People had always been told that the market served society. How could a small group of men convince the world that profit comes before people and the planet? It was the antithesis of the welfare state! Nevertheless, they gave it a go, prepared to wait for the right opportunity before going public. What an enormous challenge to convince people to see life upside down: the market ruling people, the rich deserving even more riches, and the poor and the planet paying for this greed and excess!
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