The Sane Alternative

THE SANE ALTERNATIVE A Choice of Futures James Robertson Revised and Expanded Edition, 1983 with New 2008 Preface on page a ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please note: The revised edition of this book was written twenty five years ago. Many of the addresses of people and organizations, and in some cases the names of organizations, have changed since then. For the sake of historical accuracy I have kept the references to them as they were originally published. James Robertson, January 2008 i First published 1978 Reprinted 1978 Revised edition 1983 Copyright © James Robertson 1983 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ISBN 0 9505962 13 This book is copyright. But the author and publisher wishes its contents to be discussed as widely and freely as possible. Provided that due acknowledgement is made, permission is hereby given to quote from it in the course of fair dealing for purposes of exposition, comment, criticism, review, research and study. United States editions, 1979, 1980: River Basin Publishing Co., Box 30573, St. Paul, Minnesota 55175, U.S.A. German edition, "Die lebenswerte Alternative", 1979: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt, Germany. Swedish edition, "Det sunda alternativet", 1981: Liber Forlag, Stockholm, Sweden. [Further editions, 2008 - Indonesian edition, "Alternatif Yang Sehat", 1990: Yayasan Obor Indonesia, Jl Plaju No 10, Jakarta 10230. Chile (Spanish) edition, "La Alternativa Sensata",1992, 1993: Pedro de Valdivia, Avda.Pedro de Valdivia 1783 L. 89, Santiago.] Revised edition printed and bound in Great Britain by Gibbons Barford Print, Wolverhampton. Published by and available [since 1984] from JAMES ROBERTSON, The Old Bakehouse, Cholsey, Nr. Wallingford, Oxon 0X10 9NU, England. ii ABOUT THE AUTHOR James Robertson believes that industrialised societies and the world as a whole are now at a turning point; the 'post-industrial revolution' has begun. Since 1973 he has worked as an independent writer, speaker and adviser. From their cottage in Ironbridge, Shropshire, he and his wife, Alison Pritchard, keep in touch through the Turning Point network with other people in many parts of the world who feel that new values, new lifestyles and a new system of society must be helped to break through, as the old ones continue to break down. Robertson's early career - from 1953 to 1965 - was in government. He served in the British Cabinet Office, and in 1960 he accompanied Prime Minister Harold Macmillan on the 'wind of change' tour of Africa. Subsequently, after some years' experience in systems analysis and management consulting, Robertson set up the Inter-Bank Research Organisation and directed it for the British banks from 1968 until 1973. Between 1965 and 1973 he was involved in many enquiries and studies on the organisation of Britain's government, civil service, and Parliament; on relations between government and industry; and on the future role of London as a world financial centre. James Robertson's other books are: The Reform of British Central Government' (1971); 'Profit Or People? The New Social Role Of Money' (1974); and 'Power, Money And Sex: Towards A New Social Balance' (1976). 1983 iii CONTENTS Page 2008 Preface a Introduction 6 1 A Choice of Futures 10 Five Scenarios 11 Business As Usual 14 Disaster 16 Authoritarian Control 18 Hyper-Expansion (HE) 20 Sane, Humane, Ecological (SHE) 22 A Historical Perspective 23 2 A New Economic Direction 30 Limits to Conventional Economic Expansion 30 (1) Physical Limits 30 (2) Social Limits 31 (3) Institutional Limits 32 (4) Psychological Limits 32 (5) Conceptual Limits 33 A SHE Economic Path 35 (1) Energy and Resources 37 (2) Lower Throughput, Greater Durability 38 (3) People First, Things Second 38 (4) Self-Reliance and Mutual Aid 39 (5) A More Decentralised Economy 40 (6) 'Another Development' Internationally 40 (7) Technology as Servant 41 (8) Town and Country 42 (9) Greater Economic Equality 43 (10) Work, Leisure and Life 45 3 Walking on Two Legs 46 Dual Economy: Formal and Informal 46 Formal Economy: Background 51 Formal Economy: International Perspective 53 Future of the Welfare State 57 Restructuring the Economy 60 iv 4 A Shift of Paradigms 65 What is a Paradigm Shift? 65 Wealth 67 Power 69 Growth 71 Work 74 Metaphysical Reconstruction 85 5 A Process of Transformation 87 Upward Spiral 87 Breakdown/Breakthrough 88 Decolonisation 90 Liberation 96 Psychology of Transformation 99 A Multitude of Roles 100 6 Strategy for Change 106 Pieces of the Action 107 Other Theories of Social Change 111 (1) Technological Imperative 112 (2) Reformism 113 (3) Political Revolution 114 (4) Confrontation, and Direct Political Action 115 Objections to a Pluralist Strategy 116 Comparison with Marxism 118 Non-Violent Transformation 122 Postscript to Chapter Six 124 Peace 124 Feminism 124 7 Tea-Time at Marshbeck 127 Appendix : Some Questions for Discussion 133 References and Bibliography 135 Index 148 v The Sane Alternative: 2008 Preface www.jamesrobertson.com THE SANE ALTERNATIVE: A Choice of Futures 2008 Preface The original edition of this book was published in 1978. This one is the revised edition of 1983. The original and revised editions both began, "More and more people believe that the human race must break through to a new kind of future. Failure will mean disaster; success will mean an important upward step on the ladder of evolutionary progress. Many of us see this breakthrough as the central project, the historic task, for the two or three generations living at the present time — the task that gives meaning to our lives". If you ask how things have gone since then, two things are certain. First, many more people in the world recognise now that humanity faces a choice between global catastrophe and global breakthrough. Second, over these years we have moved distinctly further towards breakdown than breakthrough. The Sane Alternative and The Seventh Enemy 1978, the year the first edition of The Sane Alternative came out, also saw publication of Ronald Higgins' book The Seventh Enemy: The Human Factor in the Global Crisis (Hodder and Stoughton, London: ISBN 0 340 20426 5). His introductory message was as follows: "Mankind is blundering headlong towards multiple calamity. ........ The gathering crisis is unique, the first in history involving the whole earth and the entire species. The next two or three decades will witness the convergence of six immense and seemingly remorseless threats. Only through the most drastic yet sensitive action would we substantially moderate their impact. The human factor will be decisive in both its aspects, the personal and the collective. But the behaviour of twentieth century man does not encourage confidence. Quite the opposite: in our individual blindness and the frightening inertia of our political institutions we must locate the greatest of all the dangers, what I have called the Seventh Enemy". If we judged his book and mine as prophecies of what was actually going to happen during the 30 years since then, I am forced to admit that mine would now seem hopelessly optimistic — especially in the modest essay in social fiction in Chapter 7. But, even though we have actually moved in the wrong direction for the past thirty years, I believe it should still be a The Sane Alternative: 2008 Preface www.jamesrobertson.com possible for the people of the world to change course, huge change though that may seem to most of us to be. In spite of the important difference between them, The Seventh Enemy and The Sane Alternative shared two important features. First, our approach was comprehensive — "systemic" or "holistic" as some might say. Ronald emphasised the convergence of the six impersonal threats — population explosion, maldistribution of food, shortage of vital resources, degradation of the environment, misuse of nuclear power, and the growing tendency of science and technology to escape human control — both with one another and with the Seventh Enemy, the human factor. I suggested that, by applying principles of "enable and conserve" to almost every sphere of human life and organisation, we could create interactive support for benign change between them all. Instead of combined system collapse, we could achieve combined system renewal. Second, we both recognised the human factor as critical. This no doubt owed something to our both having spent an early part of our working life in government. Reflecting his previous experiences in diplomacy and policy-making, Ronald emphasised the psychological aspects of political inertia and personal blindness. Reflecting my experience of organisational change and policy-making, I emphasised the part played by institutional structures in motivating human activity, and the need to overcome the resistance of well-established people to the reconstruction and renewal of accepted organisations no longer "fit for purpose". Failings of the Prevailing Conventional Wisdom The past thirty years appear to confirm that a comprehensive, "joined up" approach to the issues facing us, which seriously takes the human factor into account, is beyond the capacity of society's collective brain today. The career constraints imposed by departmental structures of understanding and research in science and academia, the similarly departmentalised structures of decision-making and action by government, and the dominance of career considerations in these various separate spheres, all prohibit it. A case in point is the top priority currently given by conventional wisdom to global warming and reduction

Load more