Social innovation

A social invention is a new or imaginative way of responding to a social problem or improving the quality of life. Unlike a technological invention, it tends to be a new service, rather than a product or patentable process. It does not necessarily generate funds. It may take the form of a new law, organization or procedure that changes the way in which people relate to themselves or to each other, whether individually or collectively. Each social system ultimately combines a series of such social inventions. Some, such as education, may be relatively developed, while others, such as intergroup relations, may have so few methods to rely on that the system is more a constellation of problems than a cluster of solutions. Human development may be viewed in terms of the manner in which social innovation is facilitated.

There are enormous possibilities in the technological power available to mankind. These may lead to tyrannical and corrupt systems based on power over nature, or to a society where sources of human misery have been eliminated and each individual may live free from the oppression of war, poverty and disease.

Social innovation is necessary in a society where the transition from civilization to the postcivilization age is taking place. Basic changes are occurring in family and social structure, child rearing, mobility, average age of population and population expansion, religious beliefs and ideology. Not only is there a danger that the technological transitions taking place so differently in communist and capitalist systems may lead to conflict, war, and no stable social system in either case; but also, if there is in fact no conflict, that a single drab uniformity may result. Such uniformity, whether of culture or of race, is contrary to change and development. Hybrid strains need pure strains to be maintained if they are to remain healthy.

The necessity for social innovation is highlighted by the imbalance between the goals of decision-making and influential groups such as trade unions, professional bodies and so on (normally the exploitation of technology to improve material well-being) and the goals of individuals within such a group (where the emphasis may be on ethical, aesthetic and spiritual considerations). The result is a rejection by the individual of the social consensus of the group of which he is a part, while at the same time the determination to profit to the maximum from the material advantages offered by membership of such a group.

Attempts at harmonizing such imbalance have focused on:

 – The definition of a social added value similar to economic added value, where instead of considering the controlled energy applied in materials handling, the controlled energy applied by society as a whole (social and human activity, use of collective equipment) would be applied to education, health, cultural and civic activities.

 – The financing of projects on dissemination of social innovation, the protection of legal and moral rights of social innovators and the determination of a means for evaluating an innovation and its market possibilities.