Big Society message is too vague to unlock our “hidden wealth”

Dr Jonathan Rowson is the Associate Director of the RSA’s Social Brain project and a chess Grandmaster

David Cameron’s speech on Monday was his fourth attempt to launch the Big Society, highlighting Francis Maude’s earlier admission that the government have “failed to articulate” the idea in a compelling way. The big idea in the Big Society is currently being lost in the detail. Maude, the minister with overall responsibility for the concept, could only promise they will “carry on explaining it as best we can”, but this statement hardly inspires confidence.

David-Cameron-Big-Society For almost two years the government have neglected to explicitly state what many implicitly value about the idea; namely that the Big Society could be about personal development through participation, and improving the quality and efficacy of our relationships.

When Mr Cameron speaks of his “profound faith in human beings” and describes “making society stronger” as the passion that gets him out of his bed in the morning, what he really means is that he wants strangers to connect, and help each other more than they currently do.

This core message of the Big Society is not getting through because a narrative of cultural change is always trumped by news of cuts. Relationships are less tangible than revenue, and the central role of people is obscured by the minutiae of policies.

Before the last election, Labour produced a video satirising the Big Society. A harried mother returns home from a stint as a teacher, social worker and lollipop lady and scrambles around a chaotic kitchen while responding to her plaintive children. She frantically reads sticky notes and picks up several different phones in order to fulfill her improbable roles as a police officer, parole board official and 999 Operator.

She responds to her daughter saying she is tired by saying:

“Well, we all are darling, that’s the Big Society for you.”

The caption at the end of the advert reads:

“Cameron’s Big Society: Where People do the things governments used to do.”

Curiously, the very same closing sentiment is presented by proponents of the Big Society, without irony, as a positive development; indeed the very heart of the coalition government’s policy agenda. To be fair, it is not difficult to imagine a similar satirical video, perhaps in the style of ‘Yes Minister’, about the incompetence of a distant managerial government, compared to the honest impact of engaged local citizens.

The point is whatever else we think of the idea, the credibility of the Big Society hinges on the viability of the demands placed on ‘people’, and the kinds of assumed competencies that are implicit in these demands.

Moreover, given that anthropological studies suggest the English are prone to ‘negative politeness’ and disinclined to ‘make a fuss’, while national attitude surveys suggest Brits are unusually afraid of strangers, and relatively authoritarian in nature, the Big Society demands on ‘people’ to participate and cooperate will be particularly acute.

A forthcoming report from the RSA Social Brain project, ‘The Hidden Curriculum of the Big Society’, argues that instead of framing the Big Society as an implausible technical (policy-driven) solution to socio-economic challenges, it can only work as an adaptive (personal and cultural) challenge to utilise and build our hidden wealth.

David Halpern describes hidden wealth as the value of our care-based exchanges, which are grounded in social norms of cooperation and trust. Compared to the relatively nebulous notion of the Big Society, hidden wealth is empirically grounded, and a strong driver of economic growth and national wellbeing.

Understood in this way, the curriculum of the Big Society, including mass participation and cooperation, seems to require us to gain certain key competencies that are involved in social productivity and cooperation, including responsibility, autonomy and solidarity. We argue that acquiring these competencies is not straightforward and entails significant developmental challenges, amounting to a hidden curriculum for a growth in mental complexity on a national scale.

To make the Big Society message bolder and clearer, we need to be more insightful about the emotional and psychological demands and rewards of participation. For the Big Society to work, we need to support adult development. Mr Cameron’s cultural change only becomes meaningful when we change our relationship not just to the state, but to each other and ourselves.

http://twitter.com/casparhenderson/status/73683144066338816 Caspar Henderson

Big Society message is too vague to unlock our "hidden wealth": http://bit.ly/mMaQdO by @theRSAorg's Dr Jonathan Rowson
http://twitter.com/katefullcot/status/73685845894365184 Kate Fullcot

Big Society message is too vague to unlock our “hidden wealth”: David Halpern describes hidden wealth as the val… http://bit.ly/ieqdkU
http://twitter.com/jopastner/status/73685844837408768 Jo Pastner

Big Society message is too vague to unlock our “hidden wealth”: David Halpern describes hidden wealth as the val… http://bit.ly/ieqdkU
http://twitter.com/udotweet/status/73689869959966720 U-DO

Big Society message is too vague http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/05/big-society-message-too-vague-to-unlock-hidden-wealth/
http://twitter.com/slasheduk/status/73690226098311168 SlashedUK

RT @leftfootfwd: Big Society message is too vague to unlock our "hidden wealth": http://bit.ly/mMaQdO by @theRSAorg's Dr Jonathan Rowson
http://twitter.com/selfbelieforyou/status/73693379942293504 John Buckley

Big Society message is too vague to unlock our “hidden wealth”: For almost two years the government have neglect… http://bit.ly/l4I0Ss
http://twitter.com/nhsspy/status/73696399744700416 Watching You

Big Society message is too vague to unlock our "hidden wealth": http://bit.ly/mMaQdO by @theRSAorg's Dr Jonathan Rowson
http://twitter.com/petegdrake/status/73697412740415488 Pete G Drake

Big Society message is too vague to unlock our “hidden wealth”: For almost two years the government have neglect… http://bit.ly/iwkwTj
http://twitter.com/fuelyoursoul/status/73699539399356417 Fuel Your Soul

Big Society message is too vague to unlock our “hidden wealth”: For almost two years the go… http://bit.ly/ispg1n #personaldevelopment
http://twitter.com/testrssfeed10/status/73701805355315200 PRO

Big Society message is too vague to unlock our “hidden wealth” http://bit.ly/k2pdJ7
http://twitter.com/learningme/status/73701809063067648 Peter Cowan

Big Society message is too vague to unlock our “hidden wealth” http://bit.ly/k4DbVT
http://twitter.com/wealthykarla/status/73701911915798528 Wealthy Karla

Big Society message is too vague to unlock our “hidden wealth”: David Halpern describes hidden wealth as the val… http://bit.ly/iiQ5gH
http://twitter.com/raetwitswealth/status/73701911844503553 Rae Twits Wealth

Big Society message is too vague to unlock our “hidden wealth”: David Halpern describes hidden wealth as the val… http://bit.ly/iiQ5gH
http://twitter.com/raintreequest/status/73701916479209472 Richard & Christine

Big Society message is too vague to unlock our “hidden wealth” http://bit.ly/kNakzB
http://twitter.com/financeforlife/status/73701918337273856 Finance-For-Life

Big Society message is too vague to unlock our “hidden wealth” http://bit.ly/kdvQS4
http://twitter.com/shanelvallelong/status/73702481175117824 Shanel Vallelonga

Big Society message is too vague to unlock our “hidden wealth”: A harried mother returns home from a stint as a … http://bit.ly/ldnFfu
http://twitter.com/jimcoffeyii/status/73702758234071040 Jim Coffey

Big Society message is too vague to unlock our “hidden wealth”: For almost two years the government have neglect… http://bit.ly/k9atfI
http://twitter.com/richbizpartner/status/73702910021738496 Christine Brandt

Big Society message is too vague to unlock our “hidden wealth” http://bit.ly/k3M93D
Midlands Mike

Why don’t we stop faffing around for new words, and call it wht it is, something we have had for 200 years, “Civil Society.” Even Caameron does not understand that anyway, but the rest of us will
http://twitter.com/janet_lovelace/status/73704537449431040 Janet Lovelace

Big Society message is too vague to unlock our “hidden wealth”: David Halpern describes hidden wealth as the val… http://bit.ly/jgukIh
http://twitter.com/tweettheoracle/status/73716905118154753 The Oracle

Big Society message is too vague to unlock our “hidden wealth”: For almost two years the government have neglect… http://bit.ly/lT6MAk
http://twitter.com/newlifepassion/status/73734588941336576 Adrian and Alison

Big Society message is too vague to unlock our “hidden wealth” http://bit.ly/mcDSV3
Clare Fernyhough

These ideas surfaced a few years back when I was working professionally delivering community projects. Basically, a new qualification was formulated for young people whereby they were trained by us. At level 3 of this qualification they would be able to lead projects; bit by bit they would replace jobs that were once graduate positions. The cheek of it was that we were told that generally we would receive little remuneration for delivering this project.

It’s comparable to the cashback scheme for tenants being piloted at present. Qualified plumbers and other council or housing association staff will train tenants to do some of the jobs that landlords traditionally undertake on their properties. By doing this however, it will lead to job losses.

I understand that all sorts of government departments need to make cuts, but relying on the ‘big society’ idea could not only lead to more job losses and patchy public services.

Gone are the days when your next door neighbour stood in as a midwife or laid out a dead body; there is no ‘hidden wealth’ to unlock. To make ends meet nowadays people work long hours, especially if they are on a low income: there just isn’t time to pop in to the elderly next door neighbour to take a meal, do their ironing or their shopping.

I receive home care now and I’m unable to work. To be honest I would not like my neighbours to feel obliged to help, and I definately would not like strangers in my house helping me in and out of the bath. Most of my neighbours work full time and long hours, and the others are either retired or ill themselves.

If Cameron is really serious about this he ought to order all employers to set a 4 day working week for the same remuneration and then one day a week people could be assigned jobs in the community. It’s the only way it would work, but it would still lead to mass job losses and companies are unlikely to agree to that.

He can keep ‘relaunching’ the big society ideas however many times he wants to; perhaps he should take the lead by volunteering, along with the cabinet, M.P.s and the Lords, to wipe bums in a local care home a couple of hours a week for the whole term of his office as well as take a massive pay cut: people might listen then.
http://twitter.com/domweinberg/status/73753945239076865 Dom Weinberg

Brits are "unusually afraid of strangers&relatively authoritarian in nature" – #bigsociety will be hard RT @leftfootfwd http://bit.ly/ktMIIY
Pat Elsmie

To me, a Big Society is about everyone’s participation in human society, feeling and playing our full part, not for personal gain but knowing there will be bountiful benefits to be shared all round. It is not about volunteering as a chore, task or job to do any government’s or authority figure’s work. It is not about money, the economy or balancing fiscal budget. It’s about being BIG – open, expansive, broad-minded, compassionate, forgiving, welcoming, sharing, giving, mindful, respectful – with each other and ourselves. It’s about you and me, individual and separate yet together and for each other.
http://twitter.com/prosales2010/status/73778549282189313 PRO Sales

Big Society message is too vague to unlock our "hidden wealth …: For almost two years the government have negl… http://bit.ly/lOtzTX
http://twitter.com/pro_start2010/status/73778988417417217 PRO Start

Big Society message is too vague to unlock our "hidden wealth …: For almost two years the government have negl… http://bit.ly/iZjAfO
http://twitter.com/chrindu/status/73858613931814912 Edward Sainsbury

Big Society message is too vague to unlock our "hidden wealth": http://bit.ly/mMaQdO by @theRSAorg's Dr Jonathan Rowson
http://twitter.com/mindstrategies/status/73972849836179456 Ross A

Big Society message is too vague to unlock our “hidden wealth”: For almost two years the government have neglect… http://bit.ly/j3WMF3
http://twitter.com/renegadecoachin/status/73972872405729280 Mark Sumpter

Big Society message is too vague to unlock our “hidden wealth” http://bit.ly/lF69MD