For social justice to have an impact, individual participation is key
“Striving for social justice is the most valuable thing to do in life.” — Albert Einstein
We have already established that I love superhero movies. Like many of you, I watched the season finale of The Falcon and the winter soldier. Something Sam Wilson aka The Falcon aka Captain America stood out for me.
When speaking to a bunch of senators:
We can’t demand that people step up if we don’t meet them halfway. Look, you control the banks. Shit, you can move borders! You can knock down a forest with an email; you can feed a million people with a phone call. But the question is, who’s in the room with you when you’re making those decisions? Hmm? Is it the people you’re gonna impact? Or is it just more people like you?
This resonated with me. It sparked the impact-driven category designer in me. Who do we surround ourselves with when we make decisions? Who is really in the room with us?
Let’s start from the beginning.
- When parents make a decision that will impact their child, is the child in question in the room with them?
- When a CEO makes a decision that will impact their customers, are the customers in the room with the CEO?
- When a head of state makes a decision that will impact the country, are the people in the room with the head of state?
These are just three scenarios in which the people who must be included are not. How can we then expect them to step up? Be a part of the process?
According to the UN, social justice is “the view that everyone deserves equal economic, political and social rights and opportunities.”
And the goal of social justice is “the full and equal participation of all groups in a society that is mutually shaped to meet their needs.”
But participation starts from inclusivity. And inclusivity needs to start at a young age. If a child is not included in conversations that impact the future, then why would they feel the need to participate as adults?
Social justice requires participation and I believe participation is a habit. When children are encouraged by parents to participate in shaping their future, they a “taught” the value of participating and participation.
From a young age children then start to understand the need for having the right people in the room when making a decision.
I believe one of the biggest problems we have in society is no one is taught the value of participating and participation. Working for a company isn’t just about doing a job, it's participating and being allowed to participate in conversations that impact the wider community.
Take a look at this video from ILO done for social justice day 2020.
What stood out from me immediately is there are no children.
Democracy isn’t just about us exercising our franchise it's also about civil discourse. Social justice isn’t just about country, community, or organizational level policy. It starts with the individual. And therefore it starts with family. It starts with children.
There are myriad examples day-to-day. But let’s look at a recent one. There was recent news about Emergent BioSolutions. They disclosed that 15 million of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine was ruined. The company lost almost half its stock value.
But their CEO sold 97,849 shares and made $11.1 million. The average price of a share was $113.73. Had he waited for the announcement, his shares those shares would be worth almost $5million less.
The company spokesperson made the following comment to the Washington Post:
Mr. Kramer, our executive team, and our board of directors are held to the highest ethical standards and follow strict compliance with all laws and regulations governing financial transactions. Any insinuation of wrongdoing is without evidence or merit. Source — https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/emergent-robert-kramer-stock-sales/2021/04/25/de151434-a2b6-11eb-a7ee-949c574a09ac_story.html
But what about social justice? What about equity and equality? Right now the CEO has not faced the consequences but there are calls for it. But if the company is unable to meet its contractual commitments people will lose jobs. Is this social justice? Is this fair?
How can we create a more equitable society if we hadn’t designed for it from the outset? Is social justice taught as a subject? Or better yet adopted as a framework?
Let’s look at a typical high school. There are always cliques. Here’s the problem with cliques. They have a shared point of view. They also tend to not socialize outside the clique. This inhibits us from learning about diverse points of view and being about to accept them. So guess what happens when we grow up?
We find it hard to engage in authentic dialogue or be around people who don’t necessarily share our point of view. As adults, if the world doesn’t agree with us, we stop participating. We don’t see disagreements as a part of discourse, we see it as being divisive.
Take the pandemic. There are those who still don’t believe it to be real. They believe lockdowns are unnecessary. Vaccines are a ploy. And COVID-19 is a hoax created by the media.
Here’s the problem with that. Whether we agree or disagree. Whether we participate or don’t. Whether we believe or not. The consequences are real. You can contract the virus if you are exposed to it long enough. The icecaps are melting and the sea levels will rise.
But by participating and doing it early we can reduce the impact of the consequences and enhance our actions.
If more people wore masks, adhered to social distancing protocols and respected government guidelines perhaps the pandemic might be over?
In most situations, it’s the innocent and poor that face the consequences. But they shouldn’t have to.
If everyone participated and was allowed to participate, then decisions would be made based on those that it would impact the most.
Take the second wave in India for example. The poor are dying without oxygen. But it’s more than that. It's also a loss of income and in some cases, the dead are the sole breadwinners. They quite simply cannot afford to be sick.
Some affluent are dying too. But the difference is they don’t also have to worry about paying for hospital bills and major loss of income on top of mourning for a loved one.
This is why social justice needs to start from the family, the school, the company, the community, and the country. And yes also the categories.
When I introduced the 4th element of category design — impact design, I spoke of accounting for impact from the outset.
A category is an ecosystem. And ecosystems need to be socially just. They need to help create an equitable society. As category designers, we need to think about how our categories are going to create not just a different future but an equitable one.
How can our categories be leveraged to create long-term equitable social impact? How can it be used as a framework for social justice?
Saving the world starts with saving the individual.