SOCIOCRACY - FROM OBSCURITY TO MAINSTREAM?
Leaders, business schools, politicians, communities and organisations around the country seem to agree that after the 2008 crash the societal system as we know it no longer works, and our way of living and running our organisations is not sustainable. All seem to be grappling to find new ways of doing things, yet in the vacuum everything seems to revert to the status quo. Of course, as Einstein said, you don't solve problems with the same ideas that created them, so our current leaders may not the best people to ask for solutions and ideas for the future.
Indeed it is unlikely the models of the future will be found in current mainstream practices. It is now time for the more 'obscure' approaches to come to the forefront. Indeed is it not now time for approaches like Sociocracy to come to the fore - and over time become mainstream? Certainly in Britain I feel there is a deep sense amongst the population of people wanting to take things back into their own hands, to decide the direction of their companies and communities themselves, not just in their spare time, but at work too - democracy in the workplace, as I call it. Yet at the same time there is a malaise, probably because we don't know how to go about it exactly. Sociocracy could fill the vacuum.
What is currently happening in the Arab world is quite phenomenal, young people taking matters into their own hands irrespective of old antagonisms. I have a hunch that these motions might not stop in the Arab world, the movement could well move into Europe over time, with our younger generations wanting to take charge of their lives. Not only are people here disillusioned with our representative democracy, which doesn't really seem to be very representative, but also in the work place (where most people spend more than half their awake day) democracy is to a large extent non-existant. With an economy in tatters and society no longer working well, well that's plenty of fuel for things to happen here in the West. Of course it could go both ways, and we could find ourselves in dark ages of horrible repression. But I am more optimistic and believe we now have an opportunity to change things for the better - and sociocracy, I believe, offers a magnificent tool to enable us to do that!
First published on SociocracyUK website 5 February 2011 (just after Arab Spring)
