Social Reset Track

 
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The Social Reset Track is an opportunity for you to think about what a deep social reset would look like through critical examination of the complex patchwork mosaic within which everything we do lives and breaths. You will be challenged to explore what it takes to create a society that is fair, dignified, equitable, and unbreakably resilient - a society where anyone can thrive. To do this, you will consider how various interconnected factors within our system can be leveraged to distribute power and knowledge equity in ways that enable a deep and restorative social reset.

Living in a Moment of Entangled Systemic Crises

To do this we have to look deeper and be uncompromising in our quest. We are living in a moment of entangled systemic crises—a health crisis, an economic crisis, a climate crisis, an education crisis, a democratic crisis, a pandemic of inequality, and so much more. Without a social reset, we cannot untangle any of those. And whilst the pandemic shone a light on these cracks in our systems, the cracks have always been there and we’ve simply abided by life being built on top of those cracks.

A Window of Opportunity

The system is designed to ignore those cracks and 2020 has shown how that lack of resilience can cascade into a human tragedy that we could have avoided. When the pandemic is finally under control, we can’t return to our old ways and turn a blind eye to what we’ve seen? We have been served a window of opportunity cloaked in a tragic global wake up call. This is the chance to shape a recovery that doesn’t compromise, that enables a notion of society that we can believe in, that becomes the foundation of everything else - our lives, our climate, our economy, our health, our futures, everything. A true social reset. A system where power is distributed and a social contract is fundamentally dignified.

'Building Back Better' Is Not Enough

So, whilst much of the public discourse has advocated for ‘building back better’, it’s clear that this is not enough. We need to seize this moment to imagine bigger and always remember that our systems don’t exist to be served by society in different ways, they exist to serve society equally. We need a deep and restorative recovery but that can only happen if we leverage a lot of points in the system to change what enabled so much pain to begin with.

Potential Project Questions

Consider some of the following questions or projects within this Track:

  • Consider some of the following questions or projects within this Track:

    • How might we design a society where people have the power to easily change things that are unfair?

    • How might we organize society so that power is distributed through equality and justice, not luck and privilege?

    • How might we design a social reset that guarantees a dignified life?

    • How might we build a system that ensures knowledge equity reaches every area of policy?

    • How might we create a system that nourishes and serves society rather than individuals?

    • How might we write a social contract centered around human dignity?

    • How might we design social and democratic systems that withstand the age of disinformation?

    • How might we create institutions that protect a social reset from reverting back to old ways?

Track Insights and Resources

Curious to find out more? You can look through the following insights and resources for the Social Reset Track to get thinking about the challenges that this track brings to the fore.