The Wicked Problem of Our Failing Social Compact
The United States is an outlier among nations in its failure to adopt robust climate policy. The underlying cause is not unique to the climate issue. Climate, like growing national debt, embodies a trade-off between individual consumption now versus investment yielding long-term societal gain. Over...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
[2018]
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| In: |
Zygon
Year: 2018, Volume: 53, Issue: 2, Pages: 624-641 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
USA
/ Climate protection
/ Social action
/ Political action
/ Langzeitverhalten
/ Climatic change
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| RelBib Classification: | NCC Social ethics NCG Environmental ethics; Creation ethics ZC Politics in general |
| Further subjects: | B
Ethics
B social compact B Climate B transcendental values B Debt B extended cooperation B Political corruption B Evolution B group selection B Social norms |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | The United States is an outlier among nations in its failure to adopt robust climate policy. The underlying cause is not unique to the climate issue. Climate, like growing national debt, embodies a trade-off between individual consumption now versus investment yielding long-term societal gain. Over human history, social norms favoring one over the other wax and wane with the pervasiveness of transcendental values as embodied in personal virtue, social connectedness, spirituality, and religious faith. Over the past few decades, many indicators show that American social norms and extended cooperation have weakened. Given entrenched political corruption and continuing institutional failure to address multiple long-term societal challenges, individuals are called upon personally to practice and to enforce pro-social norms and to advance high-leverage systemic changes, some identified in this article, which will allow extended cooperation to once again flourish. |
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| ISSN: | 1467-9744 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Zygon
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/zygo.12402 |