2014年5月31日 星期六

Brainstorming for Social Good 民間社會創新集思會

國際協作動力 --- 民間社會創新集思會
BRAINSTORMING FOR SOCIAL GOOD

DATE: 7 JUNE 2014 (SAT)
TIME: 8:00PM - 9:00PM
PLACE: ACTIVITY RM, KWUN CHUNG SPORTS CENTER, JORDAN.
CONTACT: DESMOND CHAN 9033 4604 (PLS LEAVE YOUR MESSAGE)


(every first and third saturday evening after reading circle or open course activities)

2014年5月29日 星期四

How to Change the World


Wesleyan University Open Course on Coursera

How to Change the World has its origins in the Social GoodSummit held at the 92nd Street Y in New York. The summit brought together some of the world's most creative entrepreneurs, writers, academics and political leaders to discuss ways innovative thinking and technology can address pressing global challenges.  Beginning from talks, panels and conversations from the summit, we will add lectures, on-line discussion groups, hangouts and readings to explore the issues in politics, technology and the environment in broader academic and historical contexts. We will then discover together what actions we can take to make a difference.   

Course Syllabus
Week 1: What are Social Goods? What is the Commons?
Week 2: Poverty and Development
Week 3: Climate Change and Sustainability
Week 4: Disease and Global Health Care
Week 5: Women, Education and Social Change
Week 6: Looking Back, Looking Forward


Course Open: 21 June 2014

Lecturer: Michael S. Roth

哈佛公開課:正義---一場思辨之旅(第三講)

日期 :2014年 6月7日(星期六)[第三講]
時間:7:00 PM – 8:00 PM 
             (8:00PM-9:00PM 民間社會創新集思會)
地點:佐敦 官涌道體育館 壁球場(活動室)
聯絡:Desmond Chan 9033 4604

簡介:這是哈佛大學政治學教授Michael Sandel的公開課,全課程共12講。本課是第三講,主要探討自由主義的理論。 (參加者請於出席前從網上Youtube觀看有關錄影片段)
參考:http://www.justiceharvard.org/
             http://www.hksyu.edu.hk/lib/display/justice/
參考書: 《正義:一場思辦之旅》

(報名請留下聯絡電話及姓名,聚會時間地點如有更改當另行通知。Please leave your name and mobile number for contact. Separate notice shall be given should there be any changes on gathering location and time.)







2014年5月28日 星期三

OurTV


OurTV為網絡公共廣播服務e-Public Broadcasting Service (ePBS) 的先鋒,立意成為一民間自發、以市民及社區為本的網上影音媒體開放平台,致力關注社區上的各類多元、專屬議題,讓廣大的社群及時知悉;更讓各界團體、市民在此平台上進行理性和感性兼備的互動參與,共同凝聚公民社會的力量,為香港社會的進步和建設發聲出力。因應資訊科技發展,我們推動全民、全天候、全方位的網絡平等參與 (e-engagement),深信此為培育公民社會及締造民間共識的基礎。

中文網頁 | English Videos | YouTube Channel

明途聯繫 MentalCare Connect




香港心理衛生會於二零零二年初成立「明途聯繫有限公司」,發展宗旨是「聯繫四方商機,導向光輝前路」。作為香港具規模的「社會企業」,我們積極結合官、商、民三方面的資源,以「市場導向」和「顧客導向」為營運基礎:

 - 聯繫各方商機,為殘疾人士及弱勢社群製造就業機會;
 - 經營溢利會全數重投於業務的未來發展。

The Mental Health Association of Hong Kong has founded MentalCare Connect Company Limited, a social enterprise, to provide wide range of services for the disabled and marginalized groups.

社企項目 Social Enterprise Projects:




2014年5月26日 星期一

豐盛社企學會Fullness Social Enterprise Society


豐盛社企學會是一非牟利組織, 旨在成為香港社企運動之意見領袖。透過客觀的應用研究, 出版刊物及專業培訓, 為熱心參與香港社企運動之人士提供適切的洞見, 智慧及管理知識。本學會是由基督教豐盛社會企業有限公司2011年成立, 它為全港首間社企於2008年成功集資, 鼓勵責任消費(2009年)及推動知識型義工參與社企運動 (2010)


Fullness Social Enterprises Society (FSES) is non-profit organization aiming to be the opinion leader in the social enterprises movement in Hong Kong. Through applied research, publication, and dedicated training, FSES provides insight and intelligence to social enterprises practitioners in Hong Kong. The Society was set up by Fullness Christian Social Enterprise which was the first social enterprise to raise capital through issuing stocks in 2008, promoting responsible consumption in 2009, and advocating knowledge volunteering in 2010.


豐盛髮廊 Fullness Salon


藉基督信仰,以社會企業形式,幫助邊緣青年,重投社會。

Main Page 主頁 | Contact 聯絡我們 




2014年5月25日 星期日

團結力量推動社會經濟

社會經濟運動,是一個人人有份、持續不斷的學習過程,參與運動的目標是讓每一個個人都能在自己的位置上,無論是作為生產者、消費者、銷售者、持份者、生活者……都能互相連結,在本港、內地以至全球各地進行新經濟實踐,重新建立經濟生活中的社會關係,使積極參與者能夠互相學習,完成自我提升,成為全球的經濟公民

社會經濟以團結的力量取代競爭的力量,創造多元經濟生活的實踐空間,於不同地域及經濟範疇實現經濟公義。透過與不同社群的互動合作,社會經濟的參與者一方面着力擴闊社會經濟活動的版圖,另一方面嘗試改造主流巿場及公營部門的經濟運作模式;只有當更多的巿民大眾都能身體力行參與新經濟實踐,社會經濟運動才有希望扭轉目前主流巿場的壟斷模式,並重新建立並孕育良性、健康的生產及消費關係。

目前,社會經濟運動已於全球各地展開,在大部分歐洲國家、南美洲、非洲、亞洲、美國、加拿大,以至澳、紐等地,都可以找到推展社會經濟運動的團體及由它們組成的網絡組織……

我們每個人都是社會經濟的參與者,有着共同的信念和願景,就是反對以經濟發展的名義來製造不公義的社會,我們倡議每個人都能參與到社會經濟的實踐當中,每個人都能推動包括生產者合作社、消費者合作社、公平貿易、社會企業、社區貨幣、良心消費、集體購買、社區支援農業、社區內生性經濟、內置金融和社會所有制等經濟活動,團結最廣泛的社會進步力量,推動社會經濟的發展!



摘錄自: 香港社會經濟聯盟〈香港社會經濟宣言〉,潘毅、陳鳳儀等編(2013)《不一樣的香港社會經濟:超越資本主義社會的想像》第一章,頁2-11,商務印書館:香港。

如何推行社會經濟?

兩位著名的經濟地理學者Katherine Gibson Julia Graham 提出社區或社會經濟的目標,就是要令社會大多數人認同,資本主義外另類經濟是可能的。以社區貨幣計劃為例,不是簡單要求,參加者認同社區貨幣計劃是可能的,而是令非計劃參加者,即香港八、九成人口、差不多五、六百萬人承認,社區貨幣是可能的。

她們指出,和社會大眾建立共識中,要情理兼備,除了理性討論外,還要注入大量情感,令社會大眾覺得過癮,慾望得以滿足,才有果效,增加認同。這或多或少涉及社會經濟主體,建立社會經濟人身份,若他或她覺得合作社是可接受的,他們就是社會經濟人,同意資本以外的另類經濟其實是可能的。

GibsonGraham 同時希望創造新經濟語言,擴大經濟版圖,令許多過去不被視為經濟的東西重新納入經濟範圍內。譬如,教育是否經濟活動?補習社是否經濟活動?如果是,它們是否社會經濟?若它們是社會經濟,又和我們的期望有何不同?我們如何令它變成好的社會經濟?

在此之上,我有以下的看法。首先,另類經濟範圍宜廣不宜窄,才可得到更多人認同。同樣道理,另類經濟也不必拘泥於小而美的想像,不要過於留戀過往一些小範圍的項目,而應可在規模上擁抱更大的想像。

其次,GibsonGraham 提倡創立新經濟語言或講法,而創立符號或許不是關鍵。但是觀乎美國傳統基金會等美國保守派組織的做法,符號的散播看來才是關鍵。放回社會經濟的脈絡,就是如何將社會經濟的語言或說法,送到關鍵人物的口中,從而在關鍵環節發生改變……



摘錄自: 許寶強〈社會經濟解讀〉,潘毅、陳鳳儀等編(2013)《不一樣的香港社會經濟:超越資本主義社會的想像》第三章,頁20-23,商務印書館:香港。

2014年5月21日 星期三

Radio I Care 友心情



Community Development

Community development typically includes voluntary cooperation and self-help efforts by neighborhood residents and professionals to improve the physical, social, and economic conditions of the community.

Community development efforts will often focus on the enhancement of community through the development of leadership, self-help initiatives, and local institutions. It is assumed that these efforts are not necessary for affluent communities, since community development is “asset building that improves the quality of life among residents of low- to moderate-income communities.” The various assets include the physical buildings and land, individual skills and knowledge, all formal and informal relationships, financial capital, and political capital. Thus, this approach aims at improving and building up each asset within the community.

Community development activities are diverse and can include anything from community organizing and planning, advocacy and empowerment, the creation of neighborhood associations or community development corporations, and neighborhood revitalization to social services integration, and the economic, physical, or social development of an area. More recent community development attempts integrate tourism as a strategy for development identifies ten types of community development activities including:
  1. Housing development;
  2. Building commercial property;
  3. Business/ economic improvement;
  4. Planning, advocacy and organizing;
  5. Education and youth development;
  6. Security and public safety;
  7. Workforce development;
  8. Emergency assistance;
  9. Religious services;
  10. Public health.




Lyon Larry and Driskell Robyn (2012) The Community in Urban Society, 2nd edition. Illinois: Waveland Press.

2014年5月19日 星期一

Emotional Age of People

Sustaining a loving relationship depends very much on both partners’ having achieved a level of emotional maturity at which they are genuinely capable of mutual concern, of consciously choosing to be there for your partner and to allow your partner to be there for you. This has nothing to do with chronological age, because emotionally we can be stuck at any age. Most people have no sense at all of the emotional age of the people with whom we choose to become intimate. It emerges only when we are sharing our lives. And it has nothing to do with how we or they handle a work situation. People who are extremely competent in their careers may behave like emotional infants at home.

In getting to know each other with an eye toward starting a long-term intimate relationship, we might keep these categories in mind. And we might consider them in how we interact with our partners at home now.

Emotional Infants
Chronological adults who remain emotionally infants are basically self-centred. They expect to be taken care of and to get what they want when they want it, without having to give in return. They know only what they need, see others primarily as objects to meet their needs and are incapable of empathizing with the needs of others. In their personal relationships, they tend to be tyrants.

Emotional Children
Chronological adults who behave like emotional children tend to be obedient, passive, placaters, appeasers or covertly rebellious. They say in effect,”Tell me what to do,” and expect to have their needs met in return without really having to spell them out. They assume that they will be taken care of if they do what is expected of them. When they are disappointed, they act out their feelings, often in covert or devious ways, such as lying, stealing, manipulation, foot dragging, deception, blaming, sarcasm, withholding, daydreaming, and withdrawing. They are not verbally honest about their discontent, nor can they negotiate openly for what they want.

Emotional Adolescent
Chronological adults who are emotional adolescents are stuck at the stage of working through dependence-versus-independence. They are still asserting their own right to decide for themselves, so their position is, ”Don’t tell me what to do.” Feeling that any expression of others’ feelings or needs is an attempt to control and exert power over them, they reject them. They see meeting them as being reduced to a child. They tend to see others’ pain, disappointment or requests as manipulations intended to control them, and defend against them by withholding the very thing their partners want. If you say “I’d like flowers for my birthday,” such a person may well bring you a card or nothing at all. He or she will wait until the last minute to meet your requests or will ignore them altogether, finding reasons why they are irrational. He or she cannot give you what you want without feeling diminished, and feeling a loss of independence.

Emotional Maturity
Only at the adult level of emotional maturity are we capable of empathizing with our partner’s thoughts, feelings and needs, capable of mutual concern, and self-sufficient enough to be responsible for revealing our own. Only at this level can we sustain a loving relationship, giving and receiving love.
Achieving an adult level of maturity requires a sense of your own worth and respect for the same in your partner. Otherwise you may efface yourself so much that your needs don’t get met, you may be so arrogantly overbearing that you ignore the needs of your partner, you may need so much reassurance that it becomes a burden to your partner.

Gordon, Lori H. (1993) Passage to Intimacy. Weston: The PAIRS Foundation.


2014年5月17日 星期六

Community Engagement and Civil Renewal

Civic participation is at the very heart of democracy and is its lifeblood. Local community has been regarded as one of the cornerstones of democracy where residents can exercise their rights and responsibilities and participate actively in the public realm, particularly through maintaining dialogue between residents and locally elected representatives. It promotes effective local democracy, with strong and accountable political leadership.

According to the Department for Communities and Local Government of the UK government, civil renewal is:
about people and government, working together to make life better. It involves more people taking responsibility for tackling local problems, rather than expecting others to. The idea is that government can’t solve everything by itself, and nor can the community: It’s better when we work together.

There are three key ingredients to civil renewal:

  1. Active citizens: people with motivation, skills and confidence to speak up for their communities and organizations;
  2. Strengthened communities: community groups with the capacity and resources to bring people together, and
  3. Partnership with public bodies: pubic bodies willing and able to work as partners with local people.


Community engagement includes the mobilization of interests and support in social movements, policy consultation, volunteering, corporate social responsibility, the cultivation of local representative leadership, and the mitigation of local conflicts. Communities are places where the third sector, including non-governmental organizations, faith groups, charities, social enterprises, cooperatives and community organizations, has been most active. These community organizations are important channels for public engagement and involvement in community affairs.


Abstracted from Leung, C.B. (2010), Social Capital and Community: A Review of International and Hong Kong Development. In Ng, S.H., Leung Y.L, and Prakash Brahm (Eds.), Social Capital in Hong Kong: Connectivities and Social Enterprise. Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong Press.

2014年5月16日 星期五

World Toilet Organization, WTO


Founded on 19 November 2001, World Toilet Organization (WTO) is a global non-profit committed to improving toilet and sanitation conditions worldwide. WTO empowers individuals through education, training and building local marketplace opportunities to advocate for clean and safe sanitation facilities in their communities. 



Skoll Foundation



Jeff Skoll created The Skoll Foundation in 1999 to pursue his vision of a sustainable world of peace and prosperity. The mission of Skoll Foundation is to drive large scale change by investing in, connecting and celebrating social entrepreneurs and the innovators who help them solve the world’s most pressing problems. Social entrepreneurs are society’s change agents, creators of innovations that disrupt the status quo and transform our world for the better. By identifying the people and programs already bringing positive change around the world, we empower them to extend their reach, deepen their impact and fundamentally improve society.





2014年5月15日 星期四

PATH



PATH is an international nonprofit organization that transforms global health through innovation. Our approach blends the entrepreneurial spirit of business, the scientific expertise of a research institution, and the passion and on-the-ground experience of an international NGO.

Institute for OneWorld Health is now an affiliate of PATH. Youtube: Institute of OneWorld Health


小蕎子的苗旨天地



The Importance of Civility

It is difficult to handle controversy and perhaps harder still to do so with true civility. From the time children begin to understand their relationship to others - as siblings, as kids on a school playground – they are socialized to avoid conflict. For some, “No fighting” and “Be nice” are messages that shaped our behaviors. For others, getting what they want by fighting reinforces the use of power and the disregard of others. How many individuals interpret and approach conflict may be traced back to these early messages. People may have learned that they can either be strictly right or wrong; that one person’s point of view is more valid than another’s; and perhaps that disagreement is synonymous with fighting. It is no surprise, then, that many would want to avoid speaking up when they disagree. This is the message that has been learned and one that has consistently been reinforced through many life experiences.

Civility however, is more complex than just “not fighting” and “being nice.” Civility certainly does not require that a person stay quiet when he or she disagrees, pretending that all is well when it is not. Instead, it means learning how both to voice disagreement and to respond to disagreement from others in a way that respects other points of view. In “The Virtues of Leadership,” Thomas J. Sergiovanni (2005) describes civily as a virtue “that embraces diversity, encourages tolerance, and legitimizes controversy. Civility builds frameworks within which people can cooperate despite their divergent views and interests.”

As much as civility may be thought of as a great character trait, it is also an attitude, a behavior, and , in the Social Change Model1, it is a value. It requires the belief that there is not just one “right” point of view, but that everyone will see an issue slightly differently, depending on his or her background and previous experiences. Civility does not require the group to agree with every opinion that is raised, but each opinion should be listened to with respect and taken under consideration while considering the issue or making the decision…

In effect, Controversy with Civility challenges group participants to discuss diverse opionions and perspectives, while maintaining respect for those sharing other views. Without regard for respect or consideration of other’s ideas, group members can quickly lose themselves in the “heat” of an argument, preferring to “win” or give up and “lose” rather than truly understand the issue and solve the problem. By creating an environment in which various opinions are valued, a group can promote constructive discourse in order to negotiate a favorable outcome.

---abstract from Susan R. Komives, Wendy Wagner, and Associates (2009) Leadership for a better world: understanding the social change model of leadership development. 

Trusting Appropriately

Should you always trust others? Of course not. Some people behave in very untrustworthy ways, and you should not make yourself vulnerable to them. You need to be able to tell when it is appropriate to be trusting and when it is not. You must develop the capacity to size up situations and make an enlightened decision about when, whom, and how much to trust. Remember not to reveal yourself so fast to another person that he or she is overpowered and bewildered. Remember, too, there are situations in which trust is inappropriate and destructive to your interests.

Never trusting and always trusting are inappropriate. Trust is appropriate only when you are relatively confident that the other person will behave in such a way that you will benefit rather than be harmed by your risk, or when you are relatively sure the other person will not exploit your vulnerability. In some situations, such a competitive ones, trust is not appropriate. When you have a mean, vicious, hostile boss who has taken advantage of your openness in the past, it is inappropriate to engage in trusting behavior in the present.


David W. Johnson (2014) Reaching Out: Interpersonal Effectiveness and Self-actualization. Boston: Pearson. P.105.

2014年5月14日 星期三

盆栽人


尤努斯在諾貝爾奬得奬演說中提到「盆栽人」。「對我來說,貧民就像盆栽,」他說,「假如你把最高大的樹的最優質樹籽種在花盆裡,你或許仍可以種出這優質品種的樹來,但卻是只有幾吋高的縮小版。問題不在於你播的種籽,而在於土壤太少,樹籽沒有成長的空間。貧民就像是盆栽人,問題不在於他們本身,只不過社會沒有給他們發展的空間。要讓窮人脫離貧困,我們只需要為他們創造出自由發展的空間。一旦貧民釋放出他們的潛能與創造力,貧困的問題就會迎刃而解。」

撮錄自約翰.艾金頓(John Elkington),潘蜜拉.哈提根(Pamela Hartigan)(2008)1個理想 X 10種創新 = 社會企業是門好生意》,台北:天下遠見,頁148




2014年5月13日 星期二

Open Quote "開方講堂"

三聯書店與 Open Quote 共同推出的全新「開方講堂」,旨在通過系統的講授,輔以多媒體表述、實地考察及親身體驗等互動形式,以提升學員的藝術鑑賞力、流行文化的敏感度、香港歷史文化的認知,及對生活品質與創意的追求。
Open Quote是集自家原創設計、世界各地文創產品、書籍唱片及展覽活動於一身的多元平台,現坐落於中環PMQ(前已婚警察宿舍)S401室,快將開幕。


2014年5月12日 星期一

Giving Feedback Constructively

  1. Give feedback on others’ behavior, not their personality.
  2. Give descriptive, not judgmental, feedback.
  3. Give feedback on others’ actions in a specific situation, not in the abstract.
  4. Give feedback on immediate behavior, not on past behavior.
  5. Share your perceptions and feelings, not advice.
  6. Give feedback only when other people ask you to.
  7. Do not give people more feedback than others can understand at the time.
  8. Focus your feedback on actions that the person can change.



David W. Johnson (2014) Reaching Out: Interpersonal Effectiveness and Self-actualization. Boston: Pearson. P.63.

國際透明組織 Transparency International


透明化不保證能改變制度,但往往是改變制度的重要第一步。國際透明組織(TransparencyInternational)的創辦人彼得.艾根(Peter Eigen)原本任職於世界銀行,非常了解非洲與拉丁美洲事務,曾經建議世界銀行解決貪腐問題但未果。許多同事都認為他提議的計劃超出情理,因為此舉會影響許多人的既得利益。但艾根與幾位和他一樣有決心的同事表明他們的提議絕非兒戲。經過再三討論,創始成員認為他們的初期目標------出版刊物揭發某些特定企業的貪腐行為------可能無法產生預期的影響力,於是他們不直接攻擊政府或企業,因為他們認為建立聯盟才是成功的真正關鍵。國際透明組織不從外部批評,而是參與並找出解決問題的方法。今日,這個小型組織已擴展到全球,在世界各地設立分會。
創始成員都曾親眼目睹貪腐所帶來的毁滅效果------尤其是跨國性的貪腐行為。他們認為,世界上許多國家的制度都大有問題。他們亦知道,假如要改變制度,就必須擁有(或必須發展出)集體的力量。國際透明組織在1993年成立,他們的早期目標之一,是在大多數允許在國外進行賄賂收送的國家建立監督架構。雖然國際透明組織不揭發個人案例,但它將資訊視為對抗貪腐的重要武器。它每年都會依照國別公布一個清單,列出貪腐與清廉人士的名單。它所公布的貪腐印象指數(Corruption Perception Index),反映當地與外籍決策者或商界人士對某個國家貪腐程度的觀感。國際透明組織的網站表示:那是一個重要指標,它反映出投資者與潛在企業夥伴對某個國家的印象。分數低就表示這個國家需要大幅改變,而且要讓別人看到它正在改變。

撮錄自約翰.艾金頓(John Elkington),潘蜜拉.哈提根(Pamela Hartigan)(2008)1個理想 X 10種創新 = 社會企業是門好生意》,台北:天下遠見。

2014年5月8日 星期四

國際協作動力讀書會暨集思會


本會每月舉辦讀書會暨集思會,歡迎各界人士參加!!!

日期:               2014年5月17(星期六) - 每月第三個星期六
地點:               九龍公園 壁球場(活動室)
時間:               7:00pm – 9:00pm


Cii 讀書會

一個自由、平等的交流平台,以互相尊重的態度,透過閱讀活動彼此交流、分享,學習聆聽、反省,追求個人成長及建立互助社群。
活動內容
文章分享:       1) 《情緒四重奏》,第5



Cii 集思會
本會鼓勵共同參與、創新思維及協作決策,希望參與者可以共同以正面的態度去面對社會的挑戰,創造關愛及可持續的人類文明社會。我們歡迎各界人士參加,共同探討各樣社會問題,共同構思各項有益個人及社會發展的計劃。

協作訓練:                   SATIR 當日心境簡報
義工招募:                   編輯 | 翻譯 | 協作訓練導師 | 記者 | 文書 | 會計

l   個人發展項目:    協作領導訓練簡介
                                     公開課+個人學習網絡
                                     個人興趣及潛能問卷 
l   協作社企項目:    無障礙產品及服務
                                     田園城巿
                                     記者報
                                     歷奇遊樂場
                                     百人社會企業
l   協作社會服務:    30 ZONE 社區道路設計

2014年5月5日 星期一

Community Interest Company

The Community Interest Company (CIC) is a new limited company structure for Social Enterprises that secures an ‘asset lock’ for the community and focuses on community benefit. It has been designed to make incorporation simple for SEs wishing to use the familiar corporate form with a separate legal identity from its members.

Compared with other limited companies, CICs are subject to additional regulation to ensure that the community benefits (www.cicregulator.gov.uk).

The regulation of a company as a CIC has to be approved by the regulator, who also thereafter has a monitoring and enforcement role. To apply for registration, the SE must provide the regulator with evidence that  it satisfies the community interest test. In order to determine whether or not a company satisfies (or will satisfy) the test, the SE needs to consider:
  • The purposes for which it has been set up;
  • The range of activities it is engaged in;
  • Who will be seen as benefiting from its activities.

There are now over 2000 organizations in the UK registered as CICs. Each CIC is required to report to the regulator on what it delivers for the community and its stakeholder involvement. In addition to the ‘asset lock’, CICs are subject to a dividend cap. This means that, unlike most companies, CICs may only declare a dividend by an ordinary or special resolution of its members ( a dividend cannot be declared by the directors alone).


Bob Doherty and others (2009) Management for Social Enterprise. Los Angeles: Sage. p.38.

Cooperatives

Cooperatives are structured and run in accordance with the cooperative principles:
  • Voluntary and open membership;
  • Democratic member control;
  • Economic participation by members;
  • Autonomy and independence;
  • Education, training and information;
  • Cooperation between cooperatives;
  • Concern for community.

The members who own and control the cooperative can be employees, customers, tenants or a combination of these groups. The Midcounties Co-op is known for some interesting ventures, including retail, funeral care and car dealership (www.osg.corp). It is the fourth largest regional consumer coop in the UK, with a turnover of £300 million. In 2002, it launched a new social venture called Imagine Co-operative Childcare (www.imagine.coop) to provide affordable childcare across its trading area. The childcare SE now boasts five nurseries.


Bob Doherty and others (2009) Management for Social Enterprise. Los Angeles: Sage.

2014年5月4日 星期日

Love of Others and Love of Ourselves

Love of others and love of ourselves are not alternatives. On the contrary, an attitude of love toward themselves will be found in all those who are capable of loving others. Love, in principle, is indivisible as far as the connection between ‘objects’ and one’s own self is concerned. Genuine love is an expression of productiveness and implies care, respect, responsibility, and knowledge. It is not an “affect” in the sense of being affected by somebody, but an active striving for the growth and happiness of the loved person, rooted in one’s own capacity to love.

To love is an expression of one’s power to love, and to love somebody is the actualization and concentration of this power with regard to one person. It is not true, as the idea of romantic love would have it, that there is only the one person in the world whom one could love and that it is the great chance of one’s life to find that one person. Nor is it true, if that person be found that love for him (or her) results in a withdrawal of love from others. Love which can only be experienced with regard to one person demonstrates by this very fact that it is not love, but a symbiotic attachment. The basic affirmation contained in love is directed toward the beloved person as an incarnation of essentially human qualities. Love of one person implies love of man as such. The kind of “division of labor,” as William James calls it, by which one loves one’s family but is without feeling for the “stranger,” is a sign of a basic inability to love. Love of man is not, as is frequently supposed, an abstraction coming after the love for a specific person, but it is its premise, although, genetically, it is acquired in loving specific individuals.

From this it follows that my own self, in principle, must be as much an object of my love as another person. The affirmation of one’s own life, happiness, growth, freedom, is rooted in one’s capacity to love, i.e., in care, respect, responsibility, and knowledge. If an individual is able to love productively, he loves himself too; if he can love only others, he can not love at all.


Erich Fromm (1947) Man for Himself: An Inquiry into the Psychology of Ethics.(p.134-135)


2014年5月2日 星期五

GDP與GNP

曾有許多年,標準的經濟表現量數是國民生產毛額(Gross National Product, GNP),大約等於一國公民的總所得。但是在1990年左右,各國改用GDP,也就是在一國之內生產的產品和服務價值。對於與世隔絕、不與其他國家貿易或不接受外來投資的國家而言,兩個數字相等。就在全球化步調加快的時候,世界各國從GNP改用GDP,造成深遠的影響:如果一國製造產品所產生的所得流往別處,GDP可能上升,而GNP下降。這不是理論上的空談。巴布亞新幾內亞的金礦是澳洲、加拿大和其他國家的外國公司開發的,大部分生產價值歸外國公司所有,巴布亞新幾內亞只得到微薄的收入,根本不足以彌補環境遭到的破壞,或者經濟和人民健康因此受到的不良影響。重視GDP,會鼓勵一國從事這種計劃,因為如此一來,在指標上會進步。如果我們重視的是舊量數GNP,可能就會拒絕執行這類計劃……

今天,幾乎所有的人一致認為,我們必須改變衡量指標。法國前總統薩爾科齊設立國際經濟表現與社會進步評量委員會”(International Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress) ,請我擔任主席。我們找來統計、經濟、政治和心理等各方面的專家,其中有三位諾貝爾奬得主。我們一致同意,GDP是可能嚴重誤導的不良指標,應加以改良

二十國集團(G-20)支持展開研究,尋找更好的衡量指標。經濟合作發展組織(OECD)已經推展大型的計劃,接續我們的研究。世界各國,包括澳洲、紐西蘭、蘇格蘭、英國、德國、法國、韓國、義大利和其他國家已經開始往這些方向推進。


摘錄自史迪格里茲  Joseph E. Stiglitz (2012),《不公平的代價:破解階級對立的金權結構》,頁211。台灣:天下。