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Written by: Stephen Sinclair, Yunus Centre for Social Business & Health, Glasgow Caledonian University

This is an age of Permacrisis. It seems that one looming threat is followed immediately by another. Anxieties and threatening developments are now so prevalent that the Collins Dictionary declared ‘permacrisis’ to be its 2022 word of the year. Arising from more dense relations and ever-shortening feedback loops between interconnected systems, what might start as a local concern can rapidly become a global crisis. Examples are abundant: since the 2008’ financial crisis’, which caused a ‘Euro crisis’ (accelerating the rise of nationalism, authoritarian populism and a ‘crisis of democracy’), there have been a ‘migration crisis’, the Covid pandemic, and wars in Ukraine and Palestine causing a ‘cost of living crisis’ on top of an ongoing ‘housing crisis’ in several countries. Much of the world seems in the grip of a continual emergency. And some challenges are predicted to become even more acute, such as population aging, and the warning that within 50 years 3.5 billion people will be forced to relocate from what will become uninhabitable regions in the Global South as a result of climate change

A crisis is a moment of acute threat, but it also means a turning point when decisive actions are required. During a crisis familiar responses and existing systems may no longer be suitable, and might in fact be part of the problem. As Antonio Gramsci observed during an earlier tumultuous period: ‘The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear’. To meet the various crises which Gramsci observed, major social reforms were passed and new welfare institutions established. These were the great social policy innovations of their day – social security, public healthcare provision, childcare and social housing, among others. The first step to creating these innovations was to reconceptualise the nature of the problem by applying sociological and political analysis to understand how social conditions shape individual’s lives. This is one of the contributions of the discipline of Social Policy analysis. This discipline rethinks social issues, diagnoses the nature and causes of social problems, and develops practical proposals for social reform. Although some existing social policies and welfare institutions may no longer seem fit to deal with current crises, Social Policy analysis is still required to understand social ills and identify effective remedies. To do so, it is more necessary than ever to learn from diverse sources and experiences. Social policies which are fit for the permacrisis age must learn from the growing field of social innovation (SI).

Social innovation is not easily defined – it is disorderly, disputed and difficult to pin down. SI is not produced from theory, but emerges from practical responses to particular challenges in specific contexts. Practice is fluid and circumstances varied, so fuzzy boundaries are a feature rather than a flaw the idea of social innovation. At its most simple, SI means novel ideas and empowering initiatives applied to effect sustained social value. This technical definition contains four key elements. Firstly, SI is about creating social rather than merely commercial value; it is concerned with doing good rather than simply making money. Secondly, innovation means novelty – doing something different and distinctive. The idea of disruption is perhaps over-hyped by tech-entrepreneurs, but when needs aren’t being met effectively something new is required. The third feature of SI is empowerment. Genuine social innovations are user-generated and people-led, often emerging ‘bottom-up’ from the actions of community changemakers. SI is about doing things with rather than to people, or enabling people to do things themselves. Finally, effective social innovation means making a difference – having a positive impact which is sustained over time and effective at scale.

The Handbook on Social Innovation and Social Policy includes numerous examples of such SIs, including hospices, microfinance and mutual loan schemes, food and resource recycling and redistribution, the circular economy, migrant integration initiatives, active labour market programmes, rehabilitation projects to help ex-offenders into employment, digital platforms, design thinking, and measures to reduce inequalities of gender and caste, among several other issues. The contributions in the Handbook showcase numerous examples of valuable SIs which have improved many lives. In fact, there are as many potential responses to social challenges as there are innovative human beings and communities. This is fortunate, as there is both an urgent need and opportunity to build the world anew. The only viable way to adapt to an unknowable future is to enable innovation by liberating the creative synergies between experts by experience, practice and study. But Social Policy analysis is also necessary to assess which innovations may have the capacity to meet challenges and change social conditions at scale and beyond a limited context.

Dynamic societies will always generate new challenges, so there can be no simple nor fixed solution to the challenges we face. It may seem a paradox, but it is through innovation rather preserving what we already have that we will be able to protect and preserve what we most cherish. As the novelist Giuseppe di Lampedusa remarked in his masterpiece, The Leopard, when contemplating an earlier epoch of upheaval: ‘Everything must change for everything to remain the same’. By harnessing the dynamic imagination and energy of social innovation to the insights of Social Policy analysis we have an opportunity to turn what might seem like the worst of times into the best of times.

Handbook on Social Innovation and Social Policy
Edited by Stephen Sinclair and Simone Baglioni is available now. A sample chapter is available on Elgaronline.