Small is Beautiful in The Big Society

This summer marks the centenary of the birth of E.F. Schumacher, author of the influential book, Small is Beautiful. Having long been lauded by those seeking a more sustainable way of life it would seem that his ideas may well have found more mainstream acceptance.

I really value Radio 4. With TV too often full of banal celebrity-driven nonsense, most days one can still find inspiring, engaging and challenging programming from a form of communication that is quite literally from a different era. How appropriate then that this week one was able to listen to a broadcast which rather surprisingly revealed the influence a book from a different era is having on the politics of the present. We may not all understand it, but David Cameron has been keen to try and sell the citizens of the UK his vision for The Big Society. How ironic that one of the key thinkers inspiring Cameron’s ideas is E.F. Schumacher, author of Small is Beautiful. Judging by the upcoming public sector strikes, student demonstrations over fees, riots in protest about planned cuts, and an ongoing sense of discontent one reads and hears, it’s difficult to believe we are living through a time when politics has been inspired by a book which has the subtitle, ‘economics as if people mattered’, and yet that is the claim of this programme narrated by Jonathon Porritt.
Like many great books, Small is Beautiful is both of a book of its time and timeless. It is a book of the late 20th Century, addressing the global concerns of that age. But it is also a book that transcends its immediate context with a rewarding challenge to anyone who sees the future in a decentralised localism, a more just and sustainable use of resources, including land and food production, and wealth as subordinate to wellbeing. Radio is going through something of a resurgence, and so, it would appear, are the ideas of one of the most creative thinkers of the 20th century.
If you want to listen to the Radio 4 programme, you still have chance by using the BBCiplayer - Schumacher’s Big Society.
YOu may also be interested in the upcoming Schumacher Lectures taking place in Bristol this Autumn - The Schumacher Centenary Festival.

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