Chapter Eight
Social Inventions
Stuart Conger, when he was Executive Director of a Canadian government program New Start, conducted a study ‘‘Social Inventions’’ and published an in-house document on it in 1970.
I knew Stuart as an innovative thinker when I was in the federal government so I paid attention to this study of his. He pointed out in the study that there have been many technical and scientific inventions over the years but the development of social inventions has not kept pace.
After Conger first published his paper on Social Inventions, it was published as an article in "The Futurist" magazine1) of August 1973 and attracted the interest of people in Europe active in this field.
Robert Jungk, a prominent European futurist, and creator of the project Mankind 2000, noticed "The Futur- ist" article on social inventions and passed the word along to the newly formed Paris group International Foundation for Social Innovation. They sent a representative, Jeannine Gueron, over to North America to learn of social innova- tions and in the process looked up Stuart Conger in Ottawa. On April 16, 1975, she convened a meeting of interested people in the Ottawa area and included me in that event.
Gueron talked about the work of the Foundation and learned about some of the social innovations we had in Canada. She also invited us to attend the proposed conference on Social Innovation to be held in Paris on September 25, 26, 1975.
I was able to attend the event 2) and noted that shortly after, the organizers set up the Institute for Social Inven- tions in England. This was followed by their creating theEncyclopaedia of Social Inventions and a Who’s Who of Social Inventions.
A research of these topics on the Internet today attributes the existence of both the Institute and the Encyclopaedia to Nicholas Albery. I have not been able to find out if these activities were an offshoot from the early days or are original efforts. Be that as it may, it is good to see the work on social inventions continuing and with a global outreach on the Internet.
To continue with the essence of Conger’s social inventions thesis, he defines social invention in this way:
"A new law, organization or procedure that changes the way that people relate to themselves or to others".
Social inventions over time have included those in various categories as institutions, procedures, laws. He has listed hundreds of them including such concepts as:
INVENTION
YEAR
LOCATION
Labour union
1696
England
Penitentiary
1700
Rome
Y.M.C.A.
1844
England
Red Cross
1864
Geneva
United Appeal
1913
Cleveland
Hansard
1608
London
Democracy 510 B.C. Athens
I.Q. tests
1905
Paris
State supported
schools
75
Rome
Unemploy’t Ins.
1789
Switzerland
Old age pensions
1908
Great Britain
.
As can be imagined, the list could go on and on, yet the number of new social inventions in the last hundred years is still relatively small, compared that is to those in the technology and science fields.
Because we are coming into a new age, one where new laws and procedures need to be developed and applied, it is important to be aware of the potential and need for new social inventions.
We must note here the difference between invention and innovation. The latter means the application of an invention. So first there is the invention then the innova- tion which may or may not follow.
The reason that social inventions have lagged be- hind technological ones seems to be rooted in the incentive for the technological invention, and that is the profit of the marketplace. There is not always a commercial market for social inventions. In fact the social invention (like day-care, medi-care, etc.) may indeed cost the citizen a greater tax burden.
Where should we start in looking for new social inventions? The potential is, of course, enormous. In the over-crowded world of today, and more so of the future, we will