Constructing Non-monetary Social Indicators: An Analysis of the Effects of Interpretive Communities

Fiona Ottaviani, Anne Le Roy and Patrick O'sullivan

Ecological Economics, 2021, vol. 183, issue C

Abstract: Based on two contrasting experiences of the construction of non-monetized social indicators carried out at different levels (local and international), this article examines the effects of interpretive communities on indicators, on collective processes, and on social and scientific context–particularly that of information systems. The first initiative we examine is the Social Progress Index (SPI), developed from within the Social Progress Imperative and used at the international, European and local levels. The second initiative is the development of a dashboard of sustainable territorial wellbeing indicators (IBEST) for use across the Grenoble metropolitan area. We present a framework of the effects of interpretive communities. The application of this framework in order to analyze the two initiatives studied reveals the importance of interpretive communities in shaping the scientific and political agenda that is promoted by collective experiences involved in the development of alternative indicators. Rather than specific and circumscribed times for participation, it is the creation of spaces that are not circumscribed in time at the intersection of communities that appear to be most conducive to giving substance to deliberative ecological economics and to ensuring the renewal and transformation of existing interpretive communities.

Keywords: SPI; IBEST; Deliberative ecological economics; Alternative indicators; Interpretive communities; Social transformation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:183:y:2021:i:c:s0921800921000203

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.106962

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