Evolution, empowerment and emancipation: How societies ascend the utility ladder of freedoms

Christian Welzel () and Ronald Inglehart ()
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Christian Welzel: Center for the Study of Democracy, Leuphana University, Scharnhorststr.
Ronald Inglehart: Higher School of Economics

HSE Working papers from National Research University Higher School of Economics

Abstract: This article presents a new theory of development that unifies disparate insights into a single framework, focusing on human empowerment—a process that emancipates people from domination. Human empowerment sets in when mass-scale technological progress widens ordinary people’s ‘action resources.’ As this happens, life turns from a source of threats into a source of opportunities, and societies climb the utility ladder of freedoms: universal freedoms become instrumental to taking advantage of what a more promising life offers. Accordingly, people adopt ‘emancipative values’ that emphasize universal freedoms. As the utility and value of freedoms rise, ‘civic entitlements’ that guarantee these become undeniable at some point. Human empowerment thus proceeds as the sequential growth in the utility, value and guarantee of freedoms (sequence thesis). Because universal freedoms are a reciprocal good that flourishes through mutual recognition, the utility ladder of freedoms is a social ladder: people climb it in alliance with like-minded others who share similar utilities (solidarity thesis). Historically speaking, human empowerment on a mass scale started only recently because civilization matured late where natural conditions bestow an initial utility on freedoms that has been absent elsewhere (initiation thesis). However, globalization is breaking human empowerment free from its confinement to the initially favourable conditions (contagion thesis). Together, these theses form an evolutionary theory of emancipation. After unfolding this theory, the article presents evidence in support of its major propositions.

Keywords: action; resources; -; civic; entitlements; -; civilization; process; -; cool-water; condition; -; democratization; -; economic; development; -; emancipation; theory; -; emancipative; values; -; human; empowerment; -; social; evolution; -; technological; progress; -; utility; ladder; of; freedoms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 45 pages
Date: 2013
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-evo and nep-upt
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published in WP BRP Series: Sociology / SOC, December 2013, pages 1-45

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