Unity and discord in social development

摘要

This article is a keynote speech delivered at the 15th International Conference on Social Development at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2007.2 The author points out that one of the misgivings in development today is that many countries consider a higher GDP as the only worthwhile achievement one should go after. However, this economic indicator alone does not and cannot reflect accurately the real improvement of the standard of living of people. In this paper, the author suggests a better measurement for social development and improvement of livelihood should include public health, education, mortality and basic social security. There is no doubt economic development and wealth accumulation can bring certain improvements in daily lives, they should not be elevated to become the ultimate objective for human kind; rather, they are only means to improving life situations. What is more significant should be the pursuit of freedom for humanity. We have witnessed a continuous rise in the indicators measuring development in the developing world, but these increases have not brought commensurate reduction in poverty or advancement in livelihoods in real terms. Furthermore, by using the cases of China and India, the author has illustrated that there is no real connection between economic and social development. Instead better social policies can play a bigger role in advancing social and human development. 2007