PATHS TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT - THE ROLE OF SOCIAL-INDICATORS

This article reviews the current debate about new indicators of wealth and progress and how the meaning of 'development' is changing. The goal of sustainable development is to clarify the confusion of means (ie the current obsession with economic growth) with truly evolutionary human development as the ends to be pursued within the ecological tolerances of the planet. The article also reviews the debate about overhauling national accounts as provided for in Agenda 21 and how best to augment such 'scorecards' with additional indicators of overall progress and quality of life. A historical overview of the social indicators movement is combined with a discussion of newer indicators of environmental costs and benefits. This debate is nothing less than a tug-of-war of paradigms, epistemology and methodology.