07 Sep Individual social Responsibility and why it is important?
What is Individual Social Responsibility?
Social responsibility is an ethical theory in which individuals are accountable for fulfilling their civic duty, and the actions of an individual must benefit the whole of society. In this way, there must be a balance between economic growth and the welfare of society and the environment. If this equilibrium is maintained, then social responsibility is accomplished.
It is about ownership, emotional investment and gratification – a personal journey. It is not the ‘art of giving’ but the ‘science of being’ in a symbiotic relationship with our immediate surroundings, communities, society and the world at large. It is about sustainability persevered with ethics, integrity and unwavering generosity. Today, I feel, ISR has all the makings of being a high-impact change maker.
Collectively taken, ISR deals with individuals becoming more responsible in their actions affecting communities, in their immediate circle of family and friends and also beyond. It definitely works at a heightened level of transformation from within for a purposeful life and happiness.
Some examples of the lack of individual social responsibility and the possible consequences are as follows:
- Cars parking on yellow lines = dangerous overtaking is needed, traffic flows are blocked
- Cyclists dressed in black and with no lights on at night = little visibility for others = accidents/personal injury
- Litter = someone has to pick it up (at a cost to “society”)
- Speeding = a dangerous practice causing loss of life and accidents (that always happen to someone else)
- Not voting in a democracy = cultural apathy
- Not responding to requests for public consultation, e.g. on planning regulations = views “they” do what they want
- Overall, not thinking about the effect our behavior has on others
- By not challenging outdated rules and procedures that we know are wrong, we merely “continue to row the boat we know” yet “if we always do, what we have always done, then we will always get, what we always have got”.
What is the importance of individual social responsibility?
The concept of Individual Social Responsibility has several strands: The degree to which people minimize their negative impact on others. The positive benefits people bring to the community and to society in general. The positive steps people make to minimize their environmental impact.
How can you do this?
Perhaps answering the following questions will get you started:
- How would the world be, if everyone practiced ISR?
- How do we get ISR?
- What would I need to change in myself?
So the message is that each of us needs to:
Think – reflect – reframe – visualise – reconsider – revise
Remember:
- “If you think you can or think you can’t; you are right”
- “If it is to be, then it is down to me”
- “From little acorns, mighty oak trees grow”
- “Change starts with me-so what will I do?”
ISR can have a multiplier effect in society, where individual efforts can gather mass and become a collective force. The time is now. Let the ISR movement begin. Be the Change. Lead the Change!
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