We continue our Thought Experiment in this instalment by looking at Doughnut Economics (DE) and its relationship to Spiral Dynamics and Integral City through an Egocentric Worldview.
As we noted in our first blog, the Egocentric Worldview spans Levels 1 and 2 in Spiral Dynamics (see Table 2). An egocentric worldview embraces the structures of Family Hearth and Clan Gathering.
Table 2: Egocentric Worldview, Spiral Dynamics, Archetypal Structure
| Worldview | Spiral Dynamics Level of Complexity | Spiral Dynamics Expression | Archetypal Structure |
| Egocentric | Level 1 | Beige – Individual | Family Hearth |
| Level 2 | Purple – Collective | Clan Gathering | |
We can summarize the inner qualities and outer contexts of these 2 levels of complexity as set out in Figures 3 and 4.
Figure 3
Figure 4
As we examine the correlative life conditions that Doughnut Economics points to, we see that the Inner and Outer factors of DE live within the balance of the Ecological Ceiling and Social Justice factors. The kinds of human settlements that emerge at these earliest stages are indigenous habitations living in balance with the local life conditions.
At the first level of complexity, DE Inner factors include Energy (biofuel), Food, Water and Health.
Outer factors include Air, Oceans and Climate.
The Level 1/Beige Spiral Dynamics factors are oriented to the individual with the focus on survival. and garnering the basics of life for energy, food, water and health. The Human System Context that set the life conditions at this level of complexity are family, foraging/gathering, responding to land, water, air and geology.
At the second level of complexity, DE Inner factors expand from the first level’s factors to include Housing and Gender equity as human systems became more complex.
Outer factors expand to include Fresh Water, Land and Biodiversity.
The Level 2/Purple Spiral Dynamics factors are oriented to the collective with the worldview still egocentric but expanded to the clan. In this 2nd level of complexity resources are shared for energy, food, water, health and housing. The Human System Context that sets the life conditions at this level of complexity are clan, respect for clan elders, foraging/gathering in groups, worshiping spirits of land, water and air.
Thus, DE situates the emergence of Social Justice factors at the early stages of human history when the Ecological Ceiling is not threatened (not only because of the simple way of living, but because human populations remain low and spread across wide areas of the globe).
Looking at human habitations in the 21st century we can observe that worldviews and capacities have not yet developed complex economies and have local cultures with localized sets of Social and Justice factors. We can also appreciate the dangers for such human settlements, of losing Ecological resources because of invasions from other clans or tribes, not aware of nor caring about local Ecological Ceilings or Social Justice factors (including invaders from Ethnocentric, Regionalcentric or Globalcentric stages of development).
This series of Thought Experiments consider: How do the Spiral Dynamics integral worldviews of humans living in cities impact the Social Justice and Ecological Ceiling dimensions represented in Doughnut Economics? The blog series includes the following:
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