Social Invention

It may seem surprising that all social forms that exist today are the result of social invention. The Children’s Aid Society started in New York in 1853, the Red Cross began in Geneva in 1864, service clubs started in Chicago in 1905, and the Boy Scouts began in England in 1908. Most often, social invention lags behind technical invention. Technical invention anticipates and even fosters change. In contrast, social organizations are often bureaucratic and resist change. This is where the process of civic imaging becomes relevant. Civic imaging is a creative process that can envision new forms of social organization. It has the capacity to invent new social forms that better fit the new social order. Like technical invention, social invention is the result of entrepreneurial initiative.