The Fog of Activism

We are swimming in the fog of historic change in the social-change arena.  At the core of this transition -- or at least a symptom of it -- is the shift in language.  Obama's ability to recognize and unify a latent progressive movement in America depended on his effective use of language.  There are lots of new words floating around.  For example, I just co-authored a paper with the UNDP on what we called "Open-replication investing".  People like me are inventing terminology right and left partly because we can't find the right terms that fit and partly because we like making things up. 

The most important words that I want to focus on are those that change-agents identify with: those words that define who you are.  If somebody asks you at a cocktail party "what do you do?", what title do you answer with?  Am I an activist or a social entrepreneur?  Identity is one of the principal motivators behind people in general and especially in civil society, philanthropy and volunteerism so this is not just a matter of semantics. Understanding the decline of the title 'activist' and the rise of the 'social entrepreneur' unearths what is happening around us today and gives us a glimpse of what the social-change arena will look like tomorrow.

I've been asking all the self-selected 'progressive activists' here at the Tides Momentum conference whether they are social entrepreneurs or activists.  As a follow up I've asked how they differentiate the two.  The results have been varying but I'll try to sum them up here:
one bucket of responses were of people who immediately associated social entrepreneurship to self-generated revenues stream for sustainable financing.   Others thought it's related to a cultural and generational difference with activism as a dying breed of people coming out of the 60s as revolutionaries.  It comes out of an era that has ended and the results of those activists were not very successful.  That generation has been in positions of power in civil society until now but their lack of success and their gradual replacement in civil society and government by younger generations is driving the emergence of a new lexicon that fits with the current change agents in society that need a title to identify with.   

Digesting the thoughts has made me reflect on this topic as well: 
True.  I'm 30 and of a younger generation that doesn't identify with activism.  I'm turned off by all the protest and anti-establishment sentiment.  The focus on dissent instead of direct responsibility for value creation doesn't sit right.  I see entrepreneurship as a great engine of good in the world so of course I want to associate myself with it.  I don't feel much sense of entitlement but instead a sense of empowerment to create change by generating initiatives, social innovations and organizations (for-profit or non-profit).  Those in power do need to be influenced so if that's activism, then call me an activist but in the end of the day my work doesn't end there.  It focuses more on implementation, innovation and venture creation. 

by Lloyd Nimetz