THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
Plenary Session 28 April-2 May 2017 – Since the
beginning of his Pontificate, Pope Francis has asked our Academy to give more
attention to the poor, the marginalized, the sick, the suffering, and to make a
renewed commitment to fight all forms of social marginalization and exclusion.
This Plenary will respond to his call by seeking to deepen our understanding
and explanation of the reasons for social exclusion and, above all, to suggest
practicable steps for promoting a thorough-going social and cultural
integration, which we have termed the ‘participatory society’. Unlike other
meetings that are focused on particular problems, this Plenary will address the
topic from the broadest vantage point, emphasizing new ways to promote the full
participation of people in society, meaning participation in all spheres of
civil and political society.
The aim is not only to make the current
structure of societies more participatory, but also to outline the
characteristics of a participatory society capable of promoting the dignity of
the human person in a context oriented to the common good and based on the
principles of subsidiarity and solidarity. One aspect has to do with
dissatisfaction with existing ideas for progressive social transformation that
are incapable of avoiding recurring processes of exclusion and marginalization
of entire populations, generations and social groups on a world scale. The
other aspect is the need to develop a genuine concept of participation in
social life and highlight the best practices that can lead the society toward a
good life for all in the different realms: in the economy, in the political
institutions, in the cultural dynamics that are now heavily influenced by the
spread of information and communication technologies.
Through such research, we do not pretend to be
elaborating a new empirical model of participatory society. Instead, our aim is
rather to highlight the structural elements that would enable any given social
system to develop into a more participatory .....
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