Social Sustainability via Critical Reflexivity

Abstract

Whilst individual efforts to achieve social sustainability are positive, the challenges it poses are such that without a collective, proactive, and collective approach, intergenerational success for the most significant critical global issues will become a lost and irretrievable opportunity. Gamification is one pedagogical approach to engaging the collective in issues pertaining to social sustainability, where collective learning and engagement will be central to the creativity and innovation that can ensue. Capacity for critical reflexivity, rather than a reflective stance on the past, is needed to drive the perspective lens of transformation forward for a sustainable and pragmatically implementable future. The process of empowerment and the active gift of agency across educational contexts can be used to frame and contextualise key contemporary issues such as social justice, global poverty, climate, and ecological crisis, within the context of a holistic and humanitarian approach to developmental change and societal progression.