Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University

South La Union Campus

Agoo, La Union

GECC 105 – SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY

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Name Dela Cruz, Jonelvira C. Score _______________
Course, Year & Section BSN 2-B

CHAPTER 4
ACTIVITY # 8 (p. 92)
HUMAN FLOURISHING

Read and reflect on the article “Forget 'Developing' Poor Countries, It's
Time to 'De-Develop' Rich Countries” by Jason Hickel. After reading, answer the
questions that follow:

1. What is meant by the following expressions: (5 pts each)

a. To “catch up” with rich countries
 we should be thinking of ways to get rich countries to “catch down” to
more appropriate levels of development

b. To “catch down” with poor countries

 we should look at societies where people live long and happy lives at
relatively low levels of income.

c. De-development
 “de-development” does not tell us to give things up. It is simply about
reducing consumption while maintaining happiness and achieving long life
expectancy. It may also be viewed as “slowing down”. Rapid growth is
partly bad because we tend to ignore the laws of nature. This framework
also allows us to get a better understanding of our existence – of what we
are doing in earth and why.

d. “steady-state”
 a step in the right direction and is growing in popularity, but it still doesn’t
get the framing right

e. Life expectancy
 is the average number of years a person in a population could expect to
live after age
 Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University
South La Union Campus
Agoo, La Union

GECC 105 – SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY

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2. What is meant by this statement: “Strive to buy and own less; doing so would not
compromise our happiness.” (10 pts)
 People nowadays place too much importance on “things". We have started to rely on
buying things and having stuff to determine our happiness. It's just stuff. They're just
things. It's all just a bunch of crap that cannot bring real, lasting happiness. We need to
stop being such a commercially centered society, and return our focus back to family,
friends, community, and religion/spirituality to bring us happiness.

3. What are some ways to revive the indigenous concept of good living? (10 pts)
 Traditional livestock practices, traditional leather processing or traditional healing
practices fit to the local environment and might have a positive impact on
development or at least in the struggle for survival.

4. In your own opinion, is the following statement favorable? (10 pts)

“De-growth or de-development run against the deepest frames of human progress
and the purpose of life itself.”
Explain your answer.
 Yes, it is. Because looking back, the economy has already grown by 380%, but a lot of
people are still living in extreme poverty. In this framework, it is aimed to make richer
countries “catch down” to poorer countries instead of the latter “catching up” to richer
economies