Ever since Lord Lamont was featured on Radio 4 for the ERC Clash of the Titans event last December, I’ve developed a new habit of setting my alarm to the Radio 4 Today programme, about a half an hour before I intend to get out of bed. Sometimes I listen intently (and comfortably) to the discussions and news, whilst others I drift in and out of slumber only to later wonder how the latest news and debate found their way into my awareness.

The first Monday of the New Year was one of those days, where I later found myself pondering how the concept of a social aspirations gap got lodged into my consciousness. The idea was cloudy but compelling enough for me to make a note of it in the midst of my slumber, and file it away in my brain for later processing.

As it happens, it was the “Big society needs big citizens” article, during which Professor Anthony Seldon of Wellington College and Matthew Taylor, Chief executive of the RSA, discussed David Cameron’s New Year’s Day speech and this notion of the Big Society.

Matthew Taylor defined the social aspiration gap as, “the difference between the kind of future we aspire to, compared to the kind of society we’ll create if we carry on thinking and behaving as we do now.” Both he and Professor Seldon expressed the need for active citizenry and civic participation, with Professor Seldon noting that, because we’re unlikely to have any growth in material and financial wealth for the next ten years, our happiness must come from elsewhere.

Whilst there was disagreement on how the Big Society should be translated into real life, one thing we can conclude is that the discussion of economics goes beyond the macroeconomic concepts of GDP, interest rates, unemployment and bond yields. The notion of ‘economic imperialism’ embraces economic analysis of seemingly non-economic aspects of life such as education, law, family, politics, sociology...

It being the New Year, I couldn’t but help to contemplate the implications for me at a personal level. How will I nurture and grow my personal wealth in social and individual capital? What is my individual aspiration gap? What kind of future will I create if I carry on thinking and behaving as I do now? ...probably one very similar to the present!

In the retrospective way that people look back to the previous year during the start of a new one, I looked at earlier blogs. Amongst my written work, I found a challenging statement that I had offered to people considering doing an MBA at Oxford:

...Author Toni Morrison wisely suggests, “If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, you must be the one to write it.” Having just completed the Executive MBA at Oxford, I challenge myself with an extension to this theme. “If there is a role model that you want to follow but have not yet met, you must be the one to become it.” 

I thought about this declaration in the context of youth unemployment, the skills gap, the summer riots and the shortage of hope and opportunity for young people. I acknowledged my individual aspiration gap - that I had in fact departed from this ambition in my thoughts and actions. And then I signed up to be a volunteer career mentor.

Thus my New Year’s resolution to do my bit - my response to David Cameron’s New Year message about Big Society and his compelling closing remarks:

In every area of life we will find success by being honest with ourselves about the problems, and practical about what lies ahead. I know that if we lift our eyes to the other side we have it in our power to come through this stronger, better balanced, focused on what this fantastic country does best.

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