Unfortunately doing good – and being social – has now all the hallmarks of being the language of the status quo. Elbowing aside justice equity and empowerment, being good and being nice is the new social vogue.

Language is important. It defines and shapes conversations, conveys meaning and creates both narrative and discourse. We use it every day whether spoken or in sign.

Words come and go. They are replaced and created.

Language – words – meanings – all combine to shape thinking, interpretation and understanding.

Pamela Hartigan from the Skoll Foundation has now on several occasions made public statements to the effect that the meaning of social innovation, social enterprise, social entrepreneurship is not what it was when this language emerged a decade and a half ago.

The use of this language initially signaled a challenge to the political economy called capitalism where that political economy generates gaps between the majority class and the elite wealthy minority class. Today she laments the fact that this language has been co-opted by the very political economy it was originally seeking to challenge, change or renew and essentially has become vacuous and bereft of its original meaning.

Not only does language get co-opted and domesticated but also goes out of fashion. Can you remember when the words justice, equity and empowerment were used in the community sector and they were distinctive and pregnant with meaning?

Today they rarely appear in the world of social innovation, enterprise or entrepreneurship. I am not sure if you have noticed but they have been replaced by the word ‘good’. ‘Do some good’ they say. Do some ‘good’ capitalism they say. Doing ‘good’ (way better we agree than doing bad) feels good. Apps for good, headbands for good, hubs for good, doing good dinners, runs for good – all doing good within a system that sees good as good.

Doing justice grinds and is not as nice or polite as doing good. Doing good sits nicely in polite society and can fool people into thinking they are doing good even when they are doing good within a system that fosters injustice, inequity and disempowers the most vulnerable.

This ‘doing good’ is also commonly referred to as the ‘common good’.

Doing justice is quite different. Doing justice may not be good for everyone. Generating more just systems to ethically redistribute wealth in rich western countries will not be for the ‘common’ good – although it will be for the majority good. If you are a member of the 1% of the world’s population that owns 50% of the world’s wealth, and justice means redistribution of your wealth, then you won’t feel good at all. In fact this very suggestion is understood to be very bad.

Redistributing wealth so there is equal access to health care, education (even tertiary education), clean water, medicines, food, aged care, early years education, asylum, jobs, opportunity and outcomes – all for the majority good will inevitably be perceived as being for the minority bad.

So here is the real conundrum with dong good. If you really want to do good for the majority of people on this planet you will run the risk of doing what is perceived to be bad by the minority. The fact the rich minority will still have everything they want will not matter. Mess with their money and they will feel real bad!

Which is of course why governments in the wealthy countries can no longer tolerate the use of the words like justice, equity and empowerment. They offend the wealthy and it is the wealthy that fund their political aspirations. So better to encourage everyone to do good – even better to do ‘good capitalism’.

Remember the words social justice? Before social was applied to innovation, enterprise and entrepreneurship and was squeezed off stage by all things social and ‘good’? Unfortunately doing good – and being social – has now all the hallmarks of being the language of the status quo. Elbowing aside justice equity and empowerment, being good and being nice is the new social vogue.

Doesn’t seem to have done much for the 49% of children living in poverty in Tower Hamlets in London. But I am sure a nice and good social response will be found soon.

Alternatively maybe some old fashioned social justice might do the trick!