The History of Revolutions

History shows that moral revolutions shared crucial characteristics and describe a process along five phases.

Phase I Ignorance: The problem is not seen.

Phase II Recognition without personal reference: The problem is recognised, but no personal reference is drawn. 

Phase III Recognition with personal reference: The problem is recognised and personal reference is drawn, but all kinds of reasons are used to explain non-action. In this phase, a few pioneers change their behaviour, as one begins to be ashamed of old practices and despises them.

4. Phase IV Action: The revolutionary transformation take place. People of the old norm system loose their central position in public life and societies establish norms and regulations that underlie the new patterns of behaviour and thinking.

5. Phase V Looking Back: There is a lack of understanding that the old practice ever even existed. 

The processes that result in moral revolutions are not rapid and smooth. They extend over long periods of time and resistance and setbacks are common. They require committed pioneers, new approaches and institutional consolidation. 

Currently, we are in Phase III. 

Our main reasoning against taking action on a personal as well as on a political level are economic reasons. Not enough money, time, and hell, what’s going to happen if economic growth stops? 

In this phase, the most important thing you can do is to test, promote and demonstrate sustainable ways in life,  business and politics. This will get us to something that the historian Osterhammel calls “frequency compression”. At some point, the frequency is so great that we move into phase IV.