Доклад о человеческом развитии 1997 г. рассматривает проблемы социаль human_dev_1997_eng
CHAPTER Building Social cohesion in the Transition Period
1.1. Social cohesion as a category of human development
The theme of this report is social cohesion and human development. Social cohesion is an elusive
concept; it is easier to recognize it by its absence than to define. Lack of social cohesion reveals itself in
increased social tension, crime, minority emigration, and ultimately in civil strife. All these impact
negatively on human development. Positive social cohesion can be described the invisible glue that
keeps society together even in difficult, stressful times, such as the process of independence which
Uzbekistan is going through at present. Social cohesion may be derived from a feeling of belonging to a
larger social group. The feeling that one has more in common with one's fellow citizens than not seems to
help people live in peace and work positively to find solutions. This element of basic good will may be
especially critical when economic times are bad or when there sudden dislocations occur. Social
cohesion requires that there be tolerance of diversity and respect, both in the law and in people's
mentalities, for people who differ in terms of religion, ethnic group, economic circumstance or political
opinion.
It is hard to specify easily the relationship between social cohesion and human development. Perfect
concord is probably neither necessary, attainable or desirable;
that may even be totalitarian, uncreative and boring. A major difficulty for policy-makers is that the
minimum amount of social cohesion necessary for a society tends only to be revealed in retrospect, when
it breaks down. Things may look smooth on the surface for many years, but then, out of the blue, an
insult, crime or provocation leads to an explosive, catastrophic event.
Social cohesion contributes to human development by providing one of the inputs into the output we call
human development. It can become a virtuous circle; with human development in turn reinforcing social
cohesion.
In our analysis of social cohesion and human development it may be useful to look at the following
aspects:
• Economic Development. Economic well-being is the end-result of an individual's access to opportunities,
to income, to wealth, to food, clothing, housing, and public amenities.
• Spiritual or Cultural Development. Spiritual well-being may be described as the satisfaction an individual
derives from having the opportunity of fulfilling his personality, through education, through work, and by
taking part in cultural, family or religious activities.
Spiritual well-being is in part influenced by state spending on education, the arts and the opportunity
available for employment. Spiritual well-being thought to be positively related to economic well-being,
though this is by no means a linear relationship.
• Health Status. An individual's state of health and life expectancy depend in large measure on access to
private and public goods and amenities such as food, shelter, clean water and an unpolluted
environment. It is also affected by life style choices such as the number and spacing of children,
participation in sport or physical exercise, smoking, etc. Third, and perhaps relevant for state policy, it
depends on the level and distribution of health care services available and accessible.
• The Legal Environment. The legal environment or culture in which an individual lives and works may be
characterized by the degree he or she may be said to enjoy political, minority and religious rights and
freedoms and human rights. The legal environment may be characterized by the presence or absence of
democratic political norms and institutions, by the nature and security of property rights, by the degree of
freedom enjoyed by individuals and businesses from the risk of attacks on life and property, and by the
transparency and fairness of the police, the government administration, the tax authorities and the courts.
• The Physical Environment. The physical environment in which a person lives may be captured by
enumerating the country's original types of terrain and endowments of natural resources, and by noting
the ways, sustainable and unsustainable, that man has altered them. We can measure levels of