Tourism and Socio-cultural Development Issues - Tourism and Development: Concepts and Issues - page 214

index only provides a snapshot of the development situations of mostly
developed nations during a certain year.
Social Progress Index
As society began to question the accuracy of development measurement
predicated on economic performance alone, new indicators or variables were
suggested to measure more comprehensive 'development' of nations, regions
or communities. The UN's HDI and the OECD's Better Life Index are two
examples that are currently in use in many organisations and institutions.
The concept of social progress, in agreement with sustainable development,
emphasises balancing progress in three areas (social, economic and environ-
mental), but not pursuing progress in one area at the cost of others
(i.e. achieving economic success at the cost of social and environmental
aspects) (Harris & Burns, 2004).
In early 2013, another indicator was proposed by the Social Progress
Imperative. Although this indicator is untested, it is important because it
introduces indicators beyond GDP measurement, and challenges policymak-
ers and business leaders to reconsider multiple facets of 'social progress'
(Baumberg, 2013). Similar to the UN's HDI, the Social Progress Index (SPI)
uses three dimensions to measure the social progress of a nation. Lars Osberg
(2001), whose work provided a foundation for the Social Progress Indicator,
stresses that social progress must fulfil individuals' 'needs' or 'basic human
rights' first, then attend to 'wants' (CSLS, 2012; Harris & Burns, 2004: see
Chapter 13 for development as a human right). Therefore, the definition of
the social progress on which this indicator is based is:
Social progress is the capacity of a society to meet the basic human needs
of its citizens, establish the building blocks that allow citizens and com-
munities to enhance and sustain the quality of their lives, and create the
conditions for all individuals to reach their full potential. (Porter et al. ,
2013: 7)
According to Porter et al. (2013), the SPI has unique characteristics that dif-
ferentiate it from any other measurements of well-being. These five charac-
teristics are:
(1) Based exclusively on non-economic indicators.
(2) Based exclusively on outcome indicators.
(3) Integrates a large number of indicators into an aggregate score of social
progress.
(4) The model is structured to allow empirical investigation of relationships
between dimensions, components and indicators.
(5) Breadth of indicators makes the model relevant for countries at all
income levels. (Porter et al. , 2013: 8)