past’ each other. Much of the talk about consultation, responsibility, linkages,
sense of purpose, and sharing can fritter into shadow-boxing – metaphors hanging
in the wind.
More than was ever the case in the past, there are niches of promise for con-
servationwithdevelopment, horticulture andviticulture, forestry withpastoralism,
owner-managed tourism, particularly ecotourism, and well-designed compact
urban living in neighbourhoods.
There are also changes in the targeting of goods and services production, and
with the transparency and contactedness of management procedures, in the exer-
cise of unselfconscious green preferences, and withthe indexing of welfare provi-
sioning to longer cycles of understanding about gross domestic production.
Adjudication as a result of economic-social-environmental risk assessment (not
merely appraisal) is becoming increasingly mandatory, and the day of the devel-
opment manager super-glued to market forces which replicate ‘suburban’ and
‘sporting’ stereotypes is on the wane. These are heartening indicators that man-
agement is now better positioned to ‘close’ on decisions of improved quality. Of
course there remains a difficulty with follow-through services and back-up, and
the maintenance of quota and quality controls, but the indicators are excellent and
good outcomes are guaranteed.
Beyond the already identified difficulties of local-regional-central relations, it is
possible to identify a range of not to be overlooked heavings within contempo-
rary, predominantly urban, settler society communities.
- Processing dynamics.On account of greater mobility, and more effective com-
munications, the second half of the twentieth century can be denoted the age
of goods and data processing. The Saturday ballpark shuffle of the mid-
century became the daily crush pattern for getting to work, going to school,
doing the supermarketing, seeking entertainment, even holidaying. And it is
in this ‘processing’ of people, goods and messages that new jobs arose, but
only for those skilled to do them, while productive jobs (cash-in-hand ‘real
work’ and ‘real jobs’ for less skilled workers) declined. - Employment dynamics. Where, for most of the two-hundred years following
Adam Smith’s polemic, capital sought labour, capital now seeks technology
and workers are disposable. The best of the capitalist heyday was character-
ized by worker satisfaction, product perfection and a sense of employer –
employee linkage throughout a working life. This certainty has been removed
by technological surrogates for labour, and with ‘virtual realities’ in non-
participatory entertainment: machines doing the work and providing the
leisure time distractions. The skill certainties and job securities of the mechan-
ical-technological era are giving way to self-doubt. One consequence is that
when a job comes up, proximity of work to home is not a consideration, further
eroding the attachment of people to their settlement base. - Consumer dynamics. While the level of per capita consumption increases, the
landfills overflow, both outcomes being a manifestation of consumption
in Anglo settler societies. Consumerism ensures that individuals and
Tipping the Balance 277