Cultural Evolution and a New Economy for the 21st Century

Prof. Henrietta L. Moore | 24 March 2026

Why a new economy needs cultural evolution, local action and a break from old orthodoxies

Paradigms are about the relation of thought to change; how we might come to think otherwise. At the present time, societies around the world seem rather stuck in their thinking. Data, even the evidence of our own eyes, and in some cases, burnt hands and wet feet, do not seem to carry much weight when it comes to thinking differently. Kuhn was clear that paradigms are resilient — rather more so than our ecosystems, it would appear! Scientific communities do not reject dominant paradigms just because there is evidence against them. Kuhn’s initial training in physics should have inclined him toward the view that scientists change their minds when the evidence changes.  Instead, he argued that scientists do not change their world views until a series of crises force them to do so and/or a ready alternative paradigm has arrived to take the place of the old. 

Read the full article published for ProSocial World.

About the Author

Henrietta L. Moore is Co-President of The New Alignment and Founder and Director at the Institute for Global Prosperity, University College London. A leading global thinker on prosperity, Professor Dame Henrietta L. Moore challenges traditional economic models of growth arguing that to flourish communities, businesses and governments need to engage collaboratively with local diversity and work within ecological limits.