A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL INDICATOR FRAMEWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

This paper focuses on the idea of a critical analysis of social indicator framework for sustainable development. The paper has reviewed the concept of development and its indicators over the last seven decades. The concept of development has evolved from economic growth to human resource development, poverty alleviation, sustainable development, human development, and most recently the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A preliminary finding shows that the concept of development in conventional economic literature has focused more on the physical and material aspects of development, although of recent after introducing SDGs these literatures have begun emphasis on the social and moral aspects of development as well. Besides the concept of development, the indicators are also designed for this concept which covers material and physical aspects. Both the concept of the material and physical are not comprehensive to reflect the dynamics of the social aspect of development. The paper aims to identify the concept of development and its indicator from related modern literature on development and argues for the need of a new social indicator framework for sustainable development. Furthermore, the paper adopts meta-analysis and content analysis methods by reviewing and analysing of related literature from journals, books, conferences and reports. The final outcome of this paper reveals that there is an urgent need to develop a social indicator framework for sustainable development.