What is a Metamodern Society?

A society that takes inner growth and development seriously, to help more citizens realize their human potential.

Development is real and it matters. Humans develop through a series of stages — albeit in a tricky, complex and often seemingly contradictory manner. But underneath the confusion is a relatively simple set of progressions, an elegant simplicity. Our ability as a society to support the growth into higher stages is not only an ethical imperative — as our current societies are full of inexcusable suffering — but a requirement for our emerging global society to thrive and survive. The main idea of metamodern politics is to create a listening society that mitigates the suffering of “normal” life and uses a wide range of social technologies and political strategies to support the psychological growth of all citizens. It is not a simple thing to do. But why aren’t we even starting a conversation about how it can be done? As a society, we do all sorts of difficult things: vaccinating everybody, guaranteeing schooling, keeping the airplanes flying, inventing new ways to use the internet. Is it really beyond our ability to create institutions that support our happiness and development?

— The Listening Society, Hanzi Freinacht