E.F.Schumacher saw human scale technology as the key to a fairer, more innovative and fulfilled world. Since his death in 1977, technology has been transformed unleashing great waves of creativity and enterprise just as Schumacher foresaw. And yet the small is beautiful revolution for which he worked seems barely to have begun with big business, big government and the inequalities of wealth and power they represent still driving our world. Is this a sign of failure or is it a coming battle for the future? How can we speed up the transition to the world for which E.F. Schumacher strived?

1. The Schumacher
Contradiction
Adam Lent

13. The Schumacher Contradiction
Human scale technology is
unleashing creativity,
autonomous working lives
and small business just as
Schumacher predicted
Economic power has
simultaneously become
more concentrated and
large scale.

14. The concentration of economic power
• 0.1% of US households now own 22% of the value of all assets up
from just 7% in the early 1970sWealth
• Top 10% of male earners in the UK have seen weekly earnings
double from £500 per week in the early 1970s to over £1,000 by
2008 while the poorest have seen a rise from £200 to around £300.
Income
• The top 500 global corporations earn a third of all business revenues
up from a fifth in the 1960s.Market Share

15. The Schumacher Contradiction
We have the
tools …
… but not the
resources to use
them fully.

16. The Risks of the Schumacher Contradiction
Triviality
Thwarted Potential
Conflict

17. Fulfilling the Small is Beautiful Revolution
Restructuring the Corporation
Expanding Home Ownership
Reviving Anti-Trust