The field of Integral theory and influence is growing. We wonder how much of this growth is confined to white, educated, industrialized, rich, democratic (WEIRD) spaces, experiences, and worldviews. In these times of unprecedented global social unrest and distress – from the Covid pandemic, to greater awareness of racial injustice, to increased polarization in societies around the world, to the accelerating climate crisis- our work as integralists and developmentalists is to provide insights, help make meaning, and join in true partnership with a world that is suffering. The need is great. Many people are expressing readiness to join across geographic, racial, generational, ethnic, gender, religious, and class differences to counter inequitable power relations and structures and to heal divisiveness and suffering caused by a culture of othering and dominance. But how? For the integral community, we propose that it takes a look at the consequences to maintaining ‘WEIRDness,’ ‘whiteliness,’ and ethnocentricity in our field. These consequences reveal possibilities for expanding intercultural awareness and broadening the potential good of integral and adult development theories, especially for these times.
Integral
