The word "humanity" is a foreign word. Historically, it originated from humanism in the Western Renaissance. Humanism, also known as humanism and humanism, was put forward in view of the Shinto and Deism in medieval Europe. In medieval Europe, Christianity dominated all cultures, and God was the center of the universe, refusing to think rationally. People believe that people are born guilty and can only look forward to the afterlife after death through abstinence. With the development of urban economy in the late Middle Ages, the seeds of capitalism appeared in Florence. In order to break the shackles of ideological imprisonment on productivity, humanistic thought came into being. The European Renaissance, with humanism as its core, attached importance to inheriting the excellent cultural heritage of ancient times, advocated rationality and explored nature, which was an ideological emancipation movement in human history and cleared the way for the later development of western capitalist society. [I]

The Western Renaissance and Enlightenment under the banner of humanism directly led to the scientific revolution and industrial revolution in 17 and 18 centuries: "The conquest of natural forces, the adoption of machines, the application of chemistry in industry and agriculture, the operation of ships, the passage of railways, the use of telegrams, the reclamation of the whole continent and the navigation of rivers are like a large number of people summoned from underground by magic. (2) Marx and Engels described the social and economic development of that period in this way in the Producer's Declaration.

However, the process of industrialization, urbanization and modernization has also completely changed the way of life of mankind. In modern society, the rapid development of science and technology and large-scale industrial production mode make people excessively pursue sensory stimulation and material desire, and low taste, quick success, fierce competition and ruthlessness can be seen everywhere. At the same time, people's subjective consciousness is gradually losing, imagination and creativity are declining, and ideals, beliefs and ethics closely related to the ultimate meaning of life are tending to collapse.

Thus, in contemporary society, the banner of "humanistic spirit" is once again held high. In the second half of the 20th century, under the advocacy of the United Nations, based on the value judgment that economic growth will not "naturally" bring social development, humanities and social sciences put forward the social development theory of "people-oriented" or "people-centered" to correct the preference and misunderstanding of "economic growth". 1995 [iii] The first social development summit held in Copenhagen, Denmark emphasized: "It is impossible to eliminate poverty and achieve fairness and equality only by the market, and fairness and equality are the cornerstones of development". The summit even pointed out: "Only when people-whether as individuals or as communities-become the main body of action can change and develop." [iv] This shows that the above social development theory has been widely recognized by all countries in the world under the impetus of the United Nations.

From the above theoretical exposition full of "humanistic spirit", we can sum up two main points:

First, the market economy can bring economic growth, but it cannot achieve the goals of "eliminating poverty", "realizing fairness and equality" and "improving people's quality of life".

Secondly, only when "people (whether individuals or communities)" actively participate in and become the "subject of action" in social development can "change and development" such as "eliminating poverty", "realizing fairness and equality" and "improving people's quality of life" occur.

"Healthy Model" and "Preference and Misunderstanding" of Social Development

While emphasizing the people-oriented social development goal, the international social development theory also has a famous conclusion: "Social development should go through community development". The deep meaning of this thesis is that the word "social development" has no clear spatial concept, so the "humanistic spirit" it contains is often difficult to implement. Therefore, the concept of social development should be related to a certain level of regional scope, which leads to the word "community development". In other words, the whole "society" is divided into "communities" in space. If every community is fully developed, then the whole society will be fully developed. This assertion also means that the "people-oriented" development goal must be effectively implemented at the community level.