The term “The Great Reset” has been around for a couple of years and is the name of the 50th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) which was held in June 2020. Klaus Schwab is the founder and chairman of the WEF which started in 1971. The forum meets annually in Davos, Switzerland. Its attendees are politicians, leaders and those prominent in the business world.
Although the term is prevalent everywhere in newspapers, magazines and social media, the Urban Dictionary was the only dictionary that had a definition:
The Great Reset is a proposal by the World Economic Forum (WEF) to rebuild the economy sustainably following the COVID-19 pandemic. It was unveiled in May 2020 by the United Kingdom’s Prince Charles and WEF director Klaus Schwab. It seeks to improve capitalism by making investments more geared toward mutual progress and focusing more on environmental initiatives. It has been criticized for using the pandemic to implement a risky experiment and a petition to stop it gained 80,000 signatures in less than 72 hours. A conspiracy theory has spread in response, claiming it will be used to bring in socioeconomic and environmental changes and a supposed New World Order.”
The official website of the WEF has a page discussing the “Great Reset” and the opening sentence is a quote from Klaus: “The pandemic represents a rare but narrow window of opportunity to reflect, reimagine, and reset our world” (WEF). The organization discusses how the world can “reset itself” after the pandemic is over to create a more sustaining, prosperous future led by politicians, digital entrepreneurs, and business leaders.
An article published on the WEF website in 2016 entitled “8 predictions for the world in 2030” quotes Danish MP Ida Auken: “I don’t own anything. I don’t own a car. I don’t own a house. I don’t own any appliances or any clothes. Shopping is a distant memory in the city of 2030, whose inhabitants have cracked clean energy and borrow what they need on demand.” It was from this quote that the catchphrase “You will own nothing and you will be happy” proliferated across social media.
On 5 June 2020 the WEF produced a video featuring highlights from the 50th annual meeting known as “The Great Reset Launch.” The points for discussion focus on a “new social contract centred on human dignity, social justice and where societal progress does not fall behind economic development.“
Social Media Trends as of May 5, 2022
Facebook #thegreatreset: 33,000 people are posting about this
Instagram #thegreatreset: 117,002 posts
TikTok #thegreatreset: 108,500,000 views
YouTube #thegreatreset: 6,400 videos and 1,000 channels
Google Trends: the great reset first appeared as a blip in June 2020 which was around the time that the World Economic Forum hosted its annual meeting to discuss “The Great Reset.” The popularity of the term peaked during the week of November 15, 2020.
Sources:
“8 predictions for the world in 2030.” World Economic Forum. 12 November 2016. URL: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/11/8-predictions-for-the-world-in-2030/.
DjinnHevoka. “Great Reset.” The Urban Dictionary. December 12, 2020. URL: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=The%20Great%20Reset.
“The Great Reset” World Economic Forum. URL: https://www.weforum.org/focus/the-great-reset.
“The Great Reset Launch | Highlights.” World Economic Forum. 5 June 2020. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5pxhSnDr4U.