EconTalk — Yuval Levin

On: A Time to Build

Episode: N/A

Date: March 2, 2020

Background: Author and political scientist.

Key Subjects:

  • Institutions.
    • Structures aimed at achieving a common purpose …
      • Emerge out of cohesive communities with shared goals.
    • … by working together.
      • Often on a voluntary basis.
      • Requires (and builds) trust among its members.
  • Culture and conformity.
    • In the collective pursuit of a common purpose, a mold, a certain way of doing things emerges.
      • Development of an institutional culture.
    • The institutional mold shapes its members,
      • Development of formal or informal norms and rules.
      • Conformity: members are shaped by and behave in line with norms and rules of the institution.
  • Trust and social expectations.
    • Our social infrastructure is populated with institutions.
      • Family, marriage, professions, company, political parties, healthcare system, etc.
    • We expect these institutions and its members to behave a certain way.
      • Based on the institution’s norms, goals, status and culture.
    • If behavior is different from expectations, we lose trust in the institutions.
      • Corruption.
        • Abuse of institutional power, self-interest, gaming the system.
      • Non-conformity.
        • Resistance to adjust to institutional culture, norms are not enforced.
  • Evolution of societal perspective on institutions.
    • Post-war: institutions are formative.
      • Conformist culture.
        • Be like everyone else, work together.
        • Also, be a better version of yourself.
    • Late 60s and onward: institutions are too repressive.
      • Progressive, libertarian culture.
        • Be yourself.
        • Pursue your own wellbeing and freedom.
    • Next stage: institutions are needed to re-unify?
      • Solidarity culture.
  • Outdated institutions.
    • Performative rather than formative structures.
      • Individuals use the platform, but don’t bother to adhere to the norms, rules, ways of doing things.
        • Or, norms and rules are no longer enforced (bad behavior goes unpunished).
      • Hollows out institutions, people lose trust.
      • [Seems mostly bad: corruption and abuse.]
      • [Likely requires breakdown or reform.]
      • [Example: US politics.]
    • Lack of need for collective action:
      • Current institutions were built to leverage mainstream collective action.
      • Trade-offs have changed:
        • No more mainstream: fragmentation.
          • Technology has created many profitable, small worlds (in terms of financial rewards and status).
        • No more collective action: individualization.
          • Technology allows us to be functional loners (we don’t need to come together as much to achieve things).
      • [Seems mostly good]
      • [Individuals absorb functionality of the institution.]
      • [The institution needs to evolve or lose its purpose.]
      • [Different institutions may emerge.]
      • [Example: journalism.]
      • [See also: this is what happens when external constraints, a different label for trade-offs, change – Complexity — David Krakauer, Part 3]
  • Institutions need to evolve (or we need to build new ones).
    • We need to be formed.
      • To be more effective and virtuous.
    • We may not recognize the costs of losing certain institutions.
      • Long-term impact, hidden costs.
    • We need to connect.
      • If there are no institutions, people don’t connect.
        • People only come together to do something.
    • We need to balance individualism and moral communitarianism.
      • Allowing different groups to live together within larger society.
      • Imbalance today:
        • Excessively high expectations of the individual.
        • Excessively low expectations of our institutions.
    • We need to disagree productively.
      • When interacting with people repeatedly, being productive requires:
        • Civility.
          • Rooted in the premise that the people that I don’t like aren’t going anywhere.
        • Compromise.
          • Instead of always seeing the other party as the problem.
    • Solutions.
      • Get members to behave better.
        • Awareness that everyone has a role to play in societal flourishing.
        • Then, ask the question: given my role, how should I behave.
        • [Feels like pushing on a string, idealistic.]
        • [External constraints to drive individual behavior (incentives / rewards / punishments)]
      • Reform the institution.
        • Change the institution’s rules and norms.
        • [Perhaps makes more sense.]
        • [Very difficult to figure out how to change a complex system or how to intervene in it effectively.]
      • Increase awareness of hidden costs.
        • [Difficult to get people to notice or care about long-term effects.]

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