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.
- Structures aimed at achieving a common purpose …
- 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.
- [Culture = people working together to resolve a recurring problem, see “How Will You Measure Your Life“).
- 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.
- In the collective pursuit of a common purpose, a mold, a certain way of doing things emerges.
- 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.
- Corruption.
- Our social infrastructure is populated with institutions.
- 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.
- Conformist culture.
- Late 60s and onward: institutions are too repressive.
- Progressive, libertarian culture.
- Be yourself.
- Pursue your own wellbeing and freedom.
- Progressive, libertarian culture.
- Next stage: institutions are needed to re-unify?
- Solidarity culture.
- Post-war: institutions are formative.
- Outdated institutions.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.]
- Individuals use the platform, but don’t bother to adhere to the norms, rules, ways of doing things.
- 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).
- No more mainstream: fragmentation.
- [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]
- Performative rather than formative structures.
- 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.
- If there are no institutions, people don’t connect.
- 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.
- Civility.
- When interacting with people repeatedly, being productive requires:
- 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.]
- Get members to behave better.
- We need to be formed.