Public Ignorance and Democratic Technocracy

2019 ◽  
pp. 263-316
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Friedman
Keyword(s):  
Social Problems ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
High Odds ◽  
Making A Difference ◽  
Public Ignorance

It is usually thought that the “typical voter’s” well-documented ignorance of public affairs is explained by the low incentive to inform oneself about them, given the high odds against one’s vote making a difference. This theory cannot withstand either logical or empirical scrutiny. A better theory is that citizen-technocrats are unaware that they need much information if they are to make intelligent technocratic decisions, due to a tacit acceptance of a simple-society ontology—according to which social problems are straightforwardly diagnosed and solved by people with good intentions. A politics organized around good intentions, however, is unlikely to recognize unintended consequences, let alone prioritize knowledge of them. The upshot of this chapter, then, in conjunction with Chapter 5, is that we face a Hobson’s choice between rule by well-informed but doctrinaire epistocrats and rule by open-minded but ignorant citizen-technocrats.

Making a Difference: Overseas Student Fees in Britain and the Development of a Market in International Education

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Tarling
Keyword(s):  
International Education ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Department Of Education ◽  
Making A Difference ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
Student Fees ◽  
British Case ◽  
Second World

International education has long existed, but between the end of the Second World War and the late twentieth century it was largely a matter of aid and scholarships. How did the current market for international education come about? It was related to the ‘massification’ of tertiary education, and, no doubt, to a diminution in the sense of post-imperial obligation. Was it also the result of a new approach to education, even a new ideology? Or was it rather the result of series of pragmatic decisions, sometimes with unintended consequences, which ideological endorsement followed rather than preceded? This paper explores the British case through an examination of records of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department of Education and Science. It is one of a number of studies that seek to deepen the understanding of an essentially novel development by placing it in an historical context.

Decision Integrity and Second Order Cybernetics

2010 ◽  
pp. 52-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Hodgson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Decision Maker ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Ethical Considerations ◽  
Critical Areas ◽  
Ultimate Responsibility ◽  
The Face ◽  
Global World

The rational worldview of management science has come to dominate decision theory. This chapter proposes that, despite its evident successes, this view of decision making is decreasingly effective in a global world which turns out to be unruly and unpredictable in critical areas. The result is an escalation of unintended consequences in business, public affairs and human ecology. Despite its success in some fields of management, we need to question the rational view which disconnects the observer from the observed. Decision integrity is proposed as a reflexive theory of decision making that incorporates the decision maker as part of the decision field. It requires stepping out of the observer/object paradigm of classical science and into the alternative paradigm of second order cybernetics. The decision maker is not simply an observer but also a participant who cannot abdicate from personal ethical considerations and ultimate responsibility even in the face of uncertainty.

An Industry of Social Change

2021 ◽  
pp. 3-17
Author(s):  
Cynthia Rayner ◽  
François Bonnici
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Unintended Consequences

Although we may not realize it, the prevailing approach to social change is driven by an industrial mindset that has been two centuries in the making. With this mindset, public, private, and nonprofit sectors exchange large sums of money, expertise, and resources in pursuit of ambitious goals to stave off poverty, disease, and hunger at a global scale. Yet, despite this massive effort, social problems still seem insurmountable. In Chapter 1, the authors consider how this “industrial” approach to social change emerged historically, creating an architecture that is currently used to imagine, fund, and implement social change. This architecture leads to many of the unintended consequences faced today.

scholarly journals Teachers Who Make a Difference According to Teachers’ Perceptions

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-64
Author(s):  
Abdullah Çetin ◽  
Serkan Ünsal
Keyword(s):  
Role Models ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Volunteer Teachers ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Qualitative Research Design ◽  
The Social ◽  
Making A Difference ◽  
Service Training

: This research aimed to explore the characteristics of the teachers who make a difference along with the activities they did, the actions they took and the contributions they made to society. Having a qualitative research design, this research utilized a phenomenological design. The working group of the research consisted of 12 volunteer teachers who completed their master degree at the department of Educational Sciences in Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University during the 2018-2019 academic year and who had teaching experience. The research employed semi-structured interview form prepared by the researchers. Content analysis was used during data analysis. The teachers making a difference were found to differ from their colleagues with these characteristics such as taking responsibility in the solution of the social problems, producing practical solutions to problems, being open to criticism, having a unique personality. The teachers were determined to make a difference by doing social activities, solving social problems, guiding the society and bringing innovation. Besides, they demonstrated some behaviours like breaking out of the routine and not following the procedures. Various recommendations were provided in order to raise teachers who make a difference. Formal procedures should be reduced and free/democratic environment should be created during in-service training, while teachers should be specifically selected for the profession and faculty members should be role models during pre-service training. The teachers who make a difference contributed to the social integrity, development, meeting the needs of the society, bringing individuals into society and making individuals gain values.

My Journey as a Citizen Therapist

2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 477-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Doherty
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Family Systems ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Community Action ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
African American Community ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Making A Difference ◽  
The Way

My story begins with the idealism of humanistic and family systems therapies of the 1970s, followed by disillusionment with making a difference in the larger world, and then the discovery of citizen therapist work. I describe my initial forays into direct community action and then two current projects on major social problems: police relationships with the African American community and political polarization in the Trump era. A key breakthrough along the way was coming to see my role as a citizen professional in a democracy—acting with community members rather than just for them.

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