Institutions.
They serve us. We serve them. They are everywhere.
Most people, when they hear 'institutions' think along the lines of the IMF or a the Hillsong Church or Melbourne University. Maybe some will think of marriage. Fewer still with think of tradition.
Institutions are created by people. Take the institution of 'cheers'. When we 'cheers' our friends before smashing a few coldies, we feel connected and happy. The act is one of communality and celebration; making eye contact helps us see that we are among friends, which is comforting. However, the origins of 'cheers' had a much more macabre origin; in the intrigue-ridden courts of feudal Europe, nobles would 'cheers' one another by smashing their cups together so that the liquid would slop from cup to cup. What makes it more sinister than a messy drinking game is that the intention would be to transfer any poison that might have been spiked in at some point into the cup of your enemy. Mutually assured destruction. And this is where the tradition of eye-contact figures in; the look of panic at a newly contaminated cup would be a dead giveaway of a would-be assassin.
The institution of 'cheers' was created for a specific purpose to serve the goals of its creators. That institution has lasted as it has changed to adapt to what people desire of it today, a easy way of connecting with your crew. It is because we continue to see the value in this social institution that we have not done away with it.
So what are institutions? Institutions are self-sustaining practices that have been constructed by humans. Institutions have come to fill modern society. Institutions are everywhere! School, work, clubbing, getting a coffee with a friend, table manners, the 8 hour day, AFL, illegality, money, the distinction between good/evil, religion, the scientific method of inquiry, credit/debt, property, the nuclear family, free trade, the welfare state, fish and chips, the list goes on...
There are more institutions around now that ever before. They govern human behaviour, down to every last detail. Fashion tells us how to dress. The food industry tells us what we can and cannot eat. Churches and TV want to tell us how to have sex. Capitalism allows us to realise our material desires, while Corporatism divests government from the electorate and restricts free enterprise.
Regardless of whether you think these are good things or not, it is fundamental to be able to agree that institutions are created to serve people. The only reason that people create institutions is to satisfy a need. Whether the need to control a population (religion, law), the need to maximise production (free trade) or the need to keep democracy alive (Occupy), we create institutions to fulfil our needs.
Here's the problem.
Once an institution is created, it has the tendency to concern itself with self-preservation. This is the cause of many problems around the world. We start with something that seems like a good idea, say, reusable plastic bags. We perceive an environmental problem (plastica bags) and someone furnishes a solution (the Green Bag). Now everyone uses Green Bags. However, Green Bags are much more environmentally damaging than ordinary plastic bags. However, due to its hip design and supposedly green credentials, the Green Bag is now an Australian institution. What started out as a helpful solution has now become part of the problem.
"But Mr. Jaconley", I hear your incredulous response, "Surely institutions cannot think for themselves!"
Well, my learned friend, yes and no. When institutions are created, they are created for a purpose. They are the remedy to a perceived problem. Feudalism was a remedy for warring tribes; the bill of rights a remedy for tyranny. Breakfast, lunch and dinner an accommodation of the strains of the 8 hour work day. They all serve a purpose. The problem arises when the facts surrounding its purpose become 'truth'. Once an institution declares that it owns 'truth' over its purpose (fulfilling a need), it then becomes primarily concerned with self-preservation.
Examples of this are not hard to find. Capitalism, in fulfilling its purpose of realising human liberty, at some stage laid claim to the 'truth' that it is the best possible system. Instead of staying true to the purpose of liberty and maximised utility as identified by the grandaddy Adam Smith, Capitalism (opposing Communism) decided that the free unregulated market was the one true path, paving the way for a decline into Corporatism (a system that serves the needs of those that benefit from this 'truth').
A less controversial example is that of Religion.
As soon as an institution asserts a monopoly over truth, it ceases to be an institution (created to serve humanity) and then becomes a structure of domination. The main concern is to indoctrinate all in its 'truth' so that it may grow and embed itself in society. The 'truth' is spread by the 'true believers'; fanatics who will not admit the possibility that their truth may not be absolute.
Unfortunately, these servant-turned-slavedriver institutions are everywhere today–and they can be difficult to spot. Take our scientific method. While this institution has furnished us with unfathomable benefits and improved our lives in ways that we see and feel everyday, it has lost its central purpose of a pursuit of the 'truth'. Western science now asserts that the only 'true' science is that which may be observed with the 5 senses. This has thrown an objectivist bias on all sciences; from natural to social to psychological. Every discipline has an (artificial) drive for objectivity and measurability– wilfully blind to the possibility that some things worth knowing (i.e. Truth) may be both subjective and immeasurable. By claiming a materialist truth, the western scientific method has limited itself in its pursuit of truth and muddied the waters for other traditions. Further, it is largely concerned with maintaining this status-quo: Darwinism is a theory rigidly clung to by 'objectivists' despite mounting evidence that there is much more going on than random mutation. Yet Darwinism has had a huge impact on social sciences. There is now an entire body of thought and policy based on this likely erroneous theory; a massive detour in human development. And for what? Because scientist have become better at protecting their egos than pursuing the truth.
All of the biggest problems in the world today can be explained in terms of institutions that have forgotten the service that they were created for. And where an institution is created to serve some and exploit others, it has become a system of domination (almost always with a claim on 'truth').
Good luck.
Ps. An amazing critique of institutional failure in TV form is The Wire. It is, quite possibly, the best piece of television ever created. Check out the subtext.
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