General obstacles to problem alleviation
Visualization of narrower problems
Name(s):
Obstacles to social change
Obstacles to structural change
Nature
People are inclined to despair of the feasibility of structural change because of the cumulative weight of obstacles impeding it. Arguments in favour of this perspective include: structural change is associated with radicalism, and radicalism with violence; local changes do not seem to accumulate into global changes; the world system tends to stifle local change; polls indicate that significant proportions of any population remain conventional and conservative; advocates of change on one topic tend to oppose change on another; strong government initiatives in favour of change tend to lead to that government's loss of power; when change is implement through a strong government, this is often preceived as repressive and achieving more harm than good; collective, nationalized industries tend to be inefficient; people and groups tend to percieve that they will succeed best by cooperating with those having vested interests in the status quo.
Counter-claim
Concern with structural change is misguided because most of the world's tyranny is the petty tyranny found in small-scale interpersonal relations. Example: peace activists promote world order while forgetting the needs of their friends, lovers, work associates and families.
Narrower
Aggravates
Inadequate social reform [in 8 loops]
Aggravated by
Strategy(ies)
Value(s)
Type
(F) Fuzzy exceptional problems