Rejecting new ideas

One of the major obstacles facing the development of social innovations is the rejection of new ideas by the powers-that-be -- just as a body rejects a transplant, so these government bodies routinely reject anything "not invented here". There is another part of the difficulty in that social scientists are wary of creating social inventions, preferring a passive and analytical role. Another flaw is that government agencies do not share the business world's seductive approach and its love for the new. Social services need to turn aside from their puritanical, impersonal and punitive style and to adopt the car maker's welcoming attitude to obsolescence, with regular "improved" models.

I can't understand why people are frightened by new ideas. I'm frightened of old ones. (John Cage).