The Tyranny of Structurelessness

tags: Politics

Notes

The basic problems didn't appear until individual rap groups exhausted the virtues of consciousness-raising and decided they wanted to do something more specific.

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there is no such thing as a structureless group.

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structurelessness becomes a way of masking power,

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For everyone to have the opportunity to be involved in a given group and to participate in its activities the structure must be explicit, not implicit.

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We cannot decide whether to have a structured or structureless group, only whether or not to have a formally structured one.

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Elites are nothing more, and nothing less, than groups of friends who also happen to participate in the same political activities.

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Once one knows with whom it is important to check before a decision is made, and whose approval is the stamp of acceptance, one knows who is running things.

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the informal structure of decision-making will be much like a sorority – one in which people listen to others because they like them and not because they say significant things. As long as the movement does not do significant things this does not much matter.

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We live in a society which expects political groups to make decisions and to select people to articulate those decisions to the public at large. The press and the public do not know how to listen seriously to individual women as women; they want to know how the group feels.

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the public is conditioned to look for spokespeople.

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The press will continue to look to "stars" as spokeswomen as long as it has no official alternatives to go to for authoritative statements from the movement.

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It is the task that basically structures the group.

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Homogeneity is necessary to insure that participants have a "common language" for interaction.

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too great a diversity among members of a task-oriented group means only that they continually misunderstand each other.

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only possible if the group is small and people practically live together for the most crucial phases of the task.

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the number of interactions necessary to involve everybody increases geometrically with the number of participants. This inevitably limits group participants to about five, or excludes some from some of the decisions.

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the two pizza rule

everything must be able to be done by more than one person.

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the nongregarious are at a distinct disadvantage. As long as friendship groups are the main means of organizational activity, elitism becomes institutionalized.

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the mere act of staying together becomes the reason for their staying together. When a group has no specific task (and consciousness raising is a task), the people in it turn their energies to controlling others in the group.

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diffusion of ideas does not mean they are implemented; it only means they are talked about. Insofar as they can be applied individually they may be acted on; insofar as they require coordinated political power to be implemented, they will not be.

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PRINCIPLES OF DEMOCRATIC STRUCTURING

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Rotation of tasks among individuals.

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Allocation of tasks along rational criteria.

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Notes

The basic problems didn't appear until individual rap groups exhausted the virtues of consciousness-raising and decided they wanted to do something more specific.

blind belief that no other means could possibly be anything but oppressive.

there is no such thing as a structureless group.

to strive for a structureless group is as useful, and as deceptive, as to aim at an "objective" news story, "value-free" social science, or a "free" economy.

structurelessness becomes a way of masking power,

For everyone to have the opportunity to be involved in a given group and to participate in its activities the structure must be explicit, not implicit.

We cannot decide whether to have a structured or structureless group, only whether or not to have a formally structured one.

Elites are nothing more, and nothing less, than groups of friends who also happen to participate in the same political activities.

Once one knows with whom it is important to check before a decision is made, and whose approval is the stamp of acceptance, one knows who is running things.

the informal structure of decision-making will be much like a sorority – one in which people listen to others because they like them and not because they say significant things. As long as the movement does not do significant things this does not much matter.

We live in a society which expects political groups to make decisions and to select people to articulate those decisions to the public at large. The press and the public do not know how to listen seriously to individual women as women; they want to know how the group feels.

the public is conditioned to look for spokespeople.

The press will continue to look to "stars" as spokeswomen as long as it has no official alternatives to go to for authoritative statements from the movement.

It is the task that basically structures the group.

Homogeneity is necessary to insure that participants have a "common language" for interaction.

too great a diversity among members of a task-oriented group means only that they continually misunderstand each other.

only possible if the group is small and people practically live together for the most crucial phases of the task.

the number of interactions necessary to involve everybody increases geometrically with the number of participants. This inevitably limits group participants to about five, or excludes some from some of the decisions.

everything must be able to be done by more than one person.

the nongregarious are at a distinct disadvantage. As long as friendship groups are the main means of organizational activity, elitism becomes institutionalized.

the mere act of staying together becomes the reason for their staying together. When a group has no specific task (and consciousness raising is a task), the people in it turn their energies to controlling others in the group.

diffusion of ideas does not mean they are implemented; it only means they are talked about. Insofar as they can be applied individually they may be acted on; insofar as they require coordinated political power to be implemented, they will not be.

PRINCIPLES OF DEMOCRATIC STRUCTURING

Rotation of tasks among individuals.

Allocation of tasks along rational criteria.