Each of the new institutions perceives its own purpose as central, as ultimate value, and as the one thing that really matters.
The new pluralist organization of society has no interest in government or governance. Unlike the earlier pluralist institutions, it is not a “whole.” As such, its results are entirely on the outside. The product of a business is a satisfied customer. The product of a hospital is a cured patient. The “product” of the school is a student who ten years later puts to work what he or she has learned.
In some ways the new pluralism is thus far more flexible, far less divisive than the old pluralism. The new institutions do not encroach on political power as did the old pluralist institutions, whether the medieval church, feudal baron, or free city. The new institutions, however, unlike the old ones, do not share identical concerns or see the same world. Each of the new institutions perceives its own purpose as central, as ultimate value, and as the one thing that really matters. Every institution speaks its own language, has its own knowledge, its own career ladder, and above all, its own values. No one of them sees itself as responsible for the community as a whole. That is somebody else’s business. But whose?
ACTION POINT: Reflect on the political disease of single-interest pluralism of our society.
The New Realities
* Source: The Daily Drucker by Peter F. Drucker