Reviewing the Maturational Process

Institutions in Order of Appearance

This framework offers a schematic account that reveals deep principles in psychosocial life useful to those living within a society. In actuality many factors supervene, so that any factual account will present a complicated and messy picture.

The full matrix of features of the Modes as they become established within any society is shown below.

Remember two key principles:

  • Most features may occur at any point during development—but they are not institutionalized.
  • Values and institutions of each Stage are cumulative. Nothing vanishes, including even seemingly less desirable features.

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Strengthening
the Ethos		 Mode-1
Pluralist-I		 Mode-2
Legitimist		 Mode-3
Individualist		 Mode-4
Rationalist		 Mode-1
Pluralist-II		 Mode-5
Conventionalist		 Mode-6
Transcend'ist		 Mode-7
Communalist		 Mode-1
Pluralist-III
Commonality Fundamentals
Integrating Force Culture-based
ideals		 Extended
enfranchisement		 Regulated markets Independent
official inquiries		 Sectional
ideals		 Expressed public
consensus		 Personal convictions Communities
for each & all		 Socially useful
ideals
Socio-Political Institution Tradition and brute power-
based groups		 Rule of law Personal enterprise Solutions
for social
problems		 Interest-based
groups		 Self-mobilization
of civil society		 Genuine
civic commitment		 Needs-based
policy-making		 Communities of choice
Governance
Requirement		 Privileged
elites		 Separation of
powers		 Equality of
opportunity		 Regulatory authorities Group
representatives		 Norms of
professionalism		 Application of ultimate values Localism &
subsidiarity		 Community leaders
Individuality Fundamentals
Personal
Benefit		 Under control of the elites Re-distribution
of wealth &
rights		 Accumulation
of wealth		 Safety-nets for basic
needs		 Via lobbying
& group pressure		 Better relations
of government
and the people		 Self-acceptance Being valued by the community Criterion of reasoned fairness
Social
Interactions		 Authoritarian
control		 Availability of courts of justice Self-reliance Stakeholder
consultations		 Targeted
monitoring		 Discussions in
diverse networks		 Empathy &
compassion		 Effective use
of diversity		 Interpersonal
& social pressure
Provision of
Knowledge		 Propaganda
& censorship		 Socialization via
education		 Transparency
& privacy		 Routine useful social
statistics		 Via crusades &
campaigns		 Multiplicity of perspectives Accounts of
psychosocial potentials		 Freedom of
information		 Accessibility
via multiple
sources
Personal-Ethical Requirements  
Core Value Kinship Tolerance Freedom Truth Fraternity Equality Harmony Peace Fraternity
Civic Virtue Prudence Justice Courage Wisdom Prudence Moderation Integrity Benevolence Prudence

A Shock for a Naïve Author

Confronting the nature of politics led to a realization that improvements in a people’s political state must require massive effort by all, and such an effort would never manifest without severe provocation.

This diagram shows the series of unavoidable provocations that are developed as each Stage succeeds the previous one. They are horrifying taken as a whole…Closed revolution and civil war, ideological strife and hatred, spoiling of essential common resources, financial collapse, spiritual disintegration, and finally the loneliness of individuality. However the first Cycle took place over centuries in the West. Other countries trying to learn from the West will require at least some generations to transform. That probably means many decades of political turmoil still to come.

Transition forces at each stage of the Spiral of maturation of political institutions.

Individual/Society Relations

The diagonals are labelled to reveal the way the discrete Stages in maturation alternate between regulating and liberating individuals—but always in the service of society i.e. in the service of the members of society, not the politicians in power or ruling class.

There is no society apart from the individuals that constitute it. The reification of society and the manipulation of patriotic sentiments have been demagogic methods of control. (These may make sense as service for the State, not the Government.)

Demagogic leaders activate tendencies in people to submerge their individuality in some supreme entity. Naturally the demagogue ambitiously desires, or even feels destined, to rule that entity. When people en masse submerge, submit and lose identity, it reflects on their maturity as individuals. It also limits what is possible for their society and provides immense temptations to the leadership.

This concept of maturation is not politically pleasant. So it is unlikely it will be welcomed by elites currently in power.

Originally posted: July 2009; Last updated: 11-Apr-2014