Report R1.8 Ideas, Institutions, and Experience Seminar Leader: Satish Saberwal, Formerly: Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi saberwal33[at]gmail.com Issues Covered: What happens in a society is a function of the ideas and institutions prevailing in the society. Ideas go into shaping institutions, institutions provide the contexts for experience, and experience can be the basis for fresh ideas. 1. IDEAS [These change over time; so there is a variability to the validity of ideas, and of particular complexes of ideas; stability of ideas; availability: that'd determine their social significance; orientation to alien ideas: degrees of openness or closure; cumulative consequences]. 2. IDEAS AND INSTITUTIONS [The link between ideas and practice is a variable; ideas can be spread by institutions in two different ways; given familiarity with a body of ideas, received along varied channels, one may take their validity for granted; ideas in institutions define the meaning of experience]. 3. FROM EXPERIENCE TO IDEAS [Feedback loops: cybernetics; reviewing experience; to learn from experience takes skills: skills which, themselves, can be learnt; learning from experience is central to the process of constituting and reconstituting societies; complex societies, in turn, need shared skills for such learning from experience]. Before the seminar started, some topics from the previous seminar were recapitulated, e.g., the distinction between phenotypic and genotypic descriptions. In this context, another distinction was discussed: etic and emic (as in phonetic and phonemic). In the study of language, the etic level refers to the level of sounds, whereas the emic level refers to the level of meanings. This kind of distinction is fundamental to any area of scientific inquiry. The seminar dealt with the question of how a society hangs together. The answer involved a model consisting of a cyclical relationship among ideas, institutions, and experiences. Ideas go into shaping institutions; institutions provide the contexts for experience, which then becomes the basis for fresh ideas. What happens in a society is a function of the ideas and institutions prevailing in the society. If we compare European and Indian history, both may have ideas and institutions that appear to be more or less similar, but there may still be vast differences between these societies. Ideas change over time. The development of ideas occurs in the environment of other ideas, institutions, and experiences. Example: Democracy in Europe spread ideas concerning individual, equality, etc. But, if it is transplanted in another cultural tradition, it may not be accepted easily. It is not the transplanted idea will fail, but the outcome will depend on the quality of fit with the host tradition and the quality of effort to adapt the various elements to make them fit together. Fundamental ideas are deeply layered, which control other phenomena. Relatively large number of beliefs and practices are justified and defended with reference to deeply layered ideas that become non-negotiable due to clash of values. Example: the ideas of purity and pollution in the Brahminical tradition in India. Availability of ideas differs from society to society, which may be more accessible or more restrictive. In India's segmented society, the distribution of ideas and of knowledge has been heavily segmented. The orientation to alien ideas depends upon degrees of openness or closure. The links between ideas and practice is a variable, a function partly due to cultural pressure towards consistency between them; for example, the Brahminical tradition allows multiple forms of practice. It may be said that there is no necessary relationship between what ideas one carried and how one acted. But the idea generated is only the initial stage, its persistent availability, presentation, and advocacy makes it enter consciousness and practice to make a difference in the society. Institutions play this role. Institutions can spread ideas in two different ways. One way is ideas go into institutions, as into the caste order. The other way is institutions are created deliberately to spread certain ideas, e.g., RSS. Depending on the familiarity with a body of ideas, received along different channels, one may take it for granted. Ideas are also generated from experiences. It may also be said that generally ideas change due to experiences. But changing ideas have different aspects that may be good or bad. However, learning from experiences is considered important in the scientific tradition. Such learning is also central to the constitution of society. Some skills are involved in learning from experience. These include the skills of recognising patterns in experience, differences between patterns, interpreting the differences to search for general formulations that become general rules/laws, etc. Learning from experiences provides guidance to steer the future course of society. Complex societies need shared skills to perpetuate this kind of learning. Reference Saberwal, S. (1995). Wages of segmentation: Comparative historical studies on Europe and India. Hyderabad, India: Orient Longman. (Chapter 9, "Ideas, Institutions, and Experience", pp. 162-185.)
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