A catch-word common in organizations in the 70′s and 80′s was paradigm. Organizations embraced the idea that in the last few decades of the 20th century it was necessary to challenge the paradigms that had prevailed in the earlier decades and to recognize that society was being called to live under new paradigms. I came to believe that the urgency of establishing new paradigms emerged from the attempt to find some sense of order in a society that was infected by such phenomena as
- the Vietnam War
- the search for racial justice
- the emerging role of women in society
- the emerging technology
- the increasing secularism
- the urbanization of society
The list could be expanded, but you get the idea. Change was taking place around us and there had to be some way to define it, control it, and embrace it. Otherwise the chaos would continue to reign. I felt the chaos of that era and yearned for a sense of order. I know I was not alone. I didn’t understand all that was taking place around me, and the rapidity of change frightened me. To embrace new paradigms was comforting; it was a legitimate effort to overcome chaos.
Little did we know that the experiencing of change, itself, was to become the central feature of the new paradigm. Concepts, practices, and ideological standards which were defined in the 70′s didn’t last long. By the mid-80′s they had been challenged and new paradigms were being articulated. In reality, the holy grail which we were seeking was right there in front of us. It was the idea of being organized around the capability of being flexible enough to embrace change on a regular basis and allow it to be a part of our everyday experience.
Lots, and lots, and lots of people rejected this new paradigm. It challenged long-term beliefs and foundational concepts which were deemed integral to our existence as a society.
I have been speaking of the struggle with new paradigms as if it were a thing of the past. You and I both know that it is a struggle we see around us today. It may well be that most of what troubles us as a society in this first decade of the 21st century is the struggle against new paradigms that control our ability to organize and function as a society.
Something which has been frustrating in the past couple of years has been the practice of the more anxious part of our society to apply archaic labels to the changes taking place around us. In the current political scene, a reliance on such terms as socialist, communist, fascist, and other labels is frequently inaccurate and leads to conflict. In a nation in which the President of the United States is not a WASP the paradigm change is unable to be ignored. The leading role of women in government makes people like the Secretary of State and the Speaker of the House vulnerable to challenges which spring from the change of paradigms. The construction of mosques in communities previously identified by the soaring white steeples of the Congregational Church is a cause for consternation to many. People think differently today than they did thirty years ago. The paradigms have shifted…and the likelihood that they will shift back to 1950 is not even measurable. To be realistic, we have no right to believe that the paradigm shifts which we experience today in 2010 will even represent the societal issues of 2020.
I’m reading a fascinating book by Barbara Kingsolver called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Describing the ignorance of the next generation about something as simple as farming, she says,
For modern kids who intuitively believe in the spontaneous generation of fruits and vegetables in the produce section, trying to get their minds around the slow speciation of the plant kingdom may be a stretch.
A paradigm which has prevailed in our country for more than three centuries is the centrality of agriculture at the center of our existence. A huge proportion of the people in our country could trace their roots to a family which engaged in agriculture. Many of us grew up in communities which were surrounded by agriculture. It isn’t so any more. As Kingsolver points out in her book, kids in school today are “grossed out” by the idea that their carrots grew in dirt, or that their glass of milk came from the swollen udder of a dirty cow. The significance of this paradigm change is huge. I cite it as an example, only, of the issue.
Over the next several months I will focus on this issue of paradigm change on a once-a-week basis. My hope is to help us discover the nature of our anxiety in this volatile society. My fear is that we will continue to misplace that anxiety and choose to rely upon archaic understandings which only lead to further confusion and chaos. I welcome your thoughts and observations.
Photo Credit: 3D carrots
