Given the amorality of the function systems (economy, law, politics, etc.) and the increasing secularization of modern society, a great deal of moral communication now occurs in non-religious organizations, both nonprofit and profitmaking. The moral focus of profitmaking organizations is evident in codes of conduct and things like drug tests. At the same time, social problems (e.g., illicit drug trade/use) tend to take on lives of their own—or become autopoietic—and resist being solved by organizations. In response, organizations increase (or “ratchet up”) their sophistication/complexity.
At the same time, disciplinary mechanisms have arisen to solve problems of disorder, waste, and inefficiency, and they have gained increasing sophistication; however, operationally closed systems (psychic systems and social systems) may ignore or resist disciplinary efforts from outside. In response, the disciplinary mechanisms/apparatuses enhance their own complexity.
Disciplinary mechanisms and organizations often overlap, as the organizations use the disciplinary mechanisms–or as the disciplinary mechanisms infiltrate the organizations. The increasing complexity organization-based morality and disciplinary mechanisms may become unsustainable.
2 comments