Our economic system: a classic double bind
Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 7:34 am
I find the connection between our economic/monetary system and "double binds" pretty interesting. In our economy, you must save and invest in order to find security and safety while at the same time spending and consuming in order to have the job which provides your income. At the macro level is this not a giant double bind as described below?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_bind
The double bind is often misunderstood to be a simple contradictory situation, where the victim is trapped by two conflicting demands. While it's true that the core of the double bind is two conflicting demands, the differences lie in how they are imposed on the victim, what the victim's understanding of the situation is and finally, who (or what) imposes these demands upon the victim. Unlike the usual no-win situation, the victim has difficulty defining the exact nature of the paradoxical situation in which he or she is caught. The contradiction may be unexpressed in its immediate context and therefore is invisible to external observers, only becoming evident when a prior communication is considered. Typically, a demand is imposed upon the victim by someone who they respect (a parent, teacher or doctor), but the demand itself is inherently impossible to fulfill, because some broader context forbids it. For example, this situation arises when a person in a position of authority imposes two contradictory conditions but there is an unspoken rule that one must never question authority.
Gregory Bateson and his colleagues defined the double bind as follows[3] (paraphrased):
The situation involves two or more people, one of whom (for the purpose of the definition), is designated as the "victim". The others are people who are considered the victim's superiors: figures of authority (such as parents), whom the victim respects.
Repeated experience: the double bind is a recurrent theme in the experience of the victim, and as such, cannot be resolved as a single traumatic experience.
A "primary injunction" is imposed on the victim by the others in one of two forms:
(a) "Do X, or I will punish you";
(b) "Do not do X, or I will punish you".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_bind
The double bind is often misunderstood to be a simple contradictory situation, where the victim is trapped by two conflicting demands. While it's true that the core of the double bind is two conflicting demands, the differences lie in how they are imposed on the victim, what the victim's understanding of the situation is and finally, who (or what) imposes these demands upon the victim. Unlike the usual no-win situation, the victim has difficulty defining the exact nature of the paradoxical situation in which he or she is caught. The contradiction may be unexpressed in its immediate context and therefore is invisible to external observers, only becoming evident when a prior communication is considered. Typically, a demand is imposed upon the victim by someone who they respect (a parent, teacher or doctor), but the demand itself is inherently impossible to fulfill, because some broader context forbids it. For example, this situation arises when a person in a position of authority imposes two contradictory conditions but there is an unspoken rule that one must never question authority.
Gregory Bateson and his colleagues defined the double bind as follows[3] (paraphrased):
The situation involves two or more people, one of whom (for the purpose of the definition), is designated as the "victim". The others are people who are considered the victim's superiors: figures of authority (such as parents), whom the victim respects.
Repeated experience: the double bind is a recurrent theme in the experience of the victim, and as such, cannot be resolved as a single traumatic experience.
A "primary injunction" is imposed on the victim by the others in one of two forms:
(a) "Do X, or I will punish you";
(b) "Do not do X, or I will punish you".