We need grown-up thinking to beat poverty
But most politicians dwell in financial-reductionism land
Feature image - Photo by Benjamin Disinger on Unsplash
“Without an awareness of the whole, there can be no strategy. Without strategy, there is only drift.”
Systemic thinking takes a holistic approach to understanding complex phenomena. To understand society, you must understand society as a whole and not a set of discreet parts. Mechanics understand vehicles as whole systems rather than a set of discreet parts with no relationship to each other. As the quote above attests, if you don’t have an awareness of the whole how can you attempt to create a meaningful solution. It why EVs are not the answer to climate change.
Reductionist thinking, on the other hand, splits complex problems into its constituent parts. Then by maximising the efficiency of each part, the belief is the system will be maximally efficient. Using our mechanic analogy, what’s the point of tuning the engine to maximum efficiency if the tyres are flat?
Financial reductionism (a term of my own) is the splitting of complex phenomena into units amenable to accounting practices. Society is organised to facilitate financial-reductionist accounting – it’s really that dumb. Everything is divided up, reductio ad absurdum, to component parts so we can allocate funding and assign costs. Housing, health, employment, unemployment etc etc. A team of mechanics, each with their own part to manage complete with budget and cost centre, without any comprehension of what vehicle they are working on. Madness!
Here is a real-life story to illustrate the problem. An individual had come repeatedly through our hospital’s A & E facility. Clinicians were frustrated as the person clearly wasn’t looking after themselves – not taking their health seriously – costing the system time, money and resources. We subsequently found out that they were homeless, living in a car. The solution was obvious and out of the jurisdiction of the hospital – the person had to apply to the housing department. They had, they were on a waitlist. The merry-go-round kept going round.
The usual outcome of reductionism is local efficiency (make the A&E facility work well) and global inefficiency (the system doesn’t work).
Have you seen Mintzberg’s elephant? This is what reductionist thinking looks like – this is what our society looks like. We can account for every cent and we can’t see the elephant. If there is one thing that new Zealand’s current election campaigns have shown it is that few politicians think systemically. Here, they exist on the left of the political spectrum, the centre occupies status quo land and the right are in la la land.
Poverty
An article from top New Zealand journalist, John Campbell, emphasised the importance, the vitalness, of systemic thinking to counter poverty – the ability to see poverty holistically. I encourage everyone to read it as it correctly identifies poverty as a long-term, systemic, entirely solvable problem - here’s the link.
Let me clear – poverty, at least in New Zealand, is a political choice. Let me clearer – politicians and political parties choose to keep a percentage of New Zealanders in poverty. I’m not about to outline why this is the case, you’ll need to go and do your own research (with an open mind). If you think that New Zealand will go broke if we increase the minimum wage and benefits, ask yourself – how do I know this to be true? If you look (with an open mind) you will find it’s a myth perpetuated until it’s seen as a law of nature – it’s a myth designed to make you think and act in a certain way.
John Campbell’s article refers to a longitudinal study (The Dunedin Study) run the University of Dunedin – it is a fantastic study that has followed the lives of 1037 babies born between 1 April 1972 and 31 March 1973 at Dunedin's former Queen Mary Maternity Centre since their birth.
John Campbell’s article articulates the correlation between poverty and many of society’s problems. A segment comprising 22% (experiencing “intense or regular poverty” in childhood) of the cohort accounted for …
· 36% of the cohort’s injury insurance claims
· 40% of excess obese kilograms
· 54% of cigarettes smoked
· 57% of hospital nights
· 66% of welfare benefits
· 77% of fatherless child-rearing
· 78% of prescription fills
· 81% of criminal convictions.
Consider the amount of resources we pour into society to counter the problems listed above. The cheapest long-term, systemic solution for society is, by a country mile, to eliminate poverty. And we could – but we choose not to.
Here’s the real myth – New Zealand is an egalitarian society. That all people are equal and deserve, and have, equal rights and opportunities.
