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EDUCATING: THE NEXT GENERATION
Consensus
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"Happy Tambourine" with Carrie Yu of the Academy of
Chinese Performing Arts.
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Consensual decision making can be contrasted with autocratic (unilaterial)
decision making and democratic decision making. While the relationships
between the three forms of decision making are complex, the fundamental
relationship is that they are stages along a societal developmental
continuum. Autocratic decision making is the first stage, democratic
decision making is the second stage, and consensual decision making is the
third stage. At the early end of the continuum, decision making is
relatively simple, but decisions have minimal validation. At the later end
of the continuum, decision making is relatively complex, but the decisions
have maximal validation.
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Scene 1. Doris picks up Darian and Daria from school and takes them to
a park to play.
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Scene 2. Doris picks up Darian and Daria from school and asks them what
they would like to do that afternoon. Darian says he would like to go to
the video arcade; Daria says she would like to go to the craft store to
buy some supplies for a project she wants to work on. Doris says she votes
for the craft store, and that Darian must go along with the majority.
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Scene 3. Doris picks up Darian and Daria from school and asks them what
they would like to do that afternoon. Darian says he would like to go to
the video arcade; Daria says she would like to go to the craft store to
buy some supplies for a project she wants to work on. Doris says it would
be nice to find something that they all could enjoy. After some discussion
they all agree to visit a hobby store that has some craft supplies but
also has some action figures of interest to Darian.
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The reader might benefit from filling out details from the scenes,
imaging relationships before and after the time base of the scenes. Is the
reader's attitude affected by additional facts. Suppose Doris is the
mother of elementary school children Darian and Daria. Suppose Doris,
Darian, and Daria are college classmates. What role does gender and
stereotyping play in the examples?
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Think of the scenes as microcosms for autocratic, democratic, and
consensual societies. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each
political form. In this vein, let us consider one more scene.
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Scene 4. Doris picks up Darian and Daria from school and asks them what
they would like to do that afternoon. Darian says he would like to go to
the video arcade; Daria says she would like to go to the craft store to
buy some supplies for a project she wants to work on. Doris says it would
be nice to find something that they all could enjoy. After an hour of
discussion without consensus, Doris says it is getting late and drives
home with the children.
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The main advantage of autocracy is the ease with which a decision can
be reached. Decision making in a democracy is harder, but the decisions
tend to be better, especially where the decisions impact many people's
lives. Consensual decision making is even harder than democratic decision
making, but the decisions are even better. Thus, autocracy, democracy, and
consensus define a political continuum. Along the continuum are various
tradeoffs between ease of decision making and quality of decisions.
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To those that would argue that consensual decision making is
impractical on a society-wide scale, it should be noted that many people
have made the same argument about democracy. As long a theoretical purity
is not imposed, consensual decision making can be approached gradually,
accepting practical accommodations as required. Just as a democratic society can decide to delegate some of its responsibility to an individual
or institution, which in turn can act autocratically, a consensual society
can delegate responsibility to entities that make decisions democratically
or autocratically. In fact, it is easier for a consensual society to
include democratic and autocratic elements, than it is for a lower
political form to include the higher political forms.
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