TOOLS FOR CONVIVIALITY AWB IRAs «dhs thoughts make the reader morealivebecause they © TOOLS FOR pen the door that leads outof the prion of routinet, , starile, preconceived notions’ Erch Fromm . CONVIVIALIT’ Ivanlich has aroused worldwide tention asa formidable organized religion. the: medical profession, compulsory ‘ducati forall In Tools for Convivalty he caries further his profound questioning of dara fusral sotey by shoving ho thase-prodiction technologies are turning eople io the 1 don't see how anyone can afford not to read this book’ fartinLucas, Guardian Ilich’s arguments are shrewd, open and passionate Raymond Williams Drlllich’s analysis is powered by passionate devotiontohis ty, equality and justice ry Supplement U.K. 60p. Australia $1.75 Now Zealand $1.75" ‘Canada $2.28 SeciologyandPoiticeTOOLS FOR CONVIVIALITY Tyan Illich FonataCaias‘Firs published in the U.S.A. by Harper & Row in their World Perspective Series, edited by Ruut Nanda Ansheny 1973 Published in Great Batam by Calder & Boyars 1973 Test ioued in Fontana 1975 (Copyright © Yvan ich 1973 Portions ofthis book appeared jn the March/April 1973 issue ‘of Social Policy Magazine ‘Mau and printed in Grest Briain by Wiliam Coline Sons & Co Lt8 Glasgow “This bool i sold subject wo the condition that isl not Byway of td or otherwite, be lent resold, hired out or otherwise circulated ‘withou dhe publishers prior consent in any form of ‘binding or cover other chan that in which iis ‘ublised and without amar condita Tacluding tis condition being imposed ‘on the subsequeat purchaser 0 sire Vv Contents Acknowledgements Introduction ‘Two Watersheds Convivial Reconstruction ‘The Multiple Belance 1. Biological Degradation 2. Radical Monrpoly 3. Overprogramming 4 Polarization $. Obsolescence 6. Frustration Recovery 1. The Demythologisation of Science 2. The Rediscovery of Language 3. The Recovery of Legal Procedure Political Inversion 1. Myths and Majortie 2. From Breakdown to Chaos 3. Insight onto Crisis 4 Sudden Charge 4 33 65 a 88 3 103 wr ns 16 7Acknowledgements ‘The multidimensional analysis of ceilings for industrial aprowth was first formulated in a Spanish document co- authored by Valeating Borremans and myself and submited a 2 guideline for a meeting of two dozen Chilean socialists fand other Latin Americans at CIDOC (the Center for Inter- cultural Documentation) in Cucrnavaci, Mexica. The next version was presented at the Zeno Symposium organized by Professor Richard Wollheim in Cyprus. It was published in Esprit, Paris, March 1972, with criticisms by Th. Adam, Pierre’ Causcat, J.P. Chevenement, Paul Fraisse, Yves Goussault, Pierre Kende, J. W. Lapierre, Michel Pano, Henri Peguignot, Jean Marie Domenach, and Paul ‘Thibaud. A third version served me and my deceased friend Greet ‘Taylor as the basis for our participation ia the Canadian Conference on the Law in January 1972 in Ottawa, Com ‘ments by David Weisstub, Nils Christie, Allen M. Linden, J.G. Castel, H.W. Arthuts, José Antonio Viers-Gallo, J. C. ‘Smith, and Bonaventura de Sousa Santos, and other critical papers by jurists, will be published in mid-1973 in Toronto, During the summer of 1972, participants in my CIDOC seminar contributed very helpful papers. I'm especially grate- ful for the assistance of John Bradley, John Brewer, José ‘Marla and Veronica Bulnes, Martin Coben, Irene Curbelo de Diaz, Dennis Dewzel, Joseph Fitzpatrick, Amnon Goldworth, Conrid Johnson, Hartmut von Heatig, John MacKnight, ‘Michael Maccaby, Leslie Marcus, Francisco Miré Quesada, Marie-Nodlle Monceil, William ‘Ophuls, Marta Hi. Reed, Everett Reimer, Francisco Varela, Evenne Verne, Jacques ‘Vidal and German Zabala. Dennis Sullivan has patiently and critically assisted me in editing the final version, After I had elivered this manuscript to the publisher, I received value8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS able suggestions from J. P. Naik and his friends in India, “These have seeped into the text to the extent this can happen in the correction of proofs. Second only to Valentina Borre- ‘mans and Greer Taylor, Heinz von Foerster, Erich Fromm, Hermann Schwember and Abrahin Diaz Gonzales have exerted the most decisive influence on the formulation of my ideas. Introduction During the next several years I intend to work on an epilogue to the industrial age. I want to trace the changes in Janguage, myth, rimal and law, which took place in the ‘current epoch of packaging and of schooling. T want to describe the fading monopoly of the industrial mode of pro- duction and the vanishing of the industrially generated pro- {essions this mode of production serves, ‘Above all T want to show chat two-thirds of mankind still can avoid passing through the industrial age, by choosing right now « postindustrial belance in their mode of produc tion which the hyperindustral nations will be forced to adopt, 1s an alternative to chaos. To prepare for this tsk I submit this essay for critical comment. Tn its present form this book is the result of conversations at CIDOC in Cuernavaca during the summer of 1972 Participants in my seminar will recognize their ideas, and ‘often their words. Task my collaborators to accept my sincere thanks, especially for their writen contributions “This essay has become too long to appear as an article end two intricate to be read in several instalments. It isa progress report. I respectfully thank Ruth Nanda Anshen for issuing this tract as a volume, in World Perspectives, published by Harper & Row. For several years at CIDOC in Cuernavaca we have con- ducted critical research on the monopoly of the industrial ‘mode of production and have tried to define conceptually alternative modes that would fit a postindustrisl age. During the late sisties this research centred on educational devices. By 1970 swe had found that: 1. Universal education through compulsory schooling is not posible.10 INTRODUCTION 2. Alternative devices for the production and marketing of mass education are technically more feasible and ethi- cally less tolerable than compulsory graded schools. Such new educational arrangements are now on the verge of replacing traditional school systems in rich and jn poor countries. They are potentially more effective in the conditioning of job-holders and consumers in an industrial economy. They are therefore more attractive for the management of present societies, more seductive for the people, and insidiously destructive of funda ‘mental values. 3. A society committed to high levels of shared learning and critical personal intercourse must set pedagogical Timats on industrial growth, T have published the results of this research in a previous volume of World Perspectives, entitled Deschooling Society. I clarified some of the points ieft ill defined in that book by writing an article published in the Sazu'day Review of April 19, 1971. Our analysis of schooling has led us to recognize the mass production of education as a paradigm for other industrial en- ‘exprises, each producing a service commodity, each organized asa public utility, and each defining its ourput as @ basic necessity. At frst cur attention was drawn to the compulsory insurance of professional health care, and to systems of Public transport, which tend to become compl traffic rolls above a certain specd. We found th dustralization of any service agency leads to destructive side effects analogous to the unwanted secondary results well known from the overproduction of goods. We had to face a set of limits to growth in the service sector of any society as inescapable as the limits inherent in the industrial produc- tion of artifacts. We concluded that a set of limits to indus ‘wial growth is well formulated only if these limits apply both 10 goods and to services which are produced in an industrial mode. So we set out p clarify these limits There submit the concept of a multidimensional balance of Juman life which can serve as a framework for evaluating ‘man’s relation to his tools. In each of several dimensions of INTRODUCTION n this balance it is possible to identify a natural scale, When an enterprise grows beyond a certain point on this scale, it first frustrates the end for which it was originally designed, and then rapidly becomes a threat to society itself. These scales must be identified and the parameters of human endeavours within which human life remains viable must be explored. ‘Society can be destroyed when further growth of mass pro- duction renders the milieu hostile, when it extinguishes the free use of the natural abilities of society’s members, when it isolates people from each other and locks them into a man- sade shell, when it undermines the texture of community by promoting extreme social polarization and splintering special- ization, of when cancerous acceleration enforces socal change fat a rate that rules out legol, cultural, and political prece- dents as formal guidelines to present behaviour. Corporate endeavours which thus threaten society cannot be tolerated. [At this point it becomes irclevant whether an enterprise is nominally owned by individuals, corporations, or the state, because no form of management can make such fundamental destruction serve a social purpose. (Our present ideologies are useful to clarify the contradic- tions which appear in a society which relies on the capitalist control of industrial production; they do not, however, pro- vide the necessary framewore for analysing the crisis in the indusirial mode of production itself. T hope that one day a ‘general theory of industralization will be stated with pre- cision, that ie will be formulated in terms compelling enough to withstand the test of criticism. Its concepts ought to pro- ‘vide a common language for people in opposing parties who need 1 engage in the assessment of secisl programmes or technologies, and who want to restrain the power of man’s tools when they tend to overwhelm man and his goals. Such 4 theory: showld help people invert the present structure of ‘major institutions, I hope that this essay will enhance the formulation of such theory. Tis now difficult to imagine a modern society in which in- dustrial growth is balanced and kept in check by several com= plementary, distinct, and equally sciemific modes of produc-2 INTRODUCTION ton, Our vision of the posible and the fesible i s0 Te Sod by idan eapeteons that any aeratve wo more tue prodacton sounds ie # tun (0 past presen oF Ike's Uropian design for noble savages Tn fact, omever the thon of Rew posts requires only the recognition tht Scenic Gnvorerie cin be toed ima leas two oppose ways, "The fint leds to apectlzaon fonctions, nee Tomlization of vas and centralization of power aod tas people into the acenores of bursnocracks ot machines The Sco enlarges the range of each person's competency cone tl, an inst, limited oly hy her indian claims {oan egal rung o power and freedom, ‘To formulate = feory out 4 fur sity both very modern and noc dominated by indus it wil Be necty fo recogni tue gales and lite We mas cae to adit thar only witha lint can mihines ake the place of saves; teyond the limi they led to «new Kad of serfdom. Only within limite can eduction ft peuple ino 4 anes ene Hempel he, ital wad or prion. Oni wih nis nage pois to be concerned with the dvtuton of msm isi urpat, rater than with equ puts of eth. cntey or isan Once th sae eagniedy bcoms ppb to arcs the arate relsonship between posany Tons, and anew cles Sica soe ic moder technologies sorce polly irre. adidas rather ‘a manger 1 il cota ‘Ater many doub, and against the advice of fiends whom respect, I hive chosen contsa at a techn term to. despre modern sory of responsibly Ttted tos Im part this choke was condoned by the ve ont # dics which bed started mth ts Span soe tate. The Frond copnse hs been given techn mesaing Gor the chen) by rl Sovarin in hs Philo. of Taster Meditations on TrowcondentGasrone. Ts specialized use of the tem in tach might expe why Rs ateady proven eis in the unmisalably iret sod expaly spevaized contest whith i wl spear in Wis cssay. Tam aware at in English ‘conv ow sds the INTRODUCTION B ‘company of tipsy jolliness which is distinct from that indi- ‘cited by the OED and opposite to the austere meaning of ‘modern ‘eutrapelia,’ which 1 intend. By applying the term ‘convivial’ to tools rather than to people, T hope to forestall confusion “Austerity,” which says something about people, has also been degraded and has acquired a bitter taste, while for Aristotle or Aquinas it marked the foundation of friendship. In the Summa Theologica Tl, II, in the 186th question, article 5, Thomas deals with disciplined and creative playful~ ress. In his third response he delines ‘austerity’ as a virte which does not exclude all enjeyments, but only those which fare distracting from or destructive of personal relatedness. For Thomas ‘austerity’ is 2 complementary part of « more fembracing virtue, which he calls friendship or joyfulness. Ye js the fruit of an apprehension that things or tools could destroy rather than enhance culrapelia (or graceful playful- ress) in personal relations.* ‘Hugo v. Ratner, Man a Play, New York, 1972.98 TOOLS FOR CONVIVIALITY then concerned with the discovery of general systems of stiutional structure which optimize convivial production. This kind of research meews psychological resistance. Growth has become addictive. Like heroin addiction, the habit dis- tors basic value judgements. Addicts of any kind are willing 10 pay incressing amounts for declining satisfactions. They have become tolerant to escalating marginal disutility. They are blind to deeper frustration because they are absorbed in playing for always mounting stakes. Minds accustomed 0 thinking that ransportation ought to provide speedy motion rather than reduction of the time and effort spent moving are boggled by this contrary hypothesis. Man is inherently mobile, and speeds higher than those he can achieve by the use of his limbs must be proven to be of great social value co ‘warrant support by public sacrifice. Counterfoil research must clarify and dramatize the rela~ tionship of people to their tools. It oughe to hold. constantly before the public the resources that are available and the con- sequences of their use in various ways. It should impress on people the existence of any trend that threatens one of the ‘major balances on which life depends. Counterfoil research leads to the identification of those classes of people most im- mediately hurt by such wends and helps people to idemtify themselves as members of such classes. It points out how 2 particular freedom can be jeopardized for the members of various groups which have otherwise conflicting. interests. Counterfoil research involves the public by showing that the demands for freedom of any group or alliance can be identi- fied with the implicit incerest of al ‘Withdrawal from growth mania will be painful, but mostly for members of the gencration which has to experience the transition and above all for those most disabled by consump- tion. If their plight could be vividly remembered, it might help the next generation avoid what they know would enslave them. IV Recovery T have discussed five dimensions on which the balance of life epends. In each I have indicated tendencies that must be kept in equilibrium 10 maintain the homeostasis which con- stitutes human life. I have argued that the control of natural forces is functional only if the use of nature does not make nature useless for man. T have argued that institutions are functional when they promote a delicate balance berween what people can do for themselves and what tools at therser~ vice of anonymous institutions can do for them. Formal ig- struction also depends on a balance, Special arrangements ‘must never outweigh opportunities for independent learning, ‘An increase in social mobility can render sociexy more hhuman, but only if at the same time there is a narrowing of the difference in power which separates the few from the many. Finally, an increase in the rate of innovation is of value only when with its rootedness in tradition, fullness of ‘meaning, and security are also strengthened. ‘A tool can grow out of mun’s control, first to become his ‘master and finally 10 become his executioner, Tools ean rule ‘men sooner than they expect: the plough mskes man the lord of a garden but also the refugee from a dust bow ‘Nature's revenge can prosiuce children less fit for life than their fathers, and born into a world less fit for them. Homo faber can be turned into a sorceter’s apprentice, Specializa- tion can make his every day so complicated that it becomes estranged from his activity. Addiction to progress can en- slave all men to a race in which none ever reaches the goal. There are ro ranges in the growzh of tools: the range within which machines are used to extend human capability and the range in which they are used to contract, eliminate, fr replace human functions. In the first, man as an individual100 can exercise authority on his own behalf and therefore assume responsibility. In the second, the machine takes over ~ fist r= acing the range of choice and motivation in bath the opera tor and the client, and second imposing its own logic and demand on both. Survival depends on establishing procedures which permit ordinary people to recognize these ranges and to opt for survival in freedom, to evaluate the structure built {nto tools and institutions so they can exclude those which by their structure are destructive, and control those which are useful. Exclusion of the malignant tool and control of the expedient tool are the two major priorities for politics today ‘Maltiple limits to overeficiency must be expressed in langu- age that is simple and politically effective. This urgent task is faced, however, with three formidable obstacles: the idola- ty of science, the corruption of ordinary language, and loss of respect for the formal process by which social decisions are ‘made, TOOLS FOR CONVIVIALITY 1 THE DEMYTHOLOGIZATION OF SCIENCE [Above all, political discussion is stunned by a delusion about Science. This term has come to mean an instiutional enter- prise rather than a personal activity, the solving of puzzles rather thin the unpredictably creative activity of individual people. Science is now used to label a spectral production agency which turns out better knowledge just as medicine produces better health. The damage done by this misunder- standing about the nature of knovledge is even more funda- mental than the damage done to the conceptions of health, education, or mobility by their identification with institu tional outputs. False expectations of better health corrupt society, but they do so in only one particular sense. They foster ‘a declining concer with healthful environments, healthy life styles, and competence in the personal care of one’s neighbour. Deceptions about health are circumstantial. ‘The institurionaiization of knowledge leads to a more general and degrading delusion. It makes people dependent on having their knowledge produced for them. It leads to a paralysis of ‘the moral and political imagination. This cognitive disorder rests on the illusion that the know- RECOVERY 101 ‘edge of the individual citizen is of Jess value than the ‘knowledge? of science. The former is the opinion of dividuals. It is merely subjective and is excluded from poli cies. The latter is ‘objective’ ~ defined by science and pro- ‘mulgated by expert spokesmen. This abjective knowledge is viewed as a commodity which can be refined, constantly im= proved, accumulated and fed into a process, now called ‘de- cision-making’. This new mythology of governance by the ‘manipulation of knowledge-stock inevitably erodes reliance on s_government by people. 1S Thoyarorld does not contain any information. Te is a8 iti. ~ Information about itis created in the organism through its i teraction with the world. To speak about storage of informa- tion outside the human body is to fall into a semantic trap. Books or computers are part of the world. They can yield information when they are looked upon. We move the problem. of learning and of cognition nicely into the blind spot of out intellectual vision if we confuse vehicles fer potential infor- ‘mation with information itself. We do the seme when we con- fuse data for potential decision with decision itself. Overconfidence in ‘better Knowledge’ becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. People first cease to trust their own judgement and then want to be cold the auth about what they know. Overconfidence in “better decision-making” fest hhampers peoples ability to decide for themselves and then lundermines their belief that they can decide, The growing impotence of people to devide for themselves affects the structure of their expectations. People are trans- fprmedl fram contenders for scarce resources into competitos, for abundant promises. Adjudication by ordeal is replaced by recourse to secular rituals. These rituals are organized as frenzied consumption of the offerings of some menu: a cur riculum, a therapy, or a court case. The promise that science will provide affluence for all and for each according to his objectively verified merits deprives personal conflict of its creative legitimacy, People who have unlearned how to decide about theft oven fights on their own evidence become pawns in a wald game operated by mega-machines. No longer can teach person make his or her own contribution to the constant102 TOOLS FOR CONVIVIALITY renewal of society. Recourse to better knowledge produced by science not only voids personal decisions of the power to contribute to an ongoing historical and social process, it also destroys the rules of evidence by which experience is tradi~ tionally shared, The knowledge-consumer depends on getting packaged programmes funnelled into him. He finds security in the expectation that his neighbour and his boss have seen the same programmes and read the same columns. The pro cedure by which personal certainties are honestly exchanged is eroded by the increasing recourse to exceptionally qualified knowledge produced by a science, profession, of political party. Mothers poison their children on the adman’s or the M.De's advice. Even in the courtroom and in parliament, scientific hearsay ~ well hidden under the veil of expert testi- mony ~ biases juridical and politcal decisions. Judges, governments, and voters abdicate their own evidenc® about the necessity of resolving conflicts ina situation of defined and permanent scarcity and opt for further growth on the basis of ata which they admittedly cannot fully understand, ‘When communities have grown overconfident in science, they leave it to experts to set the upper limits on growth, This mandate rests on a fallacy. Experts can define stndards at levels slighly below those at which people complain with too much force. They can keep the public sullen and forestall ‘mutiny, But closed peer groups cannot be entrusted with self- restraint in furthering their expert knowledge. Nor can we expect them to be representative of the common man. Sciea- rife expertise cannot define what people will tolerate. No person can abdicate the right to decide on this for himself. It |s, of course, possible wo experiment on humans, Nazi doctors explored what the organism can endure. They found out how Tong the average person can survive torture, but this did not tell them anything about what someone cam tolerate. These doctors were condemned under a sutute signed in Nuremberg two days after Hiroshima and the day before the bomb was ‘dropped on Nagasaki ‘What a population will endure remains beyond experiment. ‘We can tell what happens to particular groups of people tunder extreme circumstances ~ in prison, on an expedition, RECOVERY 103 for in an experiment. Such precedents cannot serve as ‘measures for the privations which a society will wolerate as a result of tools or rules made for its service. Scientific ‘measurements may suggest that @ certain endeavour threatens ‘a major balance of life, Only dhe informed judgement of ‘majority of prudent men who act on the much more complex basis of everyday evidence can determine how to limit in- dividual and social goals. Science can clarify the dimensions fof man’s realm in the universe. Only a political community fan dialectically choose the dimensions of the roof under ‘which its members will lve. Bereta 1830 and 1830 a dove inventors formulated thew Of te conservation ef energy Mat of thom were edie nd ivopendcsiy von each cor Why redened the oat ing life force ofthe universe in term of work machines could peofor, Neasremetts that could be ten inthe boetory Eecame the seule by which she miysericus cosmic noms ~ Caled is iew for centuries ~ could bencefor be defined. During the ‘ame periad incintysecessfally compeied wid eee meds of fret for the fist ine: Industrial Performance becme the sale coring wo which human Efecuveness inthe care economy was sow measured. Homse- work farming, handicraft and voience aeties ranging fren the making uf preserves tothe self-bulding ofa home Began tobe viewed ay subst or acondrate forms of pro- duvtion ‘The industrial nde fist degraded an ater pra Ted the mesa of produce telatimhip whieh coed in mck) “Ths monopoly of one med of production overall cia relations tc rare profound. than the competion of Fims which grerhadows fn the wurface competion the Winner i easly ocognized as the more capitalise fa tory, the bewcrorganized busines, the mere. expoiatve nd beer proved branch of nds, che corporation tt shots dseconomts the most usobrusvely or produces fr Ser Om abroad cele wis race takes te form fa compet Gin among, mlnasonal coporaons and. ndustaing104 TOOLS FOR CONVIVIALITY saree SaaS mere es oe eee a ee Soe eee Son miginese- cee ed erties eerie ae a er er dite ec ee eae Be ee gases care pecs mare Sage Sone ata veapemn nara fora e oes RECOVERY aos command thee outputs, interest from capital or merchandise, Srsome kind of preige connected with their_operation. lly indstalized na cals is own principally what bas fen mae for him. He says “my educadon,” my tamspora- tie my emtertainenty my bea about the commodities fe geu fom schonly caf, show Business, of doctor. Western Languages, and above all English, become alos insepaible from nds production, Western men might ave to learn from ofier languages that ownership rlains can be fe Scucused in comivial way. For instance, in Microneian fengues there east entry dint devices to express the {elsdonsip ave to my acs (wich can no Tonge be sep ated fram me), to my nose (hich can be cot of) 10 my ‘elauves (vo were inflted on me), to my cance (without SrhichT could pot be ful man) to a dine (which 1 serve You), orto the same dink (which T intend to swallow). Tia society whos language has undezgone ths sil, pe- aicats come to be sated in term of commodity and Clans in terms of competion fora scarce resource,‘ want fo lene” tance ino "Tvant fo get an education” The telson t do something is arsed into the demand for a Stake nthe gamble of schooling. wast co wal’ restated 5° nund eanporuion? The subject inthe fst case desig fs hn an at and Inthe cod ax cone, Tingubt change soppors the exparsion of the Indust fen competion for insiitionalzed values is reflected in the ue of moi! language. This competion for shares in vitably cakes the form of 4 game. People gamble for what Shey percive as noun. Of course, tit competition can be tganfecd either ae zero-sum gems in which one wins when Surber loses, or at a nom-aero-sum game, in which both ompetiors get more than if either Had lest. Compulsory sho cout be cms a an exter xample of 2 Sum game: these ae only winners and Lovers; by definion School bsiowe privilege on fewer people han it degrades ‘An example of the second would be the transidon from Drfvate to public transport: at lest for the time being, more ESmmoters could get faner wherever they want © Cont docs nut have tobe a competion for scarce com106 TOOLS FOR CONVIVIALITY aodies Te coud also manifest diagreement about which Conditions would. best remove restuina on Autonomous ction. Conlit can Tead tothe creation of 4 new freedoms But this posiiy hasbeen obucured by nomial language. Tecan erate for Bath parts the righ odo, and to do things which by deinen ae neler commode no scare. Con Blct which leads to the right to wally co partipate in shap- ing seciey, speak and communicate egy ive in clean fir or to use convivial tole deprives both aersarics of some Attuence forthe sake of an incommensarale- gain ~ new Ivers Tn some soietis the comupron of language has crippled ‘the political fantasy to the point where the liferene be- tween clsim to comedies and right to convivial teas Sdanot be understood. Limits on tol canot be pully dr used. Poblic hindness to argent noes bot new penO- meron. Poop for decades sete fo open heir eye to the trgeney of popstion contol, for example. Limiting tols for the sake of freedom and convivility is now such an fue that cannot be sae. A limie on biclar velocity a8 4 Tajo clston ‘sue scemy an inpstsble idea to the wich {nd an ievant idea tothe poor. People who are born next to highways cannot imagine & world withot speed and the Peasant in the Andes canoe gresp Why anyone should ave Sat fst A slowdowa as the conition for good wane tion sounds shocking. To recommend limits on tools sourde fs deeply obscene today athe recommendation Tor geeter sev frukest and ecedom asa coi for Bod ma Tage law would have sounded a feneaton 6 The operssing coe of intr tls encroaches on eery~ day language and redces the poetic sl-afizmaton wf men wovs barely tolerated and muaruinal potest. The consequent Indusraliution of man canbe inverted only f the conv fw of Ing seu, pt wih se el ensslusness. Language. which is ined bY people jin Shiming aod aserting cach prsoa’ ght oo sare Inthe oa ot the a ‘becomes, so to speak, a second- fool to carly the selationhip of a people te seed instruments eee RECOVERY 107 4 THE RECOVERY OF LEGAL PROCEDURE pga Se Sn ever expanding productive society has become Super, cmingly dominact purpse of the exrng sa ee ad aw. The procedre by which people d= te of Petts be dons has became subvervient 10 the Siew PMogporaionsooght (0 produce more:, more ideoony ed detfons, more gods and services This Per~ role eves the id cbstace tothe cranation of te reste bounded society ino atl soc proces. erates legiaures and the juridical system have eee Remy ue to foster and prot the growth of en hospital and rood sjtemsy nt t speak of schon emereaaty, not oly the police Bur evn the cours inde Ci ptcm ell ve come to be thought of 8 and the toe Whe serie fam instal sate. That they toe ade ott fnivduals agaist indi claims bas SENSING Ep for her babi service of legitinizing de become an alatan of power. Along with the olor of fare ometped and he coruption of langage, this Pro- scenic met conden: im ols! and lege process Spsjr dvtace to rtoling society. as ape cone to ander thu an lea ity oer ng lene language. They can bing i bout by sil OY Comiouness of the deep stractre by which, i Tere cones are made, Such 2 stocre ists Be ee poeple form a community. Contradictory & here Perse of the same proces beats the Sructe ca Oe te ctne pecsonal valves and ao co shore up 20 dot Behaviour, ut the existence of sack conficting ‘igi ds not comrade e exec of onset ST eat Aes Generates them, People can dese 0 et am ae wht Repeal even though they have decided that stg relearn something on ther own, They Trenched conte does no invalidate my thes tat ay eval which neglects the uke of formal legal and pode rovers lf Only an sve major an whe ll ae vedas od groups fs for heir oa reasons on their a Fight and whose members sbare the sme. convivial pro- Cease, can fecover the rights of men against corporation. “The use of procedae fr te purpose a hampering, sop- pings and inverting out major insrons wil appear ther mmaager and adds as a misse of the law and a stbe terion of the only order which they recognize. The we of dhe convivial procedure appear coup and timial fo the bureaucrat even oe who als hime «judge. Vv Political Inversion I within the very near furure man cannot set limits to the ineerference of his tools with the environment and practise fective birth control, the next generations will experience the grucsome apocalypse predicted by many ecologists. Faced with these impending disasters, society can stand in wait of Turvival within limits set and enforced by bureaucratic dice furonhip. Or it cin engage in a political process by the use ‘Of legal and. political procedures. Ideclogially biased inter~ Dretations of the past have made the recognition of political process increasingly dificult. Liberty has been interpreted as Fright to power tools, a right claimed without reasonable Timiution by individuals and private associations in capitalist TBuniries ancl By the state in socialist societies. Recovery be- SSmes feasible only if the fundamental structure of Western Societies is clearly recognized and reclaimed. Analogous Gort to recover entirely different formal structures will ‘become necessary when former political or cultural colonies shake aff the Western mode of production. The bureaucratic management of human survival is un acceptable on both ethical and pobtical grounds. It would aethe as futile as former attempts at mass therapy. This Jos not, of course, mean thet @ majority might aot at first seems to it. People could be so frightened by the incressing Stidence of growing popabition and dwindling resources that hey woul voluntarily pur their destiny into the hands of Big Beahers, Technocratic caretakers could be mandated set Tien on growth in every dimension, and to set them just at the point Bevond which further production would mean utet Ce eeevon Such a kakoropia could maintain the industrial Sige at the highest endurable level of output. Stun, would live in a plastic bubble chat would protect his