3 ms·
This is a great piece. It provides a clear framing to interpret how institutions (and individuals) act when faced with social injustice. The article cites sever
by pabo 6y ago
This is a great piece. It provides a clear framing to interpret how institutions (and individuals) act when faced with social injustice. The article cites several interesting cases to make the point: the injustice itself can be very real, or it can be just something "assumed" but magnified by social media.
The author argues that there's an important distinction between socially vs. economically radical (re)actions to injustice. The socially radical approach is relatively easy to follow through but also quite ineffective, or even counter-productive (e.g. appointing the first female board member in a corporation, or instantly fire an employee who's been blamed on social media). On the other hand, an economically radical reaction is costly but can lead to real change (e.g. stop selling to a business partner who violates our own values).
And, as the article points out, leaders of institutions typically have personal incentives to follow the "soft" version: making some PR moves without caring too much about the real problems.
If we look at the IT sector we had several examples of this lately [0-4].
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23740818 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23740818
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23500093 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23500093
[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7801646 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7801646
[3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23726882 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23726882
[4] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23445987 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23445987