sociodynamic law?

[CGayle]

Another book that speaks to this is "Politics of Meaning" by Michael Lerner.
He addresses how to confront what both the republicans and democrats fail to
understand, the desire for meaning, recognition and connection are really
what people are hungering for, and that underlie the dynamics for many to
"buy" into consumerism and making the buck; and even underlie the dynamics
and appeal of right wing ideology.  B/c the right wing is the only song in
town that speaks to the reality of the dismantling of values, community
disintegration and lack of importance of spirituality in our culture, many
good hearted people gravitate that direction.  The democrats, liberals and
the left wing, in general, do not speak about spirituality, values, etc.
allowing the right wing to have a monopoly on issues of meaning....but
unfortunately they also scapegoat gays, the poor, immigrants, etc., as the
problem, rather than looking at the sociodynamic effect, that they support
either consciously or unconsciously, as the issue.

When I worked w/ Lerner in the mid-1990's, it reawaked my passion for
psychodrama, b/c it resonates with Moreno's vision for social and "spiritual
revolution".

Cynthia Gayle
Seattle


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <edwschreiber at earthlink.net>
To: "Adam Blatner" <adam at blatner.com>; <list at grouptalkweb.org>
Sent: Sunday, October 29, 2006 9:00 AM
Subject: Re: sociodynamic law?


>
> I would like to weigh in on the sociodyanamic effect.
> First of all, Dr. Moreno called it an effect, not a law.
> He noted the effect in all communities, from the "original"
> to the industrialized.   He wrote extensively about this effect.
>
> Here's how Derrick Jensen describes the sociodynamic effect:
>
> "Within this culture, economics - not community well being,
> not morals, not ethics, not justice, not life itself - drives social
> decisions.  Social decisions are determined primarily (and often
> exclusively) on the basis of whether these decisions will increase
> the monetary fortunes of the decision-makers and those they serve."
>
> "Social decisions are determined primarily (and often exclusively)
> on the basis of whether these decisions will increase the power
> of the decision-makers and those they serve."
>
> "Social decisions are founded pimarily (and often exclusively) on the
> almost entriely unexamined belief that the decision-makers and those
> they serve are entitled to magnify their power and/or financial
> fortunes at the expense of those below."
>
> "If you dig to the heart of it - if there is any heart left - you will
find
> that social decisions are determiend primarily on the basis of how well
> those decisions serve the ends of controlling or destroying wild nature."
>
> Jensen - Endgame
>
> So here's my thoughts:
> Dr. Moreno pointed to the socidynamic effect and described it in
sociometric
> language.  Like a Zen teacher, it's what he is pointing to that matters
more
> than the language or the pointer.  As I mentioned in an earlier post,
students
> of zen can get caught in the trap of evaluating the pointing rather than
looking
> to where the teacher is pointing.
>
> For me, I see the sociodyanmic effect in may ways.
> In organizastions, in power, in families, in the ASGPP (which is part of
our culture, and
> so reflects this dynamic too, even well meaning), in our own day to day
lives.
>
> The republicans represent the effect, the democrats attempt to reverse it,
but they too
> are a reflection, in their own way, of the same effect.
>
> Dr. Moreno's understanding of the relationship between the Cultural Atom
impacting the
> Social Atom, impacting the psyche, that is impacting the body - is the map
and diagram
> suggesting how the culture (of which the sociodynamic effect is one
element) plays
> out in our day to day lives.
>
> One glaring example:  how many millions of Americans do not have health
insurance living
> along side of those that do? Why?  The sociodynamic effect.   How many
schools are failing?
> How many more are living in poverty? And further, how many people of color
in particular are
> living in poverty beyond what we can even imagine around the world, in
Africa, etc., and what
> is the relationship between that and the wealth of the Western world?  How
much of our history,
> as Americans, has been built, literally, on the extraction of land and
resources of the Native peoples,
> and many others around the world?  The sociodynamic effect, that's my
view.  An what's quite amazing,
> from the perspective of Dr. Moreno, is that this effect emerges in our
body, our psyche, our social atom,
> in the cultural atom - and in the impact and interplay of each to each
other.
>
> Jensen, a hero of mine, relates it back to civilization's relationship
exploitation, consumption and the
> apparent destruction of the natural world, as the foundation to it all.
>
> My suggestion:   look around - see if you can see for yourself what Moreno
was pointing to.
>
> Ed
>
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>