Chapter 3
‘Instructors’ Name’
Many social and political scientists have used scientific tools for understanding public behavior. Garry .R. Orren in his article ‘Beyond Self Interest’ delineates how most of these theories propose that social patterns are mostly formed based on an individual’s self interest. In other words they say an individual support or oppose a public policy, based on the implications it will have on his personal need. Orren disagrees with these theories and takes the opposite view by stating it is the group/shared values that affect an individual’s public behavior. For that he takes three theories, neoclassical microeconomics theory, pluralism model and the Marxist theory and analyze them individually and comparatively to prove their shortcomings.
He sheds light on how neoclassical economics and pluralism models, when applied to public behavior, advocate that political market is self regulatory where group interests are served with optimal results through unseen market forces. According to Orren, these theories do not take into account the importance of shared values. He says shared values shape individual behavior and shape public policies that affect economic outcomes. Also Marxist model, neoclassical models and pluralism, underplay the role of Government and leadership in shaping public polices when in reality they play a central role. Orren on the other hand advocates that leaders not just react according to their group interests but mold the opinions and behaviors of the group.
While many political scientists advocate that self interest is the main driving force behind an individual supporting or opposing a public policy, Orren considers it to be a misconception. He says people exhibit public spirited behavior. He provides examples such as how a person being unemployed does not affect his views on the employment policies of the State and his vote is not based on his personal job experience. A person’s own financial problems do not affect his view on the economic policy of the government. His decisions are based on the general public opinion about these policies and not his own experience of the said matter. He says though self interest is almost, celebrated in today’s American society and possessive individualism is today seen as one of the main ingredient of American values, still self interest alone cannot explain devotion, compassion and sense of duty. Public beliefs according to Orren, is based on a person’s desire for belonging and his concern for larger issues that rise above his own self interest.
Cooper, in the chapter titled ‘Public Administration in Modern and Postmodern Society’, delineates how in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century scientific methods were used to measure almost all aspects of life including human behavior and many government rules, laws and public policies were formulated based on scientific principles. He states that those scientific foundations fail to measure the reality of the postmodern society. Like Orren, he too explains how our individual interests are shaped by the group to which we belong. The following excerpt from this chapter asserts this point.
As we attempt to realize our own interests, we invariably find ourselves linked
interdependently with others who are different and have different interests. we begin to realize that our fate is
bound up with the decisions and behaviors of other people whose values differ,
in ways both large and small, from our own. (Cooper, Pg.50)
We can find many examples where a support or opposition to a Government policy is based on ideologies or group values rather than self-interest. For example after 9/11 security measures in airports across the country tightened many a fold. Before 9/11 security check in airports used to be just a stroll through the metal detector. Now there are scores of procedures which has not just increased the time delay but also increased the cost of air travel, as passenger ticket fares are raised to offset the increase in security costs. So an individual’s self interest is negatively impacted by way of increased time delay and travel cost. But almost every American support the new security measures, because they are able to see past their individual self interest and support the new polices on the basis of ideologies and sense of duty to their country. Thus, this example justifies Orren’s views of how self interest is not the main determinant behind public behavior.
