Four myths about corruption

[applegrove]

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/12/four-myths-about-corruption

By Bo Rothstein at the World Economic Forum

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An answer to this was put forward by Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom when she suggested that we should distinguish between “rules in form” and “rules in use”. Organizational theorists have suggested that between culture and formal institutions exists a type of informal institution labelled “standard operating procedures”. These are rules that are not formalized, are well-known to the participants, but, importantly, are not necessarily part of their moral orientation. They are thus similar to what philosophers label as “social norms”.

In a thoroughly corrupt setting, even people who think corruption is morally wrong are likely to take part because they see no point in doing otherwise. There is a clear distinction between understanding corruption as ingrained in the moral fabric of a society, versus corruption as “standard operating procedures” that may force people to act in ways they think are morally wrong.

From a policy perspective, this may be good news. While there is very little knowledge of how to change the culture (understood as the moral norms) of a society, there is a considerable amount of research on how “standard operating procedures” can be changed through collective action. We have tangible examples in the near-elimination of practices like foot-binding and genital mutilation of young girls, and how organizations have built trust back into systems in which people had previously become disillusioned.

Through focused policy initiatives aimed at such “rules in use” and “standard operating procedures”, we might finally be able to challenge corruption at its source, and provide a long-term cure to a disease that has afflicted our societal body for far too long.


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