Counterproductivity

Counterproductivity
Interest of	Ivan Illich
The self-defeating nature of modern institutions

Counterproductivity is the self-defeating nature of most if not all large modern institutions. As Ivan Illich first noted, once they grow beyond a certain size, their actual effect begins to diverge from their claimed effect. This difference widens until their actual effect runs more or less directly opposite to their original mission.

“What school and university systems actually do is to supply credentials for jobs, and often for jobs that don’t even require the training to which the credentials supposedly testify, but education continues to be hallowed by that “ceremonial” or “ritual” quality that, for Illich, constitutes its “hidden curriculum.” This discrepancy between what the institution says it does and what it actually does leads to epidemic lying and disorientation, and this bad faith is characteristic of every major contemporary institution, not just schools and ­universities. Wherever institutions confound their own interests with the salvation that they promise, crippling illusions are generated.”
David Cayley

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