The Induced Resistance of Society and Measures to Prevent It

Abstract

The article is aimed at identifying measures to counter the negative consequences of public resistance to positive institutional changes arising from the manipulation of public sentiment. It is identified that induced resistance to the introduction of efficient formal rules can take two main forms: active resistance (by groups of concern) to introducing new formal rules that they consider to be a threat towards them, and passive refusal to comply with the requirements of the new formal rules. The consequence of the first form of induced resistance, i.e., active resistance, is the refusal to introduce appropriate formal rules or the adoption of amendments that completely change their content and reduce their efficiency. In contrast, the second form of induced resistance, i.e., passive failure, without preventing the replacement of existing formal rules with more efficient, significantly reduces their efficiency. It is shown that the strategy of mitigating the negative effects of induced resistance while reforming the existing formal rules by countering the manipulation of public sentiment is impractical because of the low efficiency of the measures involved and/or the high costs associated with their implementation. The author proposes the following measures to minimize the negative impact of induced resistance on the efficiency of existing formal rules: removing the group of concerns from the relevant formal rules, directly targeted at eliminating the motivation of the group members, and shifting part of the public transaction costs of resistance to the group of concern, which provides for the redistribution of costs between society and the members of the group. It is demonstrated that, as a result of these measures, compromise formal rules will be established, the efficiency of which will be intermediate between the efficiency provided by the formal rules adopted under the pressure of the group of concern, and the formal rules adopted in the event of a complete lack of public concern.

Keywords

• manipulation
• public sentiment
• transaction costs
• concern group
• active resistance
• passive rejection