On TOP, MIDDLE and BOTTOM
Entry 100 in the Triarchy Press Idioticon
100. TOP, MIDDLE and BOTTOM
Notwithstanding the hours/pages of analysis of the rise of the Populist Right, you may still catch yourself waking up and wondering how this (Meloni, Le Pen, Farage, Vučić, Orbán, Bolsonaro, Trump) keeps happening.
If so, we have a five word recipe for understanding from Barry Oshry: Top, Middle, Bottom, Power, Love.
Barry Oshry has been explicating (unfolding, unravelling, explaining) the dynamics of systems for most of his life. He specialises in organisational systems, but his principles apply equally to international, geopolitical systems and to family systems.
First is the simple equation of Power and Love. Human systems – for example, nations – express their Power by differentiating (elaborating their differences from other nations) and individuating (maintaining their separateness).
Human systems – for example, nations – express their Love by homogenising (elaborating their commonality with other nations) and integrating (working together with others).
[n.b. Oshry maintains that you always need a balance of both Power and Love. A surfeit of either is disastrous.] In his compelling analysis of Brexit, Oshry showed that Power won.
Second is the age-old hierarchy of what Oshry calls Tops, Middles and Bottoms. Again it can be seen at work in organisations, the world at large and in families. [To be clear, he makes no value judgement. ‘Bottoms’ refers to people who have been at the mercy of others (Tops) who have the power to influence their lives in major and minor ways and who feel unjustly oppressed by them.]
Oshry’s analysis of the recent US election goes as follows:
Where did it begin?As so often happens, it began with what the Tops considered a wonderful idea: Globalization. I still recall where I was when I first heard the term. A client, recently returned from a meeting on the subject, reported excitedly: It’s a whole new ball game! Which it was and is. Ball games generally have winners and losers.The whole world was to become one competitive arena. Whoever provides the cheapest labor gets the job. Well, that “wonderful” idea was the end of huge slices of American manufacturing. How could American workers - with their unions and pensions, and salaries sufficient for buying homes, raising families, and feeling secure in retirement - be competitive with workers from poor nations. They couldn’t.From the Tops’ perspective globalization was indeed a wonderful idea. Tops would still control this new system; markets would open up across the globe, worldwide demand and consumption would skyrocket, profits would surge, the wealth of Americans would grow. Poor nations would be lifted out of poverty.There was just one problem. The no longer competitive U.S. workers? Oh them. They would adjust, it was said. Go to community college, learn new skills, become part of the information age. Which is not what happened. What happened was massive unemployment and underemployment, the death of local industries and the communities whose survival depended on them. And the Bottoms? They were powerless to stop the decay. Once prideful workers were emasculated. Hope was gone as was whatever promise the future held for them. Powerlessness. Crushed human spirit. Escape into alcohol and drugs. Divorce. Illness. Suicide. For too many, these were the gifts of globalization.Enter the hero. Into this scene comes a charismatic leader. A wealthy man, yet not one of the Tops. He promises to be the voice of the Bottoms, to express their pain and anger, to fight their fight; he attacks the Tops and their institutions; he maintains that he that he alone could fix these problems, that he could make America great again - in essence, restore the Bottoms to their rightful position where they could once again work with pride, raise families, be people of substance in restored communities. He energized Bottoms, gave them hope, and legitimized their disdain and hate for their oppressors. The Bottoms love him. Why wouldn’t they? In his essay, Oshry goes on to identify us as the know-nothings. Many of us have been oblivious to this drama as it was unfolding. We did not create the new globalised economy, but we have done well within it. Our livelihoods have been reasonably secure and we did not see the revolution coming. And without seeing the world through the Bottoms’ lens, we cannot understand what’s happening.
Read more Oshry:
His recent essay on the US election
Our Idioticon entry on Power and Love and Brexit
Books by Barry Oshry:
Context Context Context: How Our Blindness to Context Cripples Even the Smartest Organizations
Encounters with the Other: How we continue to misunderstand, dehumanize, scorn, humiliate, oppress−and even kill−others. And how we can stop. [As J. Myers said in a review: “Oshry's work is … a grandmasterpiece. [It] goes over the instincts of why, and how, people treat the Other. What causes wars. What causes prejudice. Why it progresses. How it works out. What can be done to help channel it in the right direction. Turns on the light, so that YOU can understand it--no longer flail in the dark--and get a handle on what needs to be done to stop the dance towards off the edge.
If you are a politician, or a policy maker, or a peace activist, or even just a labor leader or in upper management--you NEED to read this book. Just buy it.”
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