7.6 FW RIGGS

FW Riggs is the most prominent CPA thinker who has worked extensively in related fields of ecology, CPA and development administration(DA)

 Riggs has written extensively in the fields of CPA and Developmental administration and his most important books are
i) administration in Developed countries: The theory of Prismatic society
ii) Frontiers of Developmental Administration  1970s

COMPARATIVE ECOLOGICAL MODELS OF RIGGS

In 1950s Riggs attempted the first typology of the comparative ecological model when he gave a comparative description of Agraria and Industria societies ecology in 1956.

Later in 1957, he added a third ecological type to this model namely transitia society ecology.

This ecological contrast was based on two things

1.Pattern variables which were first suggested by sociologist -TALCOTT PARSONS

2.Structural-functional Analysis which was Riggs own new feature.

In describing the societal contrast, Riggs made use of two sets of pattern variables namely Ascriptive vs Achievement patterns, and Particularistic vs Universal pattern.

Ascriptive vs Achievement Pattern

A society or an ecology is characterised by an ascriptive pattern of behaviour if it controls status based on ascribed features ie..by birth characteristics or inherent rather than based on one's personal achievement or merit. In other words, if in a society the advantages and disadvantages are granted or denied based on inherited or birth features like caste, gender, religion, region, surnames or family lineage instead of one's own acquired character. Then such ecology follows an ascriptive pattern whereas if the status or other advantages are conferred or denied purely based on one's own merit as shown by acquired feature achievements then that society or ecology has achievement pattern.

According to Riggs, The Agraria ecology or folk societies or traditional societies are typically governed by ascriptive pattern whereas developed or industrial societies are typically characterised by achievement pattern. In an achievement driven ecology, the inherited characters are neither an entitlement nor a hurdle.

Particularistic vs Universal Pattern

The Particularistic pattern variable describes a society where society favours a narrow base for making societal decisions. in other words, while taking decisions, some narrow or particularistic interest is kept in mind which would be self-interest, the interest of a specific group, lobbies elites or powerful family, caste vote bank etc. as a result the maximum common interest of the society at large are sacrificed in pursuit of particularistic or specific interests.

On another hand, a universal pattern is a behaviour where universal or general public interest forms the basis of decision making. Decision making or policy making is outward looking ie..it doesn't favour any inside group community, lobby, elites etc.

Thus, universalistic societal pattern leads to inclusive policies and inclusive development.

Structural-Functional Analysis

Through structural-functional Analysis, Riggs wanted to differentiate between specialised structures and non-specialised structures. He argued that agrarian or underdeveloped societies have very few structures performing all the functions and therefore there is structural-functional fusion ie...Each structure or Agency is performing many functions and thus there is a lack of functional specialisation. On the other hand, Industria or developed societies have the feature of structure-functional differentiation ie..each structure or Agency performs a specialised function.

TRANSITIA

Riggs visualised transitia as the society in transition/, from agaraia to industira. He described these societies as societies which want to embrace the new ie..the new values, attitudes, behavioural patterns, norms for example merit, universalistic interest, maximum common good etc. However, typically in these societies, the new co-exist with the old because while the attempt is being made to embrace the new, the old is often hard to dismantle.

Riggs described the transitional phase as a difficult and prolonged phase because of the possibility of uneven social change.

Thus, transition ecology represents those societies where the process of transition or development has started but has not been completed.

FUSED-PRISMATIC DIFFRACTED SOCIETY

In 1964, Riggs abandoned earlier classification of Agaraia, Industria, Tansitia for a new typology namely fused, prismatic and diffracted ecology essentially fused, prismatic, diffracted had a one to one co-relation with again, industria and transitia respectively.

Thus, in many ways, the new classification could be termed as just a cosmetic renaming of the ecological types. however, this new classification had many improvements over the earlier ones.

i)The older classification essentially started with just the two extremes namely Agraria and Industria(1956)

However soon Riggs realised that the intervening class is necessary and thus transitia was inserted in 1957almost as an afterthought. further, it was realised that the tranistia society or transtia ecology subtitle was the model subtle ie..most prevalent subtle.

Thus logically now Riggs wanted to shift his focus of analysis from the less representative extremes to more repre4sentataive middle type and for this reason, 1964 typology is also described as the theory of prismatic society.

ii)As a next logical step if prismatic society ecology is the most commonly found ecology type then it will be such a big class that it would require sub-classification in this new model;Riggs explored various possibility of transitional stages as well as the nature of transitional thrust and thus various sub-classification of prismatic societies like E0, Ortho, Neo, Endo and Exo-prismatic were described.

iii)Most importantly Riggs wanted to explore the process of developmental transition from fused to prismatic to diffract.

Through this new model, he studies characteristics of the prismatic society in detail and also the process of development and the challenges therein.

PRISMATIC SALA MODEL

In describing the comparative ecological types Riggs described transitional societies as prismatic societies or prismatic ecology and their administrative system as sala model or salacracy as different from Bureaucracy.

In using /coining this terminology, the word prismatic was an analogy to the concept of fused white light diffracting through a prism so as to convey that this is the ecology that which is neither fused nor diffracted or partly fused and partly diffracted or ecology in transition.

The word "sala" is a Spanish word that stands for a polyfunctional structure or a polyfunctional place and Riggs used this word to distinguish it from Bureau ie..a desk or a single function specialised administrative Institution or "Structural-Functional Diffraction".

The prismatic society will have an administrative institution which may perform multiple or overlapping functions.

 The three Typical features of a Prismatic Society

According to Riggs Prismatic society are characterised by certain typical features which significantly influence their administrative systems as well as the general pattern of behaviour because the prismatic ecology ha these features, the sala model/coach is not able to function as an ideal bureaucracy of Weberian type.

These features are-

i)Heterogeneity-

 Heterogeneity is defined as co-existence of different kinds of system, structures, practices ie..typically a new system or structure established or a modern value or viewpoint is proclaimed but the older structure or system continues to exist or the older value or viewpoint is still followed in the society.

Thus, heterogeneous structure exists or heterogeneous patterns exists or heterogeneous norms and view points prevails in the society for ex-In a developing or transition society like India, modernity may co-exist with orthodoxy, modern science may co-exist with superstitions, industrialisation may co-exist with rudimentary subsistence agriculture, merit may co-exist with ascriptive status and universal interest may co-exist with disparity or heterogeneity.

Riggs termed this heterogeneity as a "result of incomplete/uneven social change" ie..change has been introduced in the society but it has not been fully assimilated. In other words, the society has proclaimed the new structure or viewpoint but the old is very difficult to dismantle. therefore the old and the new continue to co-exist during the transitional or prismatic phase until the time the old is finally dismantled or completely abandoned.

ii)Formalism-

Riggs defined it as the degree of discrepancy between the family prescribed and an informal or effectively practised, its the opposite of realism where there is no difference between what is formally preached and what is really practised.

Formalism typically describes a prismatic society where "the new" is the new structure, specialisation, norms, societal values, initiatives etc. have been formally adopted but the old continues to exist at least in parts, thereby leading to a chaotic and hypocritical situation where the society claim one thing but does the other from time to time. For the example-In pursuit of development, the society may proclaim merit but from time to time ascriptive or orthodox features are allowed to play a role for example-dynasty, superstitions, khap panchayats, caste breed, reservation etc.

Similarly, the society may proclaim transparency a the new value but informally or clandestinely, opaques and arbitrary decisions may still be taken.

iii)Overlapping

Overlapping is the natural corollary of heterogeneity and formalism and describes a situation where there is "structural-functional overlap" ie. key functions of administration are being performed in an overlapping and therefore non-specialised and chaotic manner. This compromises the efficiency as well as the integrity of the prismatic administration or salacracy.

In terms of structural-functional analysis, the prismatic societies are characterised by a situation where-
a)They formally create new structure ie..agencies or institutions so as to emerge as function specialists by isolating and awarding certain functions to them.
b)However, the older structure continues to co-exist and they are so strongly entrenched into the system that in reality they don't let go ie...they continue dabbing in those functional areas which formally stand transferred to new specialists. As a result  the function which was supposed to have emerged as a specialised domain of new structure is now being performed by a heterogeneous system in an overlapping manner. This creates chaos and confusion caused by poor role clarity and coordination among structure namely the old and the new structure. As a result, during transition phase "the society is worse than before"

 FOUR TYPES OF OVERLAPS

Riggs has described four types of overlaps in a prismatic society for which he used specific terms and each overlap is a reflection of the influence of one or more aspect of the ecology of prismatic society. This is listed below-

1.POLYCOMMUNALISM

Riggs observed that prismatic society is the poly-communal society where various groups or pressure groups. These poly-communal groups or clients exist to preserve or promote the particularistic interest of members of that group. The membership to such group is invariably based on ascriptive features like caste, language, religion, region etc.

These community-based groups often exercise tremendous pressure on government or administration for obtaining particularistic benefits, treatments, special privileges. The problem is there are many such groups or because the society is poly-communal each group tends to have its own sets of particularistic demands creating tremendous creating tremendous competition for such special privilege and benefits. This affects efficiency as well as the integrity of the administrative system.

According to Riggs, a typical problem arises in the function of the administrative system of a prism. Society when there is an alliance between a client and administrative decision makers. The impartiality of administrative is jeopardised when salacrats start resorting to a pick and chose the policy or selective in a grant of administrative favours and disfavourites.

Thus. Riggs observed that the clect influence on the administrative system in prismatic society can be substantial and as a result, the universalistic ethos of administrative tends to get compromised poly-communalism nature of society may create an undesirable trend where it is free for all in terms of demands and counter-demands of a particularistic nature from the government. 

Appeasement and vote bank maximisation often result in clects specific benefit being granted and that sets a bad example because the other clects raise their particularistic demands knowing that the government (especially weak coalition government) can be pressurised into making soft choices.

2.POLYNORMATIVISM

Polynormativism or norms overlap -Every Society Requires certain norms of behaviour so that it can function smoothly with uniformity and objectivity, an administrative subsystem of a society requires these norms even more so because of the requirement of efficiency and objectivity often these norms are established in the form of some laws, practice, policies etc.

According to Riggs, the uneven social change in the prismatic society often creates the feature of polynormativism see..the existence of more than one set of norms of rules of behaviour. This happened because society has adopted or promulgated the new norm but unfortunately the older norms do not get dismantled overnight and continue to co-exist for example -Norm of transparency in administration ve functioning is new norm after the promulgation of RTI of 2005 but even today there are significant instances of opaque and arbitrary functioning by the public servants. Similarly democratic decentralisation may be the formally adopted new norm after 73rd -74th Amendment but in reality, the older norm of centralises and monopoly function by the higher tier government continue to exist (recall formalism)




The old- Norm 1

The new Norm-law/policy/solutions

According to polynormativism tantamounts to normalness, because the moment there are more than one norms, it grants tremendous discretion of arbitrary powers to public functionary to function in an opaque or in a subjective manner hiding behind the duality of norms.


Polynomrativism leads to a duality r hypocrisy in the society because any individual can justify his actions under one or other out of plural norms. Riggs noticed that such polynormativism creates normlessness or permissiveness in the society.

Ironically, the alternate norm of behaviour is so widespread that people tend to forget what is real norm-for example-standing in the queue or not standing in the queue, obeying traffic rules vs.ignoring traffic rules, offering bribes and not offering bribes.


Riggs also observed that not only the administrative system and administrative functionary exploit this duality of norms or polynormativism to function in an arbitrary and opaque manner.

The society also hides behind this duality and as a result, permits it and even encourages it, servant behaviour like corruption finds "permissiveness" in the prismatic society and sometimes it eventually acquires the shape of societal approval ie..it almost gets accepted as the alternate societal norm.



Thus in countries like India corruption becomes more a behavioural and attitudinal problem rather than a procedural or institutional problem.

3.BAZAAR-CANTEEN MODEL(PRINCING OVERLAP)

According to Riggs, in a fused society, pricing is done based on arena factors ie..populist pricing as per the sweet will of the decision makers. On another hand in a diffracted society pricing is done based on market forces ie...free market mechanisms of fundamental forces. In prismatic society, there is pricing overlap ie...arena factor and market factor are used overlappingly.

An overlap of the market and arena forces leads to undesirable consequences
a)Dubious and motivated policy decisions
b)Price Indetermination

The administrative agencies responsible for pricing decisions for a particular commodity may selectively give a greater role to market forces as per their vested or populist interest. Sometimes in order to be populist and appear people friendly the government may ignore the market realities and resort to arbitrary pricing causing huge subsidy burden, on other occasions when the government are stable or populism is not required, the greater role may be granted to market forces. Thus there is a situation of ad-hocism in public policy. Instead of sound market justification dictating policy conceptualisation, policies are conceptualised on populist calculation and accordingly a justification is concocted.


Price indetermination is a situation where prices of specific commodities appear to be indeterminate or they lack a state of finality because the government keeps its options open by judging the reaction of stakeholders like and the public at large it sends a wrong signal that administrative policies are open to compromise and blackmailing.

Riggs described this situation of the interplay of overlap of market forces and arena forces as Baza-Canteen Model.

the words Bazar stands for market and canteen js a subsidised facility where certain goods and services are made available to the certain elected segment at prices other than bazar prices(using subsidies or causing losses to the government).

the irony according to Riggs is that "the Bazar is a negative Bazar" ie...potentially anybody can try and negotiate the prices and convert the bazaar into a canteen for selfish or selected benefits.

Riggs observed that although the prismatic society formally adopts the bazar feature, informally the canteen feature continue to co-exist, as a result arbitrary, particularistic and populistic benefits are granted to select individuals r groups.

While Pricing appears t be market driven, actually there are other forces operating behind the scenes and negotiating a canteen price ie..a concession of advantage for particularistic benefits.

A common example of such practices is Rent seeking activities whereby certain powerful people like industrial lobbyists indulged in actually self-serving Quid -pro-quo(give and take) with the politicians and administrative decision makers.

As a result, the government ends up "Buying dear and selling Cheap".

Thus the revenues of government shrink and expenditure get inflated and thereby there is a double leakage from the system,

4.Power Overlap or Unbalanced Polity

According to Riggs, in a prismatic society, there is an overlap between a highly centralised bureaucracy and a highly localised political system. Conceptually there is a role separation between the two. However, in reality, the role separation may not be so clear and the overlap in roles is likely to be more pronounced in prismatic society.

In prismatic society typically the political executives enjoy greater power but have lesser technology competence as compared to permanent and decision makers interface, and overlap and inevitable possibility which Riggs termed as unbalanced polity ie..forces namely politics and permanent bureaucracy don't have the desired balance of power.

As a result of it, according to Riggs Bureaucrats in a prismatic society tend to become

a)Usurpative

b)Conservative

c)sinecurist

Thus Riggs has described certain features of prismatic ecology which according to him put the administrative system (sala system under tremendous strain. As a result of the efficiency as well as the integrity of the administrative system is adversely affected.)