Comparison of Idealist, Commercial and Guardian Syndromes

from the not-just-a-comment,-it's-a-commentary dept.
Tom McKendree writes, "Pat Gratton's idea of a third moral syndrome, Idealist, to complement the Commercial and Guardian syndromes described in Jane Jacob's Systems of Survival, is sufficiently compelling to deserve further exploration. (For more discussion of this concept, see the original story on nanodot).

I've tried to compare the three syndromes, matching characteristics where I could, and guessing characteristics where there seemed to be holes. From this exercise, I would guess that the Idealist Moral Syndrome also says 'Respect truth,' 'Collaborate easily with strangers and aliens for the sake of the task,' and 'Treasure standing in the subject area community.'"

Click Read More… to view Tom's table summarizing the comparison. Pat Gratton's idea of a third moral syndrome, Idealist, to complement the Commercial and Guardian syndromes described in Jane Jacob's Systems of Survival, is sufficiently compelling to deserve further exploration. (For more discussion of this concept, see the original story on nanodot).

I've tried to compare the three syndromes, matching characteristics where I could, and guessing characteristics where there seemed to be holes. >From this exercise, I would guess that the Idealist Moral Syndrome also says "Respect truth," "Collaborate easily with strangers and aliens for the sake of the task," and "Treasure standing in the subject area community."

A table summarizing this effort is summarized below. Any words added to the characterizations of the syndromes are marked in brackets and italics [like this]–everything else is the words of Jane Jacobs or Pat Gratton. Question marks indicate particularly unsure guesses.

Idealist	Commercial	Guardian
Shun force	Shun force	[Rely on force]
Shun trading	[Rely on trading]	Shun trading
Dedication to the Ideal [Demand purity for the sake of the task]	[Seek/accept pragmatic solutions]	[Seek/accept contingent solutions]
Exert prowess	Use initiative and enterprise	Exert prowess
[Be honest?; Respect truth?]	Be honest	Deceive for the sake of the task
Be unique [Dissent for the sake of uniqueness]	Dissent for the sake of the task	Be obedient and disciplined
[Be open to inventiveness and novelty]	Be open to inventiveness and novelty	Adhere to tradition
Shun authority	[Shun uncontracted authority]	Respect hierarchy
[Collaborate easily with strangers and aliens for the sake of the task]	Collaborate easily with strangers and aliens	Be exclusive
Shun comfort	Promote comfort and convenience	Make rich use of leisure
Be passionate	Be optimistic	Be fatalistic
Ignore ownership	Invest for productive purposes	Be ostentatious
Accept largesse	Be thrifty	Dispense largesse
Respect authorship	Respect contracts	Be loyal
[Demonstrate the superiority of your own ideal]	Compete	[Seek a monopoly on force]
[Respect joint authorship]	Come to voluntary agreements	[Negotiate when necessary]
[Be correct and true]	Be efficient	[Be superior]
[Respect joint authorship]	Be industrious	Show fortitude
Honor prowess	[Honor success]	[Honor prowess]
["One-up" slights?; Nurse grudges??]	[Write-off sunk costs]	Take vengeance
[Treasure standing in the subject area community]	[Treasure reputation]	Treasure honor