Tag: sectors

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l. How Sectors are Interrelated and an Overview of Emerging Sectors

How Sectors are Inter-related and an Overview of Emerging Sectors

The diagram below shows the ways in which the various sectors, each of which is pyramidical in form, are inter-related to form the United Kingdom as a nation in the 16th and 21st Centuries. In some cases, a sector has been truncated at the top because it is controlled by the members of another sector. In the 21st Century, the relative status, in the establishment, of the top stratum of each sector differs. For example, the leaders of the trade union movement, although members of the establishment, have a lower status than the monarch. However, by virtue of changes in the influence of each sector, and of trading by its upper stratum, the relative status of the upper strata of each sector constantly changes. Their status at any particular time is debatable, and so, no attempt has been made to show it.

16th Century Sectors

Present Day Sectors

Emerging Sectors

As time progresses and technology advances, some established sectors will lose influence and new ones will emerge. The future influence of these new sectors can be predicted, to a limited extent, by observing the growth of their sector, by understanding the nature of their ability to trade, and by identifying other sectors that they may be able to control. Examples of potentially emerging sectors include the following.

Data Analytics and Influencers. The power of this sector is its ability to influence the population in a similar manner to the media, but in a far more targeted way. It already has great influence over commercial marketing but, more recently, has begun exploring the potential to influence electorates. It has a growing influence over political parties, therefore.

Human Rights and Environmental Groups. Historically, the power of this sector was largely limited to its ability to protest and cause disruption. However, it is now gaining significant influence over electorates and, thus, greater influence within the establishment.

Artificial Intelligence Industry. The power of this sector is its potential to replace manual and intellectual labour in many other sectors, particularly industry and commerce. It is likely, therefore, that it will have great influence in those sectors.

Biotechnology Industry. The power of this sector is clearly its potential for extending life and improving physical wellbeing. It seems likely therefore that, if it remains in private hands, then as its technology progresses its upper strata will become very influential within the establishment.

Space Industry. The potential power of this sector is likely to be its access to mineral resources that are becoming scarce on earth, but that are necessary for established technologies. Other factors may be the advantages of off-planet manufacturing, military activity, and the control of communications. This sector is likely, therefore, to hold great influence over industry and commerce and, by virtue of their potential economic and security impact, with national governments.

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k. Overview of Past and Present Sectors

Overview of Past and Present Sectors

The concept of a sector was described in the previous article. A brief overview of common past and present sectors is given below.

Government. In most nations, government is a significant sector, and members of its upper strata belong to the establishment. Consequently, other members of the establishment can influence government policy and legislation in the interest of their sector. They can also influence government, either directly or indirectly, in their personal interest.

Legal Sector. In most nations the legal sector is responsible for administering government legislation. The relationship between government and this sector tends, therefore, to be a formal one. However, the independence of the legal sector from government influence varies from nation to nation. Such independence does not preclude informal trading within the establishment which can, if necessary, be covert.

Armed Forces and Police. The armed forces and police are sectors whose role is the protection of civilians from crime and aggression. To carry out their function they are conferred substantial power, including the use of physical force. In some nations this coercive power is restrained by government and cultural institutions, but in others the sector has used it to establish military dictatorships or police states.

Agriculture and Land Ownership. In the past, landowners held considerable power through their control of the agricultural economy, and their ability to raise taxes and armies from within their agricultural hierarchies. In the West, the influence of land-owning families has declined substantially since the industrial revolution. However, agricultural corporations continue to hold some influence.

Royalty. Royal families arose at a time when there were far fewer sectors, and the principal one was land ownership and agriculture. Taxes and armies could be raised from this sector, and this gave its highest status individuals much power. Those most successful in negotiation and conflict became royalty, and many nations were formed in this way. Support for royal status was maintained by trading rights to land in return.

To this day, some nations are still ruled by absolute monarchs. In other nations, royalty has adapted to take on a constitutional role. In most, however, they have been replaced by presidential republics or dictatorships. The advantages and disadvantages of each method of governance will be discussed in future articles. However, where they continue to exist, there can be no doubt that royalty forms a very significant and influential part of the establishment.

Religion. Historically, religions have held great power, but this is now in decline in the West. The basis of their power was their ability to control populations through an unquestioning belief in the religion’s worldview. Kingdoms and empires have also relied on the support of religions for their rise. Most kings have declared themselves to rule by divine right. Others have established themselves as leader of the state religion. In extreme cases, religions have taken the reins of governmental power and have established theocracies.

Industry and Commerce. More recently, the power of agricultural landowners has been displaced by that of the leaders of industrial and commercial organisations. The basis of their power is, of course, the wealth that they generate from the resources they control. This can be offered to those with whom they are trading in the form of lucrative directorships, consultancies, or commercial support. In some cases, where policing is lax, trading can be in the form of simple bribes.

Finance.  In the present day, the financial sector controls much of a nation’s capital, industry, and commerce. In the West, it has, to a very large extent, replaced the upper strata of those sectors, and exercises great influence within the establishment.

Trade Unions. In the 20th Century, Western trade unions held significant sway over the work force, and an ability to disrupt industry and commerce. Whilst union activities were primarily in the interest of the workforce, it also gave their upper strata access to the establishment and an ability to trade within it. Government legislation and improvements in living standards have done much to reduce this influence. Nevertheless, union leaders retain a degree of influence over left wing political parties by virtue of their ability to influence parts of the electorate.

The Media. The media sector has a significant ability to influence the population. On the positive side, it exposes wrongdoing in other sectors, particularly government. However, on the negative side, there can be a strong relationship between privately owned media organisations, and political parties. This political partisanship is still overtly expressed in many media outlets. In some nations, it has brought the media sector into conflict with governments or other sectors, resulting in the coercion, intimidation, and closure of many media organisations.

I will discuss emerging sectors and the way that sectors interact in the next article.

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j. Sectors

Sectors

A nation and, increasingly, the global community is a complex of interacting organisations. The greater the resources that an organisation controls, the greater the power of its upper stratum. A collection of similar organisations that co-operate to acquire yet greater power and status forms what is described as a sector. Sectors are also organisations and the same principles apply to them. Sectors are of particular importance as they control or influence the institutions of a nation, and thus, its general culture. When they exist in an influential nation, they can also impact on multinational or global culture and affairs. They are therefore discussed in some detail here.

Sectors differ from nation to nation, and from era to era. The way that nations were organised in the past, are organised in the present, and, to a limited extent, how they will be organised in the future can be explained using the concept of sectors. To do so we need to understand the ways in which sectors interact. Of particular interest is their impact on government, the nation’s controlling sub-system.

All organisations are hierarchical, and all organisations are a part of yet greater ones. Thus, high status in one organisation often confers status in a parent organisation. Within the parent organisation, the high status individuals of a child organisation can negotiate with others for yet higher status. This is done by offering support in return for status. This support often takes the form of wealth and influence. The larger a person’s status base, the more resources he controls, the greater the support he can provide, the greater his trading ability, and the higher the status he is likely to achieve in the parent organisation.

This process is recursive. So, an individual with high status in a business can, by trading the support of that business with others, achieve high status in a sector, and by trading the support of that sector, achieve high status in the national establishment. The national establishment comprises high status members of many sectors including government. Thus, trading can take place between high status representatives of a sector and government. Of particular concern is the ability to influence government decisions. Unfortunately, this influence is often not in the interest of the nation but rather in the interest of the sector, the business, or even the individual representing them.

To acquire status in the establishment members must overtly appear to have something to trade. This explains the very high salaries and often ostentatious lifestyles of the leaders of many organisations. The purpose of such high salaries is not to satisfy the needs of the recipient nor, as some would argue, to attract and reward those with the necessary skills and talents. Rather it is to enable the upper strata to make overt displays to their peers in the establishment and, thus, better enable them to trade for status and influence. Unfortunately, this trade within the establishment requires ever greater displays of status, particularly wealth and power, which in turn leads to ever greater income inequality.

The interplay of sectors, through their representatives in the national establishment, plays a very large part in shaping the governance, culture, and beliefs of a nation. Each sector will carry with it a worldview suited to the needs of its members, or of its upper stratum. Through trading in the establishment, it is possible for the leaders of organisations in one sector to influence the decisions of the leaders of organisations in another. This influence includes not only decisions favouring a particular sector, but also the propagation of the latter’s worldview and the suppression of other, possibly more rational ones. In extreme cases, one sector can usurp the leadership of another, for example the takeover of the industrial commercial sector in the West by the financial sector and the imposition of a “bottom-line” ideology. A sector can also take control of government, as in the case of military dictatorships and theocracies.