Exit, voice, and loyalty
An innovator in contemporary thought on economic and political development looks here at decline rather than growth. Albert O. Hirschman makes a basic distinction between alternative ways of reacting to deterioration in business firms and, in general, to dissatisfaction with organizations: one, "exit," is for the member to quit the organization or for the customer to switch to the competing product, and the other, "voice," is for members or customers to agitate and exert influence for change "from within." The efficiency of the competitive mechanism, with its total reliance on exit, is questioned for certain important situations. As exit often undercuts voice while being unable to counteract decline, loyalty is seen in the function of retarding exit and of permitting voice to play its proper role. The interplay of the three concepts turns out to illuminate a wide range of economic, social, and political phenomena.
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2010–2026years
20% recommend78% neutral1% critical
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What Hacker News says
- Thanks for recommending Exit, Voice, and Loyalty. It's a good compliment to The Logic of Collective Action.
Sad I'm just now learning of it.
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I've used Jacobin (and such) to reveal my blindspots. Criticisms, from the left, have helped me clarify, understand, and articulate my own positions and beliefs.
As for being apolitical, well... My primary motivator is to "increase the peace" (for brevity's sake). And partisanship hasn't helped much.
FWIW, you might enjoy David Roberts' recent interview with Samuel Bagg.
https://www.volts.wtf/p/the-cure-for-misinformation-is-not
They explain and articulate some of what I've experienced trying to (re)build relationships with friends and family (with opposing views). Micro dose validation of some stuff I've intuited (this decade past) was a nice dopamine hit.
Like you, I'm focusing my "political" and "activism" energy on building community, doing things. And trying to disengage from the never-ending partisan food fights.
Thanks again. Cheers.
- He's upfront that it's novels only but I really enjoy short difficult non-fiction more.
* Exit, Voice and Loyalty - about how organizations and people work. Easily the best social science book I've ever read
* Art & Fear - gives a much better model for creating software than most books
- Depends on the book. There are a lot of books that are the equivalent of a podcast episode (anything by Malcolm Gladwell) or a series of podcast episodes (anything by Robert Greene) and even some serious and influential books in the social sciences and can be cooked down to a single university lecture like
Exit, Voice and Loyalty by Albert O. Hirschman
Logic of Collective Action by Mancur Olson
The Zero-sum Society by Lester Thurow (want to know why the world gave up on tariffs?)
maybe some worthwhile management books could be extended into a podcast series, I'd say
Quality is Free by Phillip Crosby
Then there are some books that really could change your life, say
Solid State Physics by Ashcroft and Mermin
The Art of Computer Programming by Donald Knuth
Principles of Compiler Design by Aho and Ullman
Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art by Steve McConnell
The Mushroom Cultivator: A Practical Guide to Growing Mushrooms at Home by Paul Stamets
Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe
Being and Event by Alain Badiou
Liberation in the Palm of your Hand by Pabongka Rinpoche
The Art of Happiness by Mirko Fryba
All of which have the element that they'll only change you if you engage deeply with them or the subject, like for the Rippetoe book you're going to have to pick up a bar.
- So you are a quitter? That's fine, but obviously that's just one choice of the options available: Exit, Voice, and Loyalty. Albert Hirschman wrote a nice book about it. I can recommend it.
- I don't understand why "4. Stay at your company and try to change culture within by organizing collectively, either through the guise of a union or informally" isn't also something you are free to do, besides that you think doing so is not "do[ing] something positive to the society", but is instead "becoming a bunch of cry babies."
Also why is 3 binary? If I am a minority investor in a company, I am not free to criticize the management? I have to buy the majority of the company and fire the management?
It kind of seems like you don't actually understand that soft power exists. The canonical book on this within organizational politics is "Exit, Voice and Loyalty". Have you ever had a social interaction in your entire life? Not everything is an ultimatum, some things are conversations.
- You just described the thesis of one of the wisest books I've ever read, Albert O. Hirschman's 1970 classic "Exit, Voice, and Loyalty."
