Hi Charlie, if you haven’t already read the post we wrote last year introducing the prioritization framework used in this article, I recommend you do so as it goes over many of these theoretical questions in depth. In that post we offered the following characterization of an institution:
The definition of an institution is not completely standardized across disciplines or academic fields, but in this context we mean a formally organized group of people, usually delineated by some sort of legal entity (or an interconnected set of such entities) in the jurisdiction(s) in which that group operates. In tying our definition to explicit organizations, we are not including more nebulous concepts like “the media” or “the public,” even as we recognize how broader societal contexts (such as behavior norms, history, etc.) help define and constrain the choices available to institutions and the people working within them. By “key” or “powerful” institutions, we are referring in particular to institutions whose actions can significantly influence the circumstances, attitudes, beliefs, and/or behaviors of a large number of morally relevant beings.
As you can see, under this definition there is nothing particularly weird about grouping government and non-government organizations together; they are both formally organized groups of people delineated by legal entities. And even if you were to limit your analysis to, say, tech companies, you would still face the same issue of vastly divergent magnitudes and capabilities within that set of organizations and have to figure out a way to derive meaning from that. Basically, I don’t disagree at all with the observations you’re making, but my takeaway is “yes, and this is all the more reason why a holistic and cross-sector analysis is relevant and valuable,” not “well, I guess we shouldn’t bother because this is all too hard.”
I suspect you will discover that you end up making very specific suggestions for different insitutions.
This has always been the plan. I’ve believed and argued for a long time that while institutions have some common features and problems, identifying the most actionable and promising levers for change requires a highly tailored approach. And this type of work seems to me more neglected within EA than more general, intervention-level analysis (e.g., here and here). So I think we are on the same page.
Hi Charlie, if you haven’t already read the post we wrote last year introducing the prioritization framework used in this article, I recommend you do so as it goes over many of these theoretical questions in depth. In that post we offered the following characterization of an institution:
As you can see, under this definition there is nothing particularly weird about grouping government and non-government organizations together; they are both formally organized groups of people delineated by legal entities. And even if you were to limit your analysis to, say, tech companies, you would still face the same issue of vastly divergent magnitudes and capabilities within that set of organizations and have to figure out a way to derive meaning from that. Basically, I don’t disagree at all with the observations you’re making, but my takeaway is “yes, and this is all the more reason why a holistic and cross-sector analysis is relevant and valuable,” not “well, I guess we shouldn’t bother because this is all too hard.”
This has always been the plan. I’ve believed and argued for a long time that while institutions have some common features and problems, identifying the most actionable and promising levers for change requires a highly tailored approach. And this type of work seems to me more neglected within EA than more general, intervention-level analysis (e.g., here and here). So I think we are on the same page.