# Societies Change and They Don't By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2024-08-21 Looking at society can be like a Rorschach test. Whatever one sees reflects more about oneself than what one is examining. Societies change, and they don’t. Focus dictates the assessment. The criterion for assessing meaningful change is the same. The elements that change tend to be superficial, like dress, slang, and technology. The elements that don’t change tend to be the underlying human condition, like wanting to accomplish something with one’s life and avoid death. Between these two poles, a middle ground of elements exists that do change but not nearly as frequently. Culture is a slow-to-change element. Organizations confront this reality when attempting to enact a new organizational culture. The rate of change is so slow that many pursuing organizational change abandon the effort due to a lack of discernable progress. Such slow-moving changes are not random in their efficacy. It is far easier for negative changes to take hold than positive ones. It is harder to stay fit than it is to become lazy. It is harder to eat right than it is to select convenient food. It is harder to think critically than it is to accept conventional wisdom. It is harder to care than to be apathetic. If our society is to improve, it will take work. Hard work that will unfold over a relatively long time. We can do it. Societies do change. Confronting long, hard work over which one has limited control is daunting. Making things better, or at least trying to, is worth it. #### Related Items [[Society]] [[Change]] [[Work]] [[Effort]] [[Culture]] [[Organization]] [[Progress]]