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A solid definition of the Law of Unintended Consequences is…
A solid definition of the Law of Unintended Consequences is provided on page 54 of the assigned article “The Unintended Consequences of the Application of Technology in Teaching and Learning Environments,” found in the Topic 6 Resources, which includes concepts from “The Hidden Abode: Sociology as Analysis of the Unexpected” by Portes (also provided in Topic 6 Resources). Draw a comparison between Portes’s notion of the importance of careful and sustained analysis of the social context and the red flags of poor decisions.
“The Unintended Consequences of the Application of Technology in Teaching and Learning Environments” excerpt
The Law of Unintended Consequences
One of the earliest works on the concept of unintended consequences was done by Merton (1936) who identified the causes of unintended consequences as ignorance, error, immediacy (an interest or willingness to obtain immediate results which may overshadow long-term inter- ests or cause adverse effects to be ignored), ba- sic values (which may require or rule out some actions), and self-defeating prophecy (seeking solutions before problems are identified). Portes (2000) believes that a lack of careful and sustained analysis of the social context and its participants is likely to yield unexpected outcomes which re- sult from 1) the original goal not being apparent to all participants, 2) some of the participants’ actions having significant consequences other than those of the original goal, 3) outside influ- ences that transform the original goal, 4) outside influences that transform the original goal to a contrary outcome, or 5) the original goal being achieved by fortuitous events. Unintended con- sequences, in summary, result from a failure to comprehensively examine and understand the context, resulting in an inability to anticipate al- ternate outcomes. There are, however, instances when the cause of an unintended consequence cannot be easily identified or explained.
While unintended consequences may some- times have negative effects, they may also lead to unexpected benefits. For instance, there are cases where a drug developed for a particular disease is found to be more potent in curing another dis- ease, or, over time, the drug is found to be del- eterious. These outcomes were not the intended results in the manufacture of the drug. Negative or positive effects of unintended consequences also apply to the adoption of technological inno- vations in teaching and learning. Regardless of the type of unexpected outcome, additional im- pacts or unresolved negative effects could mar- ginalize any benefits that may have accrued from the introduction of the technological change.
Nworie, J., & Haughton, N. (2008). Good Intentions and Unanticipated Effects: The Unintended Consequences of the Application of Technology in Teaching and Learning Environments. TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, 52(5), 52-58. https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s11528-008-0197-y
“The Hidden Abode: Sociology as Analysis of the Unexpected” excerpt
A reasonable objection to my argument is that it can lead to paralysis in both policy and theory. Because the dialectics of social life are so complex and everything depends on the specific context in which it is embedded, it becomes nearly impossible to predict how individuals and groups will behave or what outcomes will extend from deliberate policy. The role of sociologists as engineers of the future dissolves into the much less attractive role of professional doubters and critics.
There is truth in this: Awareness of the paradoxical character of social structure leads naturally to caution. Despite its limitations, the role of informed contrarian seems preferable to that of the enthusiastic but naive visionary. This is not the whole story, however, because a skeptical stance can lead, under certain conditions, to more sophisticated theory and more effective policy. This outcome requires staying close to the ground and avoiding broad generalizations or universally applicable blueprints. Much sociological theorizing of the mid-range consists of just such narratives about how things got “from here to there,” including the multiple contingencies and reversals encountered in the process. At this level of analysis, it is possible to delineate, at least partially, the structural constraints and other obstacles affecting a specific individual or collective pursuit.
Consider Evans’s (1995) analysis of the role of states in national economic development. He begins his book with Adam Smith’s inquiry into the factors promoting the “wealth of nations” (Smith [1776] 1979; Todaro 1977). To try to address this question, Evans takes us through a zigzag course, where solutions at a given step create problems at the next. (Figure 3 summarizes the successive steps of Evans’s argument.) He considers first the neoclassical solution to development, which consists of the enriching potential of free trade: Just let the market perform its magic and it will yield the greatest good for the greatest number. Yet, poorer nations that have followed this path have often found themselves confined to the role of specialized producers of low value-added commodities. The logical solution is then to have the state take an active hand in developmental efforts. Still, this next move runs into the problem that weak states in poor nations are easily colonized by powerful economic interests, which turn their developmental projects into “rental havens” for business groups. Instead of the state developing the nation, it ends up developing the fortunes of a few individuals able to bribe and co-opt their way into official favor.
The solution to this second-level problem is to construct a “Weberian bureaucracy,” well-insulated from civil society and immune to bribe-taking. This new solution creates, in turn, its own set of problems in the form of an isolated and increasingly selfserving officialdom lording over society but incapable of guiding it effectively. (The state bureaucracies of the defunct Soviet block come to mind as a partial illustration.) The remedy to this third-level problem is then to fashion a “modified Weberian state” or “embedded state,” in which competent officials involve themselves in the selective nurturing of industrial and commercial firms until the latter are able to compete effectively in world markets.
Portes, A. (2000). The hidden abode: Sociology as analysis of the unexpected?American Sociological Review, 65(1), 1-18. Retrieved from https://lopes.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/hidden-abode-sociology-as-analysis-unexpected/docview/218837878/se-2
