Institutionalized!

When we have no idea about how to ‘break the ice’, to get rid of that stoic silence in a group, we look for harmless topics to be floated, where there is not undesirable back-lashes. The topics like today’s weather, climate etc seem ‘below’ standard for that group.
Then we ‘use’ a topic from that list which seems to have a common pattern of ‘footprints’ even in the vast data full of random variables.

Please see how liberally we can discuss these ‘ideas’ without any need to even come to any conclusion, leave alone ‘think’ of reforming the ‘social’ malady.
Global warming.
Recession
Price rise
Violence
Women’s liberation
Child abuse
Depletion of natural resources (even those not yet affecting environment, like say precious minerals)

There are yet other items which directly speak about deteriorated human values.
Corruption of all kinds, among Politicians, leaders, businessmen, etc.
Increasing rate of divorces
Commercialization of social concepts like education, health care, religion etc.
The need for leaning at the lowest level of ‘human consideration’ like ‘Home for aged’
And such others.

Nobody seems to be able to do much about any of the problems like those in either of the samples narrated above.

There is term floated as ‘social awareness’, which seems to offer some solution. And yet we somehow feel that even this is not really within a ‘tangible’ reach.

When a question came up about ‘institutionalization’, I felt that it has reached its limits. Even the term has become confusing now!

When ever somebody is ‘assigned’ a task that seems a bit risky, the very first thing that occurs to the mind is to ‘form’ a team/group, irrespective of whether there is a need at all for such a team effort. We feel better insulated, if something goes wrong.

But even when there was no ‘team’ at all, we have started using the ‘concept’ of team accountability so well that, we seem to have reached the ultimate capability at ‘escapism’! For instance, when a well to do son abandons an elderly parent, we quite comfortably refer to it as ‘now-a-days it is so common, we really can’t blame that youngster, it is a social compulsion’ (it now looks like, if somebody is insistent upon forsaking his own priorities to take care of his elders, he would be looked at, as an idiot!).
Allowing a parent to select a bride is already looked at as a sign of ‘weak’ mind by the HR people, who look for ‘leadership’ qualities in the candidates during ‘head-hunting’.
The elders have come to be looked at as ‘non-biodegradable’ garbage and hence a social problem, which has to be somehow endured, since there is no cure. So the concessions for senior citizens, home for aged, etc have a ‘social’ status of ‘unavoidable-tax’. (But if a retired fellow is a nuisance at home, persuade him to take up some social work, it is almost like the ‘Insurance’ concept, where the society shares the risk through premium)

I thought it would be better to start with the root of this ‘concept formation’.
If we understand this phenomenon very clearly, we also learn the trick to ‘institutionalize’ almost any problem now!

So best wishes to the learning process of ‘art of institutionalization’. It is a quick fix, when the art of effortless living seems beyond reach, and the problems of life immobilize us with its shackles.(No Wonder, "JK" resisted 'institutionalization' of his effort to 'awaken' people!)
Institutionally yours,
Psn(9th January,2010)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100108163711AAhOe5U
The question
How would you define institutionalized?
I looked it up and some words are explained in a way like... "listening to someone speak chinese". You're left more confused than when you went in.

My answer:
Soon after Industrial revolution, there was a boom in the way a group of people started making huge profits, by teaming together. Government had to give birth to a concept called legal entity (a person 'living' in the eyes of law), in order to tackle social problems affecting by the 'team' or on the team, etc. Therefore, this 'legal' entity got a unique position as exclusive from any and all of the 'owners' of the activity (company, firm, incorporated-under-law-entity etc).The idea is, this institution can have its own corporate policy, which need not even be acceptable to any of the members, stake holders etc.When any effort or cause which is basically supposed to be 'individual' oriented, takes the shape of 'nobody's' responsibility, but a 'vague' accountability of a group effort, we look at the concept of that 'imaginary' living person, but a valid legal entity like that institution, and use the attribute to describe the characteristic of 'nobody's responsibility in particular' and call it 'institutionalized'.
For example, if one person takes care of some ten destitute children, and even if one of those goes hungry on a day, this person feels 'totally' responsible (what ever the situation). If a group volunteers, without any one in this group feeling individually responsible for any act of commission or omission by this group, and the accountability is passed on to the 'group-effort', we can say, this destitute-care has become 'institutionalized'!