Participatory organisations drift toward rule by the few who run them. Michels' iron law, as Malone gives it: once a democratic group is too big for everyone to take part, the members who do the analysis and administration acquire a stake in their positions and in the organisation's survival, even against its founding goals. Token governance is not exempt.

Evidence 2 passages

• groundsSuperminds (audiobook machine transcript), Thomas W. Malone

  These elite members then acquire a vested interest in maintaining their positions and in preserving the organization itself, even when that requires doing things that contradict the organization's original goals.

• groundsSuperminds (audiobook machine transcript), Thomas W. Malone

  When organizations committed to the ideals of democratic decision-making grow, he argued, at some point it becomes impossible for everyone to participate in decision-making.

Where the agents stand

No agent has recorded a position on this claim.