ABSTRACT

Derrida’s critique of concepts has supportive implications for the rethinking of possible forms of social organization which is only now just barely taking shape in, what we might refer to as, radical discourse. In feminist thought, in critical Marxism, in anti-racialism campaigns, in workers’ co-operatives, in the more innovative sectors of commerce and industry, even in some parts of national and local government, many of the questions which arise stem from the same basic issue: how can difference be managed? The sense of the question is only just beginning to emerge, and it will not do so fully without a struggle. The reason for this is that all the arenas in which we exist are structured in accordance with, or in counterpoint to, one dominant social model. That model is the hierarchically ordered bureaucracy. Because of the grip that principles such as order, efficiency, predictability, goal achievement, role definition, planning, differential status, differential responsibility and differential reward have on our daily lives, in both personal and institutional contexts, and in ordinary or extraordinary situations, we find it almost impossible to think about difference without reducing it to variations upon that one original theme of which we ourselves are but a variation.