‘Design-Society’ Cycle: A Case Study on the Story of Longitude - Principia Designae: Pre-Design, Design, and Post-Design - page 117

9.4 Transformation of Individual Expectations
and Aspirations into Social Norms and Motives
We propose the following processes to be primarily responsible for the transfor-
mation of individual expectations and aspirations into social norms and motives
(Fig. 9.3 ):
• Transformation of individual expectations and aspirations into collective expec-
tations and aspirations: Similar experience of many individuals reinforces its
strength, often with canonization. The value of the experience is increased and
often institutionalized through this collectivisation process, e.g. forming orga-
nizations for seeking justice for the Bhopal Gas Disaster victims ( http://en.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster ).
• Transformation of collective expectations and aspirations into societal norms
and motives: Collective expectations get transformed into societal norms,
e.g. laws, cultural norms, etc. Collective aspirations get transformed into social
motives.
• De-contextualization and re-contextualization of norms and aspirations: Norms
and aspirations often get detached from the original experience, and become part
of the cultural elements of a societal fragment. De/re-contextualization is a
key aspect of how a society forgets, merges or changes the context, e.g. the
problematic experiences which a norm or expectation had tried to overcome,
thereby providing both barriers and opportunities for bringing in new changes.
Fig. 9.3 Construction of collective experiences, expectations, aspirations, social norms, motives