This framework is about how people, including politicians, seek changes that relieve socio-political tensions within society.
Change and participation are naturally interconnected:
Without a desire for positive change, why should anyone participate in politics?
Without participation, how could change in society ever occur in a suitable way?
Simple observation as well as analysis reveals that some change in society always seems to be needed. Tensions based on struggles over social goods are inevitable in society. A united and sovereign society is likely to find a political solution rather than descending into violent rebellion.
Valuing the Social Order
Political life must be handled thoughtfully to ensure that society can thrive and adjust, that injustices are given attention, and that reforms are introduced in a positive way.
Positive elements to be fostered are:
establishing each person and every group as an important part of society;
dealing with genuine discontent and injustice through constructive action and change.
Negative elements to be prevented are:
turmoil/violence that break down political institutions and mutual goodwill;
ordinary contempt for politicians turning into total distrust.
People can lose a sense of what is right, what is good, and what each must do to sustain their society. If breakdown occurs through the abuse of power, life becomes exceedingly difficult.
Just because a political-social order has been stable for a long period does not mean that its foundations may not have been progressively eroded.
We see a holistic hierarchy if we zoom out from the structural hierarchy to ignore the Groups and just focus on the 7 Groupings. This hierarchy should provide a picture of how change and participation occur in society and affect us all. The Tree for Determining Political Choice is visible (horizontally) within G1.
In conventionalist ethical choice, Continuity v Change is the aspiration-constraint.Change is resisted because we each aspire to continuity as part of maintaining our own identity. Identity-maintenance is particularly evident in relation to a society's culture.
So Continuity v Change also serves in political life as a basis for the dualities of each grouping in the Framework of political activities. Change is the challenge: we stick with continuity for an easy life if our life is easy, but life may not be easy for many.
The task in this section is to discover and name Centres and Channels in the vertical tree: G1-G7.