The New State · Question
How does The New State develop the theme of Group Process as the Foundation of True Democracy?
Answer
The New State by Mary Parker Follett develops Group Process as the Foundation of True Democracy across the chapters the companion marks for this theme.
The book argues that genuine democracy is not majority rule or representative government, but a process of 'interpenetration' within small groups, where collective ideas, feelings, and wills are created through integration rather than aggregation or compromise.
The chapter establishes the group principle as essential for genuine popular government, arguing that democracy must be built on organized group life rather than isolated individuals.
The chapter establishes the group principle as the basis for genuine democratic life, emphasizing that democracy is realized through the conscious, organized interaction of groups.
The chapter asserts that democracy must be learned through group life and that the group process contains the secret of collective life and is the key to democracy.
Evidence in the book
- The New State: Group Organization the Solution of Popular Government
The chapter establishes the group principle as essential for genuine popular government, arguing that democracy must be built on organized group life rather than isolated individuals.
- Part I: The Group Principle
The chapter establishes the group principle as the basis for genuine democratic life, emphasizing that democracy is realized through the conscious, organized interaction of groups.
- I: The Group and the New Psychology
The chapter asserts that democracy must be learned through group life and that the group process contains the secret of collective life and is the key to democracy.
- II: The Group Process: The Collective Idea
The chapter centers on the committee meeting as a model for creating a genuine group idea through interpenetration of individual contributions, rejecting compromise and majority rule.
- III: The Group Process: The Collective Idea (Continued)
The chapter argues that the group process—acting and reacting, integrating differences into unity—is essential for democracy, rejecting mere imitation or like-mindedness.
- IV: The Group Process: The Collective Feeling
True sympathy is defined as a group product, and the group process is presented as the means to generate the collective feeling necessary for democratic unity and problem-solving.
- V: The Group Process: The Collective Will
The chapter argues that the collective will must be created through group process, which is the core of true democracy.
- VI: The Unity of the Social Process
Democracy is defined as the gradual creation of the common will through civic activity, with the social process as its method and principle.
