Elite-engineered demographic mobilization fails against structural incentives

Evidence

Buddhist nationalists consider the low birth rate among Buddhists a chief reason for the supposedly low number of bhikkhus and the difficulty recruiting soldiers into the military. Wickramanayaka also claims that family planning has contributed to these shortfalls and encourages Sinhalese Buddhists to disregard the “Small is Beautiful” programs instituted in the 1970s. The prime minister, who is also Minister of the Buddha Sasana, has even placed advertisements in newspapers encouraging Buddhists to join the sangha and recruited lay persons to pay for the novices’ upkeep. Such efforts have mainly ended in failure. The shortage of bhikkhus may have more to do with a materialistic sangha desiring greater comforts; many among the nearly 37,000 monks try to avoid serving in villages because they prefer the better endowed temples in urban areas. — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 291

Categorization

• QUESTION: A case where top-down manufactured-threat appeals did NOT change behavior — what conditions make such elite construction fail vs succeed?
• XREF: connects to: Social-capital interventions fail precisely where they are needed most — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 1104; Anti-hierarchical movement structures fail to integrate and educate new members

Broader Connections

• Anti-hierarchical movement structures fail to integrate and educate new members #exemplifies (0.82)
• Social-capital interventions fail precisely where they are needed most #exemplifies (0.80) — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 1104