Social systems can be structured to institutionalize self-deception among officials

Evidence

Not all genuine self-deception is entirely intrapsychic. It can be aided by the way social systems are structured. Recall the examples in which upper-echelon officials were surreptitiously kept uninformed by building deniability into the chain of responsibility. As we have seen, implicit agreements and complex social arrangements are created to keep officials uninformed about what functionaries are doing. These types of self-shielding maneuvers leave the foreseeable unforeseen and the knowable unknown. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 705

Categorization

• XREF: Resonates with the Milgrom law-merchant material — institutions built on shared information gaps — and with H.M. Naqvi’s Home Boy about on-the-ground ambiguity. — connects to: Assuming officials are inherently corrupt may itself breed the corruption it seeks to prevent. — Frank Lovett, Republicanism, 63; Internalized self-censorship enforces conformity more effectively than state propaganda — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No…, 166; A culture of domination depends on addiction to lying and denial — bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress: Education as…, 69 (+2 more)