The introduction of changes in organizations or social environments requires that the members can assimilate them into their preexisting habits. Changes are transformed into pseudo-changes when they cannot be assimilated.

The objective of a pseudo-change is to avoid big changes that modify the structural organization of an environment.

This purpose can be achieved using palliatives to solve problems, which allow building the necessary fallacious myths to protect the behavior of the environment, avoiding the need for introducing structural changes.

These fallacious myths can be installed due to the catharsis they trigger. This catharsis empowers the members of the environment and drives towards inaction. Catharsis is what allows using palliatives to face structural problems without needing to manage the root causes of the problems.

The use of palliatives is sustained by the building of justifications to avoid facing the responsibility for solving the structural problem and the participants feel fulfilled by the use of conjunctural solutions.

Pseudo-change is a normal behavior in conservative environments where the use of palliatives is considered a valid approach to problem solving.

Diego Belohlavek

NOTE: The Unicist Research Institute has been, since 1976, the pioneer in complexity science research where the Unicist Evolutionary Approach was developed. It was one of the precursors of the Industry 4.0 concept.