If you look at the composition and charters of these old “institutions” like governments, universities etc… the scope and function, the amount of resources put towards them etc… is very much not static.
In fact, they are exceptionally different than they were at their founding, and this is specifically true for universities with how they were funded at the beginning versus how they are funded now as well as what their role in the social organization of society is
So this concept that there are these big monolithic things - by function of simply not changing names - haven’t changed, is silly at best
Bottom line, all of these institutions have been captured by moneyed interests and that’s the cycle
Public goods get privatized by dominating financiers and used to benefit the in group they serve while passing all externalities to the out group
Aka “capitalism” - and yes, this applies to the Soviet Union perfectly because the Bolshevik coopted all of the land in Soviet territories on behalf of the bosheviks and had nothing to do with individual labor power - so please save your communist complaints for somebody who is promoting communism because that’s not me
My brother is an executive at a small private college, where he graduated from and has worked most of his adult life, and in the last two decades it’s leadership, overarching vision and identity, and strategies for securing enrollments have gone through a few fairly major shifts in response to changing economic, political, and social pressures. It has had to be exceptionally agile and adaptable to keep itself relevant and competitive. I think the parent post has a point with regards to the risks of a sclerotic bureaucracy, but the level of no-effort confidence in one’s own survival I think is vanishingly rare in all but the most entrenched institutions.
If you look at the composition and charters of these old “institutions” like governments, universities etc… the scope and function, the amount of resources put towards them etc… is very much not static.
In fact, they are exceptionally different than they were at their founding, and this is specifically true for universities with how they were funded at the beginning versus how they are funded now as well as what their role in the social organization of society is
So this concept that there are these big monolithic things - by function of simply not changing names - haven’t changed, is silly at best
The Crimson even did a huge writeup of this:
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2018/5/22/yir-college-adm...
Bottom line, all of these institutions have been captured by moneyed interests and that’s the cycle
Public goods get privatized by dominating financiers and used to benefit the in group they serve while passing all externalities to the out group
Aka “capitalism” - and yes, this applies to the Soviet Union perfectly because the Bolshevik coopted all of the land in Soviet territories on behalf of the bosheviks and had nothing to do with individual labor power - so please save your communist complaints for somebody who is promoting communism because that’s not me