The Diffusion of Power

...In much the same way, Rostow prophesied, "the industrial revolution is h~king hold in China and Eastern Europe...

...The most fully developed section of the book is Rostow's treatment of our involvement in Vietnam...

...His syllogism runs as follows: (a) every individual's happiness is of equal value, (b) according to Bentham, society should provide the greatest good to the greatest number, (c) according to the law of diminishing returns, increasing increments of income are less valuable to those with high incomes than to those with low incomes, (d) therefore, the smaller the disparity between incomes, the greater the total satisfaction, and the better the society...

...Surely Nixon's economic policies could only be described as "laissez-faire" in an extremely relative way, and to ascribe responsibility to them for causing our economic ills is simply wrong...

...His sympathy for JFK even leads him to note: "These words from his Inaugural Address may seem excessively rhetorical in safer, more ambivalent times...

...Two brothers from the same family who start out in the same schools, Jencks shows, later in life will have incomes and statuses whose average standard deviation (inequality) will be almost as large as for two men randomly chosen from the general population...

...He criticizes President Kennedy for his failure to exert pressure on the Soviet Union to help enforce the Laos Accords of 1962, and notes that the President's failure to take proper measures at an early stage of the Vietnam crisis was "the greatest single error in American policy of the 1960s?' Rostow also informs us that he considered the war "unwinnable" (except at "prohibitive cost") unless infiltratien thr,;ugh South Vietnam's border was stoppod...

...Jencks' proposals are frightening to contemplate...

...In short, Diffusion of Power suffers from diffusion of focus...

...Finally, this same criticism can be levelled at Rostow's enthusiasm for the Johnson and Kennedy domestic records...

...Jencks and his associates, who set out to test our preconceptions--in terms of income and occupational status --end up by proving us wrong and show that what we think influences "success" has little or no influence at all...

...Even admitting that this states a problem beyond the possible scope of any book, one is bound to be disappointed in Parmet's conclusion: "To label [Eisenhower] a great or good or even a weak President misses the point...

...We can stumble into a war and destroy a large part of what man has built on the face of the earth and a large part of the world's population...

...But beyond this point, Jencks' conclusions turn from sense to nonsense and the further Jencks wanders from his own area of expertise, statistics and education, the more puzzling his ideas become...

...As a close adviser to President Kennedy, and an even more influential special assistant to President Johnson for national security affairs, Rostow has had a considerable impact on American foreign policy in general, and Southeast Asian policy in particular...

...Incomes, he suggests, are to be made more equal for specific occupations by legislative fiat (the standard socialist approach), or by positive and negative income taxes, steeply graduated on either side of the average income level, or by mandatory "employment insurance" which would allow minor income discrepancies, in true Orwellian fashion...

...For almost a generation now, the popularized folklore of educators and social scientists has led us to believe we know what generally determines the "success" or "failure" of the average American citizen...

...He was merely necessary...

...This rationalist style leads to a belief, bordering on faith, in the efficacy of central planning, or what one might call managerialism...

...Abram N. Shulsky The Diffusion of Power by W. W. Rostow Macmillan $12.50 Outlining to the 1960 Pugwash conference what he felt was "the central historical fact of our time," Walt Whitman Rostow declared that "power is being rapidly diffused away from Moscow and Washington...

...What The Alternative October 1973 23...

...In recent months, as raging argument has quieted to a murmur, it appears that the controversy may well be settled for good...

...At its height the debate centered on two major questions: first, was Jencks' data accurate and valid...

...have virtnally no impact on effectiveness...

...and second, were Jencks' conclusions and political recommendations justifiable on the basis of his data?---or could they be justified even disregarding his data...

...Although one could apply these criticisms to other areas of the book, it again should be emphasized that in the final analysis Diffusion of Power is a valuable addition to the literature of public policy studies...

...Most of Jencks' data on the effectiveness of public schooling is a face value interprotation of the giant !967 EEOS ~"Cole man"} Study, and advocates of "equal opportunity," to their extreme discomfort, have not yet found a comparable study on which they might base a refutation...

...Jencks' statistics alone, which seem to wreck educators' hopes and social planners' dreams that social inequality can he significantly reduced by a massive reallocation of our nation's resources to ensure "equal opportunity," have aroused much frenzy over the past year but have yet to be seriously challenged...

...Moreover, Jencks demonstrates that the cognitive skills taught by schools not only have little effect on individual "success," but that no public school is much more or less effective at teaching these skills than any other public school...

...Happily, Jencks is candid about separating the facts from his valuable wheat from quite worthless and misleading chaff...

...He baldly states "the United States is not matching the scale of its unresolved problems with adequate resources...

...His treatment of the Pentagon Papers, the T~,t offensive, and the "credibility gap" syndrome are also most useful...

...During the century following 1815, however, a numb~,r -f other countries, including the United States, Gvrmany, France, Japan, and Russia, also experienced industrialization and thus eventually rivalled Britain in power...

...Although Rostow's critique ~s consistently that of the realist ~chool, his discussion (read defense~ ,~ military "gradualism" in Vietnam is ;~,:,mewhat optimistic and less than convi acing...

...It is intelligent, well-written, full of useful information, and persuasive, and I know of no other recent work that does as much to provide perspective on such a wide variety of topics...

...Consequently, the question we have raised goes to the adequacy of the American political culture to govern the country in the absence of vigorous leadership from the executive branch, a leadership which is willing and able to pursue policies which the mass of the people simply do not understand and whose support must be dispensed with or procured, to the extent possible, by means of slick management of the media...

...That he has bitten off somewhat more than he can successfully chew does not detract from the worth of his important volume...

...In short, Jencks' statistics show that a person's economic or social standing relative to society at large are two, very long steps removed from whatever schooling he may have had...

...according to innate intelligence, family background, and "objective" aptitude tests...

...Jencks conjures up an army of hopeless vagaries...

...On the other hand, Jencks' thoroughgoing egalitarianism, which informs all of his recommendations that individual income be equalized by governmental decree, is naive and simplistic...

...The turbulence and inflammation of domestic life during the sixties is ascribed to a vague "dynamics of American society and the pathology it had permitted to develop in the heart of the great cities...

...Experts in fields as diverse as psychology and economics have awarded a near-unanimous "thumbs-up" to the first question, spreading an eerie hush over our community of educators, and a "thumbsdown" to the second question, forcing radical social critiques to disown Jencks in droves...

...He defends his basic premise--the more equality the better --with such an improbable argument that the reader can be glad he spends only a couple of pages on it...

...Wayne H. Valis Inequality: A Reassessment opinions, and so helps the reader sift by Christopher J e n c k s Basic Books $12.50 It has now been nearly a year since the release of Christopher Jencks' Inequality: A Reassessment of the Effect of Family and Schooling in America (first reviewed with Deschooling Society in The Alternative , February 1973), and the flurry of debate which arose over the book when it first appeared at last shows signs of subsiding...

...Or, working constructively together, we can create the terms on which power will become diffused...

...The inevitable protracted nature of the engagement gradually eroded the initial basis of public support and left him and the nation particularly vulnerable to the confusions attendant upon the T~t offensive and its aftermath--confusions for which his administration and American journalism jointly bear responsibility...

...His criticism of the press for its coverage of the war is excellent, and his quotes from various pundits and commentators, especially Daniel EllsI,,,~-g, should be read and savored...

...There are other criticisms that can be made of Professor Rostow's opus---criticisms that are more particular in nature, relating to content, and especially to his interpretation of various intents and circumstances...

...The inevitable result is that industrial polontial, military power and influence ,:n the world scene are being diffused and will continue to be diffused...

...Increased expenditures in schooling (for facilities, teachers, etc...

...He does a fine job of recreating the intellectual and political background of the struggle, and his discussion of the conduct of the war is must reading for any serious scholar interested in why the United States acted as it did...

...He reasons that there are two ways of achieving this: tl) to bestow upon every citizen an equal level of competence, so that everyone will have an equivalent "earning-power" in our laissez-faire economy, or (2) to "change the rules of the game," and directly reduce the rewards of competence and/or "success" and the cost~ of incompetence and/or "fai]ure...

...His major theme, the diffusion of power in the international arena, should have received more concentrated attention...

...foreign policy, to evaluate and analyze each of the last four presidents, to explain the development of contemporary international politics, and to examine the primary currents in American political life...

...Jencks somehow assumes, first of all, that our society's one, overriding purpose is to bring about a drastic reduction in economic inequality...

...Critics of almost every ideological persuasion have shown his plans to be unworkable...

...It is toward achieving this third alternative that Rostow has dedicated his considerable intellectual skills during the last few decades, and it is this theme which provides the title for Rostow's massive and sweeping Diffusion of Power...

...That this lesson has been, or is being, learned is a "consummation devoutly to be wished...

...The disparity among achievement scores at a single school is almost as great as the disparity among scores at all schools...

...This belief colors the book throughout and leads, at times, to judgments which are questionable...

...Other factors--income or status of parents, cognitive aptitude scores, school grades, quality of schools attended--have practically no effect...

...Eisenhower was probably more representative of the political values and ideas of the great mass of the American people (when they are not agitated by war or depression, and perhaps even then) than any other recent president...

...As early as 1961 Rostow raised the possibility of "moving forces into North Vietnam itself," though, he cautions, "not in the area around Hanoi...

...Those who have followed the first path, trying to reach income and status equality by achieving "equal opportunity," bave failed, and Jencks' analysis ably shows why they failed: neither they nor he nor anyone knows what causes competence or "success...

...First, Rostow has attempted to deal with so many diverse facets of existence that he has inadequately developed many of them...

...Again, Rostow's "belief in central planning causes him to lament Nixon's inability to comprehend "the wastages of talent and vitality that came with inequalities of opportunity in American society...

...So far the facts still stand--surprisingly uncontroverted in months of debate...

...Likewise the comparison to Latin American inflation is extremely labored...

...Along the way we are treated to discussions and explanations of econom,cs, diplomacy, sociology, the Berlin crisis, the Bay of Pigs, the rise and fall of radicalism on the campus, the role and functioning of the press, U.S...

...and it is occurring--or it will soon occur---in the whole southern half of the globe...

...Continuing his address, Rostow compared our time to the era immediately following 1815...

...Though sometimes reason may condemn them, feeling clothes them in an aura of glory...

...By 1815, contended Rostow, Britain was the only country which had absorbed the industrial r~.v;dution, with the result that she wd.a the preeminent international power...

...Faced with this fact, there are three choices open to the Soviet Union and the United States...

...We can continue the Cold War until the diffusion of power removes the capacity to decide from Moscow and Washington...

...but they rang true in his day, as Kennedy acted upon them: 'Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty.' " Suffice it to note that most realist political analysts have applauded the Nixon Doctrine precisely because it repudiates such grandiose sentiments...

...Hereditary I.Q, years of schooling, and "family environment," have a surprisingly small effect on how much money an individual will earn or what status he will hold...

...In this extremely interesting and informative work, Rostow attempts to discuss his role in shaping U.S...

...Of President Kennedy's inability to achieve a substantial legislative program, Rostow offers in defense De Gaulle's observation: "Leaders of m e n . . , are remembered less for the usefulness of what they achieved than for the sweep of their endeavors...

...Despite its general excellence, the book may be criticized on grounds of both structure and content...

...So Jencks opts for the second alternative, which of course means the end of a capitalist society as we know it...

...In fact Rostow probably should have done two books, one on domestic American political life and another on international relations...

...As economist and historian, and by political creed, Rostow is a member in good standing of the Establishment, sharing its belief in the domestic policies of FDR, HST, JFK and LBJ, and its strong predilection for the rationalist style in polities...

...Rostow provides a strong defense of US...

...policy in Laos and Vietnam, Sino-American relations (Rostow reveals that JFK "canvassed cooly various routes, diplomatic and other, that might deny China a nuclear capability"), racial strife at home, and virtually every major public policy question of the last fifteen years...

...policy in Southeast Asia, and subjects many myths of the war to harsh scrutiny...

...Rostow is far too intelligent to be unaware of the costs of such a strategy, although he expresses his awareness in rather curious fashion: "Johnson's care to avoid a larger war in Asia had its cost...

...Certainly one of the lessons of the sixties should be the debunking of 22 The Alternative October 1973 the rationalist myth that "human problems" are soluble merely by applying adequate amounts of money and manpower along lines developed by various social planners...

...He concludes, quite rightly, that equalizing the resources spent per pupil in the United States, even meticulously equalizing the facilities and teacher/student ratios in each school and forcing everyone to attend school for exactly the same number of years, will do almost nothing to reduce general, social and economic inequality...

...For example, Rostow's aversion to "the initial laissez-faire posture of the Nixon administration" leads him to claim that "by 1971 the United States was caught in a version of inflation long familiar in Latin America...