Thoughts on quality and democracy

In Chapter ?? of Pragmatism and the Wide View of Democracy, [frega:2019:pragmatism], Roberto Frega draws on the tradition of ‘democratic experimentalism’ to develop a theory of democratic institutional change. Charles Sabel, one of these authors, explicitly develops a link to quality management systems, particularly the Toyota Production System, in A Real-Time Revolution in Routines [sabel:real:2005].

Sabel’s paper highlights the gap between what businesses (and perhaps other organizations) are learning about social learning and “our capacity for self-rule by familiar, parliamentary means.”

The links between pragmatism and quality management are deep. Deming & Shewart drew upon C. I. Lewis’ book in developing statistical process control in the 1930s.

The links between pragmatism and democracy are equally deep. Dewey’s work The Public and It’s Problems.

I have yet to encounter work on quality management with an anti-capitalist approach.
Critical theory is better represented (e.g. Making Sense of Management.)

This is a long-term interest of mine, and could be developed as a unit within Pragmatic Ecosocialism, probably one of the few units that I would be qualified to develop.