The broken windows theory Have you ever heard of the broken window theory? It is a theory about the spread of immoral and uncivilized behavior. It originated in an experiment conducted by a psychologist at Stanford University, Philip Zimbardo, in 1969. He left a car in the neglected streets of the Bronx, New York, with registration plates pulled up and the doors open. His goal was to see what happened. And it came
something. After 10 minutes, began to steal their components. After three days there was nothing of value. Then they began to smash it.
The experiment was a second part, another car left in similar conditions, in a wealthy neighborhood of Palo Alto, California. Nothing happened. For one week, the car remained intact. Then Zimbardo went a step further, and crushed body parts with a hammer. He must be a sign that the good citizens of Palo Alto expected, because after a few hours the car was so mangled as the Bronx.
This experiment is what led to the broken windows theory, developed by James Wilson and George Kelling: if building a window broken and not fixed soon, other windows immediately end up being destroyed by vandals. Why? Because it's fun to break windows, of course. But above all, because the broken window sends a message: there is no one to look after this.
Our councils are familiar with this theory. When a graffiti on a wall, if not cleared soon, the entire wall, and the nearby houses, appears full of graffiti. Hence the importance of always keeping the city clean, the streets in order, the gardens in good condition ... Also the police know, and therefore considers it important to address not only the major crimes but also small transgressions.
The message is clear: once you begin to disobey the rules that maintain order in a community, both order and community begin to deteriorate, often with surprising speed. Uncivil behavior is contagious.
And civilized people are retracted. Wilson and Kelling explained: "Many citizens think that crime, especially violent crime, multiply, and thus change their behavior. They will use the streets less often, and when they do, they stay away from the other, moving quickly, without looking or speaking. Do not want to get involved with them. To some, this growing atomization will not be relevant, but it will be for others who get satisfaction from the relationship with others. For them, the neighborhood will cease to exist, except in regard to some reliable friends who will be willing to meet ".
And this applies not only to public order, but for many other facets of social life. If a company neglected some ethical standards, the environment deteriorates. If distorted accounts to pay less taxes, lying to employees is easier, and also to managers and owners. If what counts is the short-term profitability, are neglected health and safety standards at work and the safety of the product or service, treating people with less respect, the customer is increasingly an object and not a person whose needs must be satisfied ...
In these cases, neither the police nor City Hall cleaning services can do nothing, as in the case of the car abandoned, graffiti or dirt in the streets. The solution is for the citizens themselves, without crushing the abandoned car and helping to keep the city clean. And recovering the civic and moral behavior in the family, in the company, in a sports club in the city, in the media and so forth. The philosopher Kant
gave
ago many years a very useful rule: always act so that your behavior can be considered a universal rule. Would you like breaks up all the cars, paint the walls, lied, stolen or defrauded? No? Then such behavior should not be carried out, although very nice, we said that breaking windows is a pleasure, but something wild, and very beneficial to oneself.
Among other reasons for taking such behavior worsens we ourselves as individuals, as I said another philosopher, Aristotle, even more years. If you do not want to be a liar, do not tell the first lie, because ... next time will be easier.
Source: http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cataluna/teoria/ventanas/rotas/elpepiautcat/20041018elpcat_7/Tes
