Subtle rules are essentially “dark rules,” rules that are distinct from surface rules, and unwritten rules that are used for people’s private transactions. The subliminal rules are often understood but not spoken, and their mastery and application depends mainly on personal perception and understanding of society. The reason for this is that unspoken rules are an equilibrium of people’s interests under specific socio-economic, political and cultural conditions.
With so many unspoken rules, many people wonder why unspoken rules are so widespread and so pervasive. Today we will examine together the reasons why the unspoken rules are so widespread, so that you can follow it while also understanding the deeper reasons for it, together.
1. The “economic man” characteristic is the human premise of the unspoken rules
First, from the human level, the “economic man” characteristic is the human premise of the unspoken rules. The rules of the game can be formulated from two human premises: one is from the premise of “economic man”; the other is from the premise of “social man” or “moral man”. The rules of the game are different from each premise, and the practical effects are different.
In the real world, because maximizing profit is a general human characteristic, many of the rules of the game from the “social” or “moral” premise tend to be a formality, while in essence they operate from the “economic” premise. “economic man” premise and produce another kind of rules, the essence of this rule is the subtle rules. Here the essence of the subterfuge is the two or more parties involved in the game of a rule of equilibrium. From the perspective of the two parties, the ultimate goal of the two is to maximize the benefits, or minimize losses. Therefore, the parties will make full use of the various “resources” they have in order to maximize their gains or minimize their losses. In the premise of “economic man,” when one party has the legal right to harm others, he will make full use of his legal right to harm in order to maximize his own gains.
2. The centralized system is prone to subterfuge
The centralized system is prone to subterfuge. One is that a centralized system leads to unclear property rights, and unclear property rights are a fundamental condition for the creation of unspoken rules. In a centralized system, property rights are always attached to political power. The more centralized the power is, the greater the dominance of political power over property power, and the more blurred the boundary of property rights. The unclear property rights provide the premise and condition for both parties to freely extend the boundary of their rights. Since the boundary is blurred, driven by interests, both parties are bound to extend their right boundaries as much as possible. The result is naturally: the party in a strong position gets more benefits and the party in a weak position is forced to give up some benefits. In this case, some subtle rules are born. Therefore, the subtle rules are also a kind of equilibrium of the game of interests between the two sides when the property rights are unclear.
You may think that there are few centralized systems in the workplace, but this is common in the public sector, just less common in the private sector. In the private sector, leaders can also have a centralized system, thus leading to the subtle phenomenon of people going to suck up to leaders.
3. The Cultural Roots of Subterfuge
Subterfuge also has cultural roots. On the one hand, unspoken rules are themselves part of culture. Culture provides guidance and value judgments for people’s behavior. Subtle rules serve as a behavioral guide, so they are themselves part of culture.
In traditional Chinese culture, the culture of face is prone to induce subtle rules. The culture of face is essentially a culture of form, one set in form and another in substance. This culture is reflected in the way people behave, which is one set of rules of the game in front of people, and another set of rules of the game in private, where the private rules of the game are the subtle rules.
In many companies, many supervisors are concerned about face and form, which naturally leads to subordinates to be obedient to give gifts and to be ambiguous, so as to cater to the hobbies of the leaders and win their favor, so that they can get a green light in the workplace.
The subtle rules, hidden in all walks of life where you can’t see, understand the reasons for the above, should you also pay attention to it, so that you can reduce the bias of these aspects, only then can you avoid becoming a member of the subtle rules in the workplace.