Word: inertia
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...inertia is the proper word to describe trends of upward mobility in the hierarchies already discussed, then a much stronger term is required when one examines the new blood at policy-making levels. With minor adjsustments, policy-making in China rests with the Politburo elected a decade ago, and the execution of these policies is the responsibility of a small Central Secretariat elected at the same time. Officially, the Politburo now consists of 22 men and the Secretariat of 15 (seven of whom are currently on the Politburo). But as the readers of the Chinese press know...
...regrets the change, but all admit that greater involvement will inevitably drag the Center into the unscholarly world of political pressure, personal sensivities, and bureaucratic inertia...
Bureaucratic inertia and sensitivity to criticism have so far been more troublesome than political entanglements. The Center has contracted to evaluate several urban programs run by government agencies and non-profit groups. To their chagrin, the Center's researchers are finding, as one put it, that "while academics may thrive on criticism, bureaucrats don't." When one of the Center's reports criticized a Roxbury agency for not reaching the low-income population that it was supposed to serve, the agency and the Federal officials who were financing it immediately denounced the Joint Center...
...problem created by Wellesley's social inertia is more acute today because most of the Wellesley freshmen are coming from high schools which promoted complete social equality of boys and girls. The popular, "well-rounded" high school graduate may be shocked when she arrives at Wellesley. Her favorite relationships have probably been those with boys and she is used to governing her behavior by the expected male reaction. When she gets to Wellesley, she is knocked off base. A senior who is a house president and a junior Phi Beta Kappa describes the experience: "I liked girls...
This tension, which comes from the contrast between outside progress and Wellesley's inertia, produces certain identifiable syndromes in the academic and the social side of the college...