Some say one can’t ascribe agency to organizations. They argue that group agency is just shorthand when we can’t be bothered to detail the motives and actions of all the individuals involved. Cases where a group acts in a way that most if not all its members would disavow make it easier to see collective agency.
(I’m leaving aside two rebuttals to the “shorthand” argument. First, that there are many cases—like mass migrations, pogroms, or communal warfare—where it’s not possible to inventory every individual’s motives. The only practical explanation is collective agency. Second, group agency may be the only possible explanation because the organization’s action is an emergent property like the wetness of water, or consciousness arising in a collection of neurons.)
Here are several examples where all or most group members do not intend, and disagree with, a collective outcome, starting with corporations and then turning to government actors.
Corporate actors
Boeing’s Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) became notorious for its role in two fatal accidents of the 737 MAX in 2018 and 2019, which killed all 346 passengers and crew on Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 (Wikipedia).
The policies of US health insurers seem to harm patients. A 2024 survey by the American Medical Association (pdf) found that 24% of doctors said that delays caused by prior authorization led to a serious adverse event for their patients. Yahoo reports that medical debt is the No. 1 cause of bankruptcy in America and details many anecdotes of patients who were bankrupted or put into overwhelming debt as a result of health insurer decisions.
On the night of 6 March 1987, the ferry Herald of Free Enterprise capsized moments after leaving the Belgian port of Zeebrugge, killing 193 passengers and crew. A public Court of Inquiry concluded the root cause of the capsizing was poor workplace communication, and identified a “disease of sloppiness” and negligence at every level of the corporation’s hierarchy (Wikipedia).
There have been many numerous disasters where corporate policies and practices—such as poor safety practices and inadequate maintenance due to cost-cutting, and pressure to maximize production—led to serious loss of life (Wikipedia). Examples include the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire (1911, 146 workers died), the Coalbrook mining disaster (1960, 435 miners died), the Bhopal gas leak (1984, thousands died), the Piper Alpha oil platform disaster (1988, 167 workers died), and the Rana Plaza collapse (2013, over 1,100 workers died).
I’m sure that nobody at Boeing intended to kill airplane passengers. Likewise, no employees of US health insurers want to harm patients physically or financially. None of the workers at any of the organizations involved in tragic industrial accidents set out to kill people, though they may have been callous or negligent. However, the policies and practices of their organizations led them to do just that. The group is one of the responsible parties, and often the main one.
State actors
State or government action or inaction can also lead to disasters with a high death toll.
The Crimean War (1854–1855) became “an iconic symbol of logistical, medical and tactical failures and mismanagement” (Wikipedia). It underscored the importance of organized evacuation and surgical care close to the front line. According to Manring et al. (2009), the war revealed a stark contrast between the battlefield care provided by the French, with their expert organization and system of light ambulances, and the poorly organized British Medical Services.
The Great Chinese Famine (1959–1961) killed tens of millions of people and is blamed on government policies, particularly those associated with the Great Leap Forward and collectivization (Wikipedia). While Mao Zedong instigated the program, actions throughout the state like falsification of agricultural data by local officials and failure of Chinese government functionaries to recognize the severity of the famine for an extended period were significant contributors.
The Chernobyl nuclear disaster (1986, around 50 immediate deaths and estimates of many thousands of additional cancer deaths over time) has been ascribed to flawed reactor design combined, a lack of safety protocols, and poor training (World Nuclear Association).
Over 1,800 people died because of the failure of levees and emergency services following Hurricane Katrina (2005). Causes include delayed federal assistance and inadequate preparation at FEMA and the city of New Orleans, and weaknesses in the levee system not being addressed.
Neither Mao nor CCP officials set out kill millions, and the designers and operators of Chernobyl did not individually intend a meltdown. I’m sure officials at FEMA and in New Orleans were appalled by Hurricane Katrina’s death toll. The primary agent in these disasters was the collective.
Good outcomes
When good things happen, there is no shortage of individuals who want to take the credit. While recognition is sometimes deserved, the laurels for a few individuals may obscure the importance of group protocols and the joint actions of many people.
While the idea of seat belts dates back to 19th century aviation, the most significant advance in automobile safety was the three-point seat belt. While it was invented by Swedish engineer Nils Bohlin, who had previously designed ejector seats for fighter airplanes, it was only because the Volvo Car Corporation had hired him in 1958 as the company’s first chief safety engineer, and then introduced the belt to the market in 1959 (AAA). Even more important was the company’s decision to give away this technology to other manufacturers (Volvo). Government action to mandate the provision and subsequently the use of seat belts was also crucial in their widespread use, another effect that can’t be ascribed to individual luminaries.
Novo Nordisk played a pivotal role in the development of GLP-1 drugs, particularly for the treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes. The company developed liraglude (aka Saxenda) and semaglutide (Wegovy). It has engaged in numerous partnerships and acquisitions, focusing heavily on expanding its obesity pipeline (BioSpace). The other key corporate player is Eli Lilly (Mounjaro, Zepbound). While there were several scientific breakthroughs by researchers like Joel Habener, Svetlana Mojsov, and Lotte Bjerre Knudsen (Lasker Foundation), these occurred in the context of R&D funding by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Novo Nordisk.
Conclusions
The actions or omissions of organizations (comprising people, protocols, and technologies) can cause mass deaths that can’t be plausibly attributed to specific individuals. The people involved may be callous, but—at least in the cases given above—I do not believe they were malicious.
While specific people may have caused specific deaths, no one person was the cause of all the deaths (with the debatable exception of Mao Zedong). The “bad outcome” cases where everyone would disavow the outcome suggests there wasn’t intent at the individual level.
Even if there wasn’t intent at the personal level, was there intent at the group level? Probably not—but even if there had been, intent is not required for responsibility.
Note
My thinking has been significantly informed by the work of Philip Pettit and Christian List on group agency, and in particular by List’s “Group agency and artificial intelligence” (2021), Philosophy and Technology, 34(4), Article 4.
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