Last revised 12/3/94
The GDA Model
Richard W. Chadwick
The GDA model has three elements or states which describe one's
perception space: the goal (G), drift (D), and actual (A) states (hence
GDA); and three corresponding tensions, frustration (f), alienation (a),
and disempowerment (d), which derive from them. Definitions are as
follows:
- goal:
- a vision of a possible world one is working to make real;
- drift:
- a vision of what one think's the world is most likely to
become in the absence of one's work to bring about the above goal;
- actual:
- one's vision of the present
- frustration:
- stress due to sustained perceptions of the difference
between the goal and actual states;
- alienation:
- stress due to sustained perceptions of the difference
between the goal and drift states;
- disempowerment:
- stress due to sustained perceptions of
frustration caused by pressures moving the perceived actual state towards
the drift state; thus, a function of one's frustration multiplied by
alienation ;
- stress:
- Stress is defined in terms of its three sources, that is,
the more frustration, alienation, and disempowerment, the more stress.
See below:
IDEALISM
|
Goal
*
. .
. .
alienation_ . . _frustration
\. "stress" ./
. .
* . . . . . . . *
Drift | Actual
/ disempowerment \
REALISM \
FATALISM
Stress and Social Justice
Recall Lasswell and
Maslow. Think about Maslow's list of basic needs. With regard to
each there is: a goal state, what is desired from the individual's
viewpoint; a drift state, in this case what level of satisfaction of
one's basic needs is expected or most likely, if nothing is done to
change the course of events; and an actual state, an assessment of one's
current condition. To the extent that one expects to be far from
attaining one's goals, given the resources or means one has to operate
with (namely, Lasswell's checklist, e.g., wealth, respect, etc.), one
experiences stress; and to the extent one actually is far from one's
goals, one experiences stress. Socially, such stress is experienced as
injustice. One's sense of social justice is related to satisfaction with
one's attainment of basic needs. To those for whom the world offers
little resistance to meeting basic needs, the world is just. To those
for whom it is a successful struggle, it is somewhat just. And for those
who find themselves disadvantaged and opposed, the world is unjust.