Here Silverman is raising several important issues. Firstly, to talk of social collectivities
such as organizations as having goals, as if they were an individual person,
can be misleading because it creates an image of agreement amongst members
regarding the purposes of an organization that might not exist. Surely, we cannot
talk of a collectivity having a goal unless everyone who makes up that collectivity
agrees to that goal. Secondly, there may be a danger that by according to organizations
a goal, we may inadvertently be prioritizing the particular goals of certain individuals
or groups at the expense of the goals and aspirations of others who are
involved with the same organization as members. If we are then concerned with
helping the organization to achieve ‘its’ goals, the ideological implications are only
too obvious because we might be taking sides on a contested terrain – whose goals
are we prioritizing?