Adequacy — literally, correspondence; the equating of a subject to something or someone.
The essence of the phenomenon
Adequacy implies actions aimed at leveling out and smoothing over sharp edges and, in general, any individual characteristics. In everyday speech it is usually understood as conformity to social expectations ("he's normal").
Scholars, however, define adequacy as "correspondence, the coincidence of certain parameters that is satisfactory from the standpoint of defined goals".
Characteristics
- An adequate point of view from the perspective of the average citizen — an opinion that does not violate the established stereotypes shaped by years of expert effort. Accordingly, any point of view that runs counter to those stereotypes is considered inadequate.
- An adequate point of view from the perspective of an enlightened individual — an opinion that coincides with that of the individual in question. Any other point of view is, by definition, considered inadequate.
- Adequacy for managers differs from ordinary adequacy. It consists in maintaining a balance between the specificity, directedness, and purposefulness of one's directives.
Inadequacy
- Everyone is, to one degree or another, potentially inadequate. In situations we are unprepared for, our behavior is likely to be inadequate.
- Whether a person is adequate, and to what degree, depends largely on the person's level of development and on what demands and expectations are placed upon them. The demands placed on a child are minimal, so childhood inadequacy is only spoken of in cases of outright psychiatric disorders. We will call a random stranger on the street inadequate if they fail to answer simple questions (or answer strangely) and behave in an altogether strange manner (like someone on drugs or drunk). The more demands and expectations are placed on a person, the more strictly their adequacy is monitored.
Interesting facts
- The word derives from Latin adaequatus "equalized, made equal," from the verb adaequare "to compare, to equate," from ad "to, toward" + aequāre "to make level (equal)," from aequus "level, flat."