---
title: Cognitive Division of Labour
---

The idea, from economist Joseph Schumpeter, that in a complex society not everyone can have well-formed views on all questions — and that democratic systems therefore need mechanisms for navigating who decides what.

Developed in the Australian context by economist Nicolas Gruen at the [2017 Designing Open Democracy event](../blog/posts/2017-08-21-podcast.md). Gruen argued that elections are a competitive mechanism that rewards emotional mobilisation over considered judgement, and proposed supplementing elected chambers with citizen juries selected by sortition as a way of addressing this. As he put it: *"The magic trick is that the reason for current troubles is because the pollies are the bad guys. But we are getting exactly what we're asking for."*

## Further reading

- [Nicolas Gruen's 2017 DOD presentation](../blog/posts/2017-08-21-podcast.md) — recording and full notes
- [Isegoria: how citizens' juries deliver it (Gruen, 2020)](../blog/posts/2020-03-20.md) — Gruen's developed version of the argument
- Joseph Schumpeter, *Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy* (1943)
- [Nicolas Gruen — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Gruen)


## See also

- [Sortition](sortition.md)
- [Citizens' Assembly](citizens-assembly.md)
- [Isegoria](isegoria.md)
