a. The Triplicity of Choice Situation

a. The Triplicity of Choice Situation

 

On the other hand, the orderliness of choices considered by individuals and groups in political behavior can be analyzed in a three-stage structure. I refer to this as the "Triplicity of Choice Situation," which means that the situation affecting human choices can be analyzed in three stages and therefore the orderliness of choices operates accordingly. As can be seen in the contents of [Tab.2.8], the first stage is the situation of "the spark of the fire," the second stage is the situation of "the next," and the third stage is the situation of "the far future."

 

[Tab.2.8] The Triplicity of Choice Situation

Triplicity of Choice Situation		meaning	example
1st stage	Flame on the neck	Immediate Problem	Consuming food is necessary to overcome hunger.
2nd stage	The Next	Persistent Problem after Solution	Money must be earned or seized after solving the problem.
3rd stage	The Far Future	Ultimate Value to Pursue	There is a long-term and ultimate goal to pursue.

 

In the drama "Prison Break," the protagonist Michael enters prison to escape with his brother, who has been unjustly sentenced to death. To escape, Michael becomes a bank robber and enters prison. The immediate problem faced by Michael and his brother Lincoln is the escape from prison, as failure to do so would result in Lincoln's execution. This situation represents the "flame on the neck" or the "first stage." However, when Michael proposes to escape with Lincoln, Lincoln's first response is, "Escape is just the beginning, we need money!" This represents the "the next" and is the second stage of the choice situation. This is a common scenario for many people, including students who study hard despite the difficulty and boredom to improve their grades, and newly hired employees who follow their boss's instructions even if it does not align with their personal beliefs. These individuals make choices based on the immediate challenges and prepare for the next challenges.

 

These are the readily discernible features of human appearance. However, there are beyond that, that is, third-stage situations. It is about the spiritual values that individuals pursue in the long or ultimate term. Michael, who entered the prison at the risk of his life to save his brother, did so because he believed that his brother was unjustly accused of murder. If Michael had thought that the death sentence for his brother was justified, he would not have taken the risk to save him. Similarly, Admiral Yi Sun-sin was punished by a foolish lord due to the enemy's trick, but his clear belief that he must be loyal to the country led him to become a white-flag army and fight against 133 enemy ships with only 12 ships, and he eventually became a military commander. This is the way in which the three-stage situation, or the "distant future," confines humans.

 

This type of analysis can be applied to almost all individual choices. For example, one person may consider how to obtain money to fill an empty stomach. The situation of consuming nutrition to alleviate hunger is the "spark on the back of the neck" situation (1st stage). However, in most cases, people do not raid food from stores. This is because they take into account the next situation (2nd stage) together. As a result, many times people choose to go to a construction site to earn a daily wage or beg if necessary. Whether to do a difficult job or beg is determined by the ultimate values that the person pursues (i.e., values or beliefs). Thus, the choice is determined by the three-stage situation.

 

Analyzing the orderliness of choice into three stages is a way of optimizing the concept in order to increase the efficiency of the analysis. If the order of choice is divided into more detailed and multiple stages, it becomes unnecessarily complicated, whereas reducing it to two stages may make the understanding of the content overly simple and unable to perform detailed analysis.

 

The triplicity of choice situation corresponds to the three- level scale of political phenomena, which apprehends political phenomena at the macro-, middle-, and micro-level scales.

 

[Tab.2.9] The Triplicity of Choice Situations and Three-Level Scales of Political Phenomena

Triplicity of Choice Situation		3 level scales	Spatial Scope	Temporal Scope
1st stage	Flame on the neck	Micro-level	Scope that can be directly observed and heard	Scope of "immediately"
2nd stage	The Next	Middle-level	Scope in which causality has a direct effect	Scope of "for a while"
3rd stage	The Far Future	Macro-level	Scope of total direct and indirect influence	Scope of "long-term"

 

This correspondence between the triplicity of choice situation and the Three-Level Scale of political phenomenon means that analyzing the orderliness of choice in three stages is another appropriate reason. In addition to optimizing concepts, it can be combined with other concept systems to facilitate multi-faceted analysis.

 

Finally, if the triplicity of choice is a temporal framework for analyzing political phenomenon, then the Three-Level Scale of political phenomenon can be considered a spatial framework.