Forms of ignorance and their role in the joint planning process

The Care in the Community initiative has given a new lease of life to joint planning between health and local authorities. The planned closures of psychiatric and mental handicap hospitals offer a new opportunity for these agencies to collaborate in the planning of alternative provision. All too often, though, considerable ignorance impedes their joint efforts. This ignorance relates to the scope of the exercize, the precise nature of the required services, and agencies’ knowledge of their different organizational systems, political ideologies and professional cultures. Such ignorance is built into the system, and it can serve agencies’ political purposes and offer them a means of attaining desired goals. The sociological literature offers a number of insights into relations between organizations. The concept of ignorance, however, has received little attention, yet it is one of the most striking aspects of joint planning.