This phenomenon describes the gradual transformation of institutions away from their founding purposes toward self-preserving and self-serving functions. Initially established to address legitimate social problems, institutions accumulate authority, resources, and legitimacy over time. As power becomes concentrated, incentives increasingly favor organizational survival, status maintenance, and the interests of a small leadership group. Goal displacement occurs as procedures, metrics, and compliance mechanisms supplant substantive outcomes. The original mission may be reframed, exaggerated, or selectively enforced to justify continued authority and resource allocation. Oversight weakens, dissent is marginalized, and moral accountability gives way to managerial rationalization. The resulting corruption is often incremental and normalized rather than explicit, producing unequal benefits, reduced effectiveness, and erosion of public trust. While the institution may expand in size and complexity, its functional alignment with the problem it was created to address steadily deteriorates, transforming a corrective mechanism into a self-reinforcing system.
I have compiled an entire document on this, which includes a description of the process of drift, research from sociologists and political scientists, examples of the phenomenon, and Bible passages that warn against this phenomenon and that provide guidance to avoid the drift, distortion, exaggeration, and corruption.
I welcome your feedback on the document and its ideas.
