Ideally, the name chosen for something should suggest this thing and nothing else, but if such a name cannot be found, then some neutral term must be sought. A person of conscience will not intentionally choose a term that has any misleading connotations. I don't thing the 'threefold social order' was intentionally chosen to be misleading, but I do believe it is so in practice. In my opinion it is high time to find a less misleading term for Steiner's soziale Dreigliederung. (Some suggestions have been: social threefolding, social tri-unity, threefold society, and social tri-differentiation.)

Different lexicographers record different frequencies of usage; this has nothing to do with the fact that some people experience authoritarian and/or utopian overtones in the phrase 'the threefold social order'. Similarly, whether or not the authoritarian/imperialist overtones of 'the New World Order' were once less marked, the fact is that they are now very prominent for many people, even for many people within the Anglo-American world. Translators have to keep up with the evolving realities of the language.

Malcolm Gardner 8/1

See also

Einheitsstaat

Rechtsleben