Sociocybernetics
Encyclopedia
Sociocybernetics is an independent chapter of science in sociology based upon the General Systems Theory and cybernetics
.
It also has a basis in Organizational Development (OD) consultancy practice and in Theories of Communication
, theories of psychotherapies
and computer sciences
. The International Sociological Association has a specialist research committee in the area – RC51 – which publishes the (electronic) Journal of Sociocybernetics.
The term "socio" in the name of sociocybernetics refers to any social system (as defined, among others, by Talcott Parsons
and Niklas Luhmann
).
The idea to study society as a system can be traced back to the origin of sociology when the emergent idea of functional differentiation has been applied for the first time to society by Auguste Comte
.
The basic goal for which sociocybernetics was created, is the production of a theoretical framework as well as information technology tools for responding to the basic challenges individuals, couples, families, groups, companies, organizations, countries, international affairs are facing today.
.
The outlook that Sociocybernetics uses when analyzing any living system lies in a Basic Law of SocioCybernetics.
It says: All living systems
go through five levels of interrelations (social contracts) of its subsystems:
Going through these five phases of relationship theoretically gives the framework for the sociocybernetic study of any evolutionary system. It serves as an "equation for life."
presents the idea that social systems like cities don't behave like organisms as has been proposed by some in sociocybernetics.
Perhaps the most basic challenges faced by sociocyberneticians are those that stem from Bookchin's work "The Ecology of Freedom and the emergence and decline of Hierarchy".
Bookchin's argument is that what has often been described as "primitive" societies are best thought of as "organic" societies. People within them have differentiated roles as do the cells of a body, but this differentiation is largely reversible. Coordination between the cells is not organized by some "center" but through a network of feedback (cybernetic) processes. Particularly important are organisms' ability to evolve as well as reproduce. But simply saying that the process is "autopoietic" is to evade the task of identifying the multiple and mutually reinforcing cybernetic processes that are at work.
Yet Bookchin's claim, which appears to be thoroughly documented, is that the evolution of organic societies into our current, vastly destructive, hierarchical societies - over millennia - has also taken place through some ... (almost cancerous?) ... unstoppable autopoietic process. If we are to halt this process ... which is about to destroy us as a species, probably carrying the planet as we know it with us, it will be necessary to map and find ways of intervening in the sociocybernetic processes involved. No centralised system-wide, command-and-control oriented, change will suffice. Systems intervention requires complex systems-oriented intervention targeted at nodes in the system, not system-wide change based on "common sense".
Cybernetics
Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of regulatory systems. Cybernetics is closely related to information theory, control theory and systems theory, at least in its first-order form...
.
It also has a basis in Organizational Development (OD) consultancy practice and in Theories of Communication
Communication
Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
, theories of psychotherapies
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
and computer sciences
Computer Sciences
Computer Sciences can refer to:*The general field of computer science*Computer Sciences Corporation, the Fortune 500 Information Technology company...
. The International Sociological Association has a specialist research committee in the area – RC51 – which publishes the (electronic) Journal of Sociocybernetics.
The term "socio" in the name of sociocybernetics refers to any social system (as defined, among others, by Talcott Parsons
Talcott Parsons
Talcott Parsons was an American sociologist who served on the faculty of Harvard University from 1927 to 1973....
and Niklas Luhmann
Niklas Luhmann
Niklas Luhmann was a German sociologist, and a prominent thinker in sociological systems theory.-Biography:...
).
The idea to study society as a system can be traced back to the origin of sociology when the emergent idea of functional differentiation has been applied for the first time to society by Auguste Comte
Auguste Comte
Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier Comte , better known as Auguste Comte , was a French philosopher, a founder of the discipline of sociology and of the doctrine of positivism...
.
The basic goal for which sociocybernetics was created, is the production of a theoretical framework as well as information technology tools for responding to the basic challenges individuals, couples, families, groups, companies, organizations, countries, international affairs are facing today.
Sociocybernetics analyzes social 'forces'
One of the tasks of sociocybernetics is to map, measure, harness, and find ways of intervening in the parallel network of social forces that influence human behavior. Sociocyberneticists' task is to understand the guidance and control mechanisms that govern the operation of society (and the behavior of individuals more generally) in practice and then to devise better ways of harnessing and intervening in them – that is to say to devise more effective ways to operate these mechanisms, or to modify them according to the opinions of the cyberneticist.Sociocybernetics aims to generate a general theoretical framework for understanding cooperative behavior.
It claims to give a deep understanding of the General Theory of EvolutionEvolution Theory
Tin1 Yin2 Leun6 is Candy Lo's 9th studio album. It was released on 4 June 2005. For this album Candy Lo worked together with Hong Kong producer Kubert Leung with whom she worked on previous albums as well.- Track listing :...
.
The outlook that Sociocybernetics uses when analyzing any living system lies in a Basic Law of SocioCybernetics.
It says: All living systems
Living systems
Living systems are open self-organizing living things that interact with their environment. These systems are maintained by flows of information, energy and matter....
go through five levels of interrelations (social contracts) of its subsystems:
- A. Aggression: survive or die
- B. Bureaucracy: follow the norms and rules
- C. Competition: my gain is your loss
- D. Decision: disclosing individual feelings, intentions
- E. Empathy: cooperation in one unified interest
Going through these five phases of relationship theoretically gives the framework for the sociocybernetic study of any evolutionary system. It serves as an "equation for life."
Issues and challenges
Recent research from the Santa Fe InstituteSanta Fe Institute
The Santa Fe Institute is an independent, nonprofit theoretical research institute located in Santa Fe and dedicated to the multidisciplinary study of the fundamental principles of complex adaptive systems, including physical, computational, biological, and social systems.The Institute houses a...
presents the idea that social systems like cities don't behave like organisms as has been proposed by some in sociocybernetics.
Perhaps the most basic challenges faced by sociocyberneticians are those that stem from Bookchin's work "The Ecology of Freedom and the emergence and decline of Hierarchy".
Bookchin's argument is that what has often been described as "primitive" societies are best thought of as "organic" societies. People within them have differentiated roles as do the cells of a body, but this differentiation is largely reversible. Coordination between the cells is not organized by some "center" but through a network of feedback (cybernetic) processes. Particularly important are organisms' ability to evolve as well as reproduce. But simply saying that the process is "autopoietic" is to evade the task of identifying the multiple and mutually reinforcing cybernetic processes that are at work.
Yet Bookchin's claim, which appears to be thoroughly documented, is that the evolution of organic societies into our current, vastly destructive, hierarchical societies - over millennia - has also taken place through some ... (almost cancerous?) ... unstoppable autopoietic process. If we are to halt this process ... which is about to destroy us as a species, probably carrying the planet as we know it with us, it will be necessary to map and find ways of intervening in the sociocybernetic processes involved. No centralised system-wide, command-and-control oriented, change will suffice. Systems intervention requires complex systems-oriented intervention targeted at nodes in the system, not system-wide change based on "common sense".
See also
- AnthropologyAnthropologyAnthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
- CliodynamicsCliodynamicsthumb|Clio—detail from [[The Art of Painting|The Allegory of Painting]] by [[Johannes Vermeer]]Cliodynamics is a new multidisciplinary area of research focused at mathematical modeling of historical dynamics.-Origins:The term was originally coined by Peter...
- Complex systemsComplex systemsComplex systems present problems in mathematical modelling.The equations from which complex system models are developed generally derive from statistical physics, information theory and non-linear dynamics, and represent organized but unpredictable behaviors of systems of nature that are considered...
- Dynastic cycleDynastic cycleDynastic cycle is an important political theory in Chinese history. According to this theory, every dynasty goes through a culture cycle.-The cycle:The dynastic cycle appears as it follows:...
- General systems theory
- List of cycles
- PsychologyPsychologyPsychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
- Social cycle theorySocial cycle theorySocial cycle theories are among the earliest social theories in sociology. Unlike the theory of social evolutionism, which views the evolution of society and human history as progressing in some new, unique direction, sociological cycle theory argues that events and stages of society and history...
- SociocracySociocracySociocracy is a system of governance, using consent-based decision making among equivalent individuals and an organizational structure based on cybernetic principles...
- SociologySociologySociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
- Superorganisms
- Systems philosophySystems PhilosophySystems philosophy is the study of the development of systems, with an emphasis on design and root cause analysis. Systems philosophy is a form of systems thinking....
- Systems thinkingSystems thinkingSystems thinking is the process of understanding how things influence one another within a whole. In nature, systems thinking examples include ecosystems in which various elements such as air, water, movement, plants, and animals work together to survive or perish...
- The Venus ProjectThe Venus ProjectThe Venus Project is an organization that advocates the futurist visions of the American Jacque Fresco, with the aim of improving society with a global sustainable social design that it calls a "resource-based economy"...
- War cyclesWar cyclesThe theory of war cycles holds that wars happen in cycles.-The cycles of war:The forerunner of the study of war cycles was Edward R Dewey, with Quincy Wright's monumental A Study of War adding impetus to the discipline...
- World-systems theory
Further reading
- Felix Geyer and Johannes van der Zouwen (1992). "Sociocybernetics" in: Handbook of Cybernetics (C.V. Negoita, ed.). New York: Marcel Dekker, 1992 , pp. 95-124.
- Felix Geyer (1994). "The Challenge of Sociocybernetics". In: Kybernetes. 24(4):6-32, 1995. Copyright MCB University Press1995
- Felix Geyer (2001). "Sociocybernetics" In: Kybernetes, Vol. 31 No. 7/8, 2002, pp. 1021-1042.
- Raven, J. (1994). Managing Education for Effective Schooling: The Most Important Problem Is to Come to Terms with Values. Unionville, New York: Trillium Press. (OCLC 34483891)
- Raven, J. (1995). The New Wealth of Nations: A New Enquiry into the Nature and Origins of the Wealth of Nations and the Societal Learning Arrangements Needed for a Sustainable Society. Unionville, New York: Royal Fireworks Press; Sudbury, Suffolk: Bloomfield Books. (ISBN 0-89824-232-0)
- Jacque FrescoJacque FrescoJacque Fresco , is a self-educated structural designer, philosopher of science, concept artist, educator, and futurist. His interests span a wide range of disciplines including several in philosophy, science, and engineering...
The Best that Money Can't Buy (Global Cybervisions, February 2002)