Showing papers on "Social system published in 1997"

The Swedish Experiment

Abstract: The deterioration of the economic performance in Sweden from about 1970 was to some extent the result of a number of exogenous shocks and "unnecessary" policy mistakes. It was, however, also related to basic changes in the economic and social system in Sweden in the late 1960s and early 1970, when government spending, taxes, and regulations started to expand dramatically. It is also argued in the paper that problematic political, economic, and social mechanisms had become embedded in the long-term dynamics of the system itself. These various experiences are the background for recent reforms and retreats of "the Swedish experiment."

The Student Social System Within Sport Education

Abstract: This paper examines student participation in units of sport education from the perspective of those students’ social agenda. Using a combination of fieldnotes, interview, and videotape data, four major themes emerged: (a) a change in the way students socialized during class (with a particular emphasis on the development of teamwork and cooperation), (b) a change in the opportunities for personal and social development (including leadership skills and cooperation), (c) a change in the nature of competition (where winning became more important and led to greater student effort), and (d) a change in how students viewed their learning within their physical education class. While in regular physical education contexts, the student social system often conflicts with the teacher’s agenda, in this study, data suggested that because students were placed in both instructional and managerial leadership roles, these typically teacher-driven task systems became an integral part of the student social system.

Social Structure and Managerial Agency in India

Abstract: In this paper, we argue the need to understand the relationship between mana gerial agency and social structure within a broad societal context. Managers are members of different social systems arising from both work and non-work related activities. These systems have various sets of rules and resources embedded within them which managers draw upon to create agency, which in turn can either reinforce or change social structure. Drawing upon sociological approaches to the study of human agency, we propose a framework to describe possible influences that social structure has on the shaping of managerial atti tudes in India. We then use this framework to provide the lens through which a specific Indian-government-initiated, information-technology project is ana lyzed. We see the approach that has been illustrated in this paper to have implications for management studies in three areas: the management of cross- cultural projects; management practice in India; and future research on man agement in organizations.

The autopoiesis of administrative systems: Niklas Luhmann on public administration and public policy

Abstract: This article offers an introduction to Niklas Luhmann’s theory of social systems as it pertains to public administration and policy, as a first step towards both a critique and its empirical application to empirical reality. It reconstructs Luhmann’s early writings on bureaucracy and policy-making and shows how this early, more empirical work grounded his abstract theory of social systems in general and the political system in particular. The article also introduces some central concepts of Luhmann’s more recent work on the autopoietic nature of social systems and considers the latter’s consequences for bureaucratic adaptiveness and governmental steering in the welfare state. One of the main benefits of applying Luhmann’s theory to public administration, the article concludes, is that it conceptualizes the central concerns of public administration within a complex picture of society as a whole, in which both the agency that issues decisions and the realm affected by these decisions are included.

Societies and nature in the Sahel

Abstract: This book explores the links between environment and social systems in the Sahel, integrating ecological, demographic, economic, technical, social and cultural factors. Examining the conditions for land occupation and natural resource use, it offers a conceptual and practical approach to social organization and environmental management.

Accounting systems and systems of accountability in the New Zealand health sector

Abstract: Studies the transformation of social systems in health organizations in New Zealand and the way in which accounting systems are an integral part of the challenge to extant structures of signification, legitimation and domination. By categorizing various modes or types of social change, and providing analytical means of clarifying social systems, Giddens’s structuration theory is enabling of empirical study. Accounting systems contribute to the binding of time and space in some circumstances, yet can play a part in major discontinuities and disruptions to institutionalized procedures and practices in other circumstances.

The inter‐subjective and the social systemic public relations paradigms

Abstract: To get beneath the surface of the focal concepts of public relations practice today, the major sociological theories of Jurgen Habermas and Niklas Luhmann have been fruitful as frames of interpretation Two paradigms for reflection on the public relations phenomenon have been developed on their theories: the inter‐subjective and the social systemic public relations paradigms These paradigms indicate fundamentally different interpretations of the concepts of conflict and social responsibility, with crucial consequences for the role of public relations in today's social order Each perspective has its blind spots but the switching of perspectives allows us to see more Habermas's theories make it possible to disclose the ideal perception which seems to prevail in the self‐understanding of public relations practice while, at the same time, setting out normative ideals for the practice The ideal in the inter‐subjective paradigm is to re‐establish the system's coupling to the lifeworld The public relations practitioner must act as an individual through communicative action Public relations is a matter of ethical issues in a normative perspective We might also call this the ethical, communicative or normative paradigm of public relations The keyword is legitimation in post‐conventional discourse society Luhmann's theories make it possible to disclose the social systemic mechanisms that can be viewed as the framework for public relations practice, and to set out functional conditions for that practice The functions of the social systemic paradigm are to assist in maintaining the boundaries of the organisation system through strategic reflection and to assist in ensuring that society's differentiated system logics can function autonomously because they also understand how to function together The sphere of action of the public relations practitioner is defined by the social systems Public relations is a matter of functional issues in a cognitive perspective We might also call this the functional, reflective or cognitive paradigm of public relations The keyword is public trust in the context‐regulated society This paper is based on a thesis by the author entitled: ‘The Inter‐subjective and the Social Systemic Public Relations Paradigms’, University of Roskilde, April 1996, also to be published in English

The Hearthhold in Pastoral Fulbe Society, Central Mali: Social Relations, Milk and Drought

Abstract: In pastoral Fulbe society in central Mali women had, and to some degree still have, an important social and economic role, concentrated on a 'milk economy' organized through a female-headed, women-centred unit, called 'fayannde' or 'hearthhold'. In a society of seminomadic pastoralists who live most of the year in small social units, social relations and networks are crucial to the success of their main survival strategy: transhumant cattle keeping. This article, which is based on field research carried out from March 1990 to March 1992 among the Jallube, one of the four main Fulbe lineages in central Mali, explores Fulbe social organization from a female perspective. It reveals the importance of the hearthhold in the social and material security of its members and of Fulbe society as a whole. An analysis of marriage gifts shows how important the 'fayannde' is not only to the social organization of the Jallube, but also to their economic viability. The article also demonstrates that the droughts of the 1970s and 1980s have had an enormous impact on the Jallube and on the way they perceive their social organization. The existence of the 'fayannde' is endangered by the decline in milk production and by the collapse of social care relations as a result of impoverishment. The erosion of the 'fayannde' may lead to a transformation of gender relations, marriage ceremonies, and the social security of women.

Social solidarity and social exchange

Abstract: Hechter's (1987) theory of group solidarity points to the need for clarification of the meaning of social solidarity and the related concept of social exchange. In order to clarify these conceptual issues, a distinction between social exchange and instrumental exchange is developed. Social exchange is motivated by a desire to promote or maintain a positive attitude from other group members, while instrumental exchange is a means of obtaining behaviour from others which promotes the self-interest of the actor. Social solidarity, in contrast, is characterised by the motive of promoting group goals in their own right, provided the actor perceives positive attitudes from others towards himself. A related distinction is then made between instrumental exchange and co-ordination. This yields a fourfold typology which shows an interesting correspondence with Parsons's AGIL scheme and sheds light on Habermas's distinction between social integration and system integration.

Entropy, Social Entropy and Money: A Living Systems Theory Perspective

Abstract: Entropy is a measure of system disorganization. This article discusses how entropy occurs and is measured in physical, biological and social systems, with particular emphasis on social systems. The role of money-information markers in the recurring organization and disorganization of social entities is identified as an important aspect of social entropy. The discussion integrates living systems theory, social entropy theory, and macro accounting theory. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Sociopolitical Ecology: Human Systems and Ecological Fields

Abstract: The Design of a Cognitive System for Generating Structural Models of Social Behavior Systems and Ecological Fields. Behavior as a Phenomenon. Structure and Structural Analysis: As a Cognitive Strategy. Systems and Systems Theory. Self-Referential Behavior Systems. Self-Referential Social Systems. Ecological Fields. Social Systems in the Context of Ecological Fields. A Language for Constructing Structural Models of Social Networks within and among Self-Referential Systems. Individual Actors and Social Systems. An Overview of Sociopolitical Ecology. Epilogue. Index.

Aspects of causal processes in social systems: Discussions of methodology

Abstract: Aims to facilitate the work of researchers studying problems/phenomena in social systems from a systemic point of view. Discusses the type of causal processes which exist in social systems and how patterns in social systems can be revealed. Presents four causal processes: historical, functional, cybernetic and pattern. Typologizes pattern processes into the four categories of empirical generalizations, models, theories and social laws. Elaborates on the relationship between models and theories relative to systemic research strategy.

Individual Autonomy and Comprehensive Education

Abstract: The welfare states in developed societies have led to significant individuali‐sation of social experience. The relative success of the welfare state programme has mitigated the determining effects of social structure on life chances (even though not by any means eradicating these effects). In reaction to this, citizens of these states have sought to exercise greater agency in determining their social lives. The specifically educational aspects of the changing role of social structure are illustrated in detail for the instance of comprehensive education in Britain, a collective reform which has had as one of its main effects a strengthening of individual agency. The process of individualisation cannot, therefore, be interpreted as straightforwardly associated with either a conservative or a progressive politics: strengthening individual choice was an original aim of social democracy. A comparison of England and Scotland provides a particularly revealing instance of the complexity of the political ...

Generalized Media of Interaction and Inter-Agent Coordination

Abstract: This paper investigates social intelligence from a sociological perspective. Starting from social interaction and the problem of "double contingency" it shows how "generalized symbolic media of interaction" facilitate coordination processes in modern human societies. It advocates the concept of media as a source of fruitful inspiration for the design of socially intelligent agents and artificial social systems.

The Meaning of Culture

Abstract: The article inquires into the uneasiness of sociological systems theory about culture. Culture alternatively is called the solution to the problem of double contingency (Parsons) and removed from this solution (Luhmann). It is shown that meaning is the more basic term whose description reveals a form rule of social systems which is only patterned, yet not understood by culture. Culture is a memory and control device of society. It may be conceived of as providing the distinction of correct versus incorrect behavior. But who decides on the correctness or incorrectness of this distinction? Sociological thinking takes off where the cultural and the social are distinguished.

Changing the social system of a Catholic secondary school: An examination of salient design features pertinient to the change process from a permacultural perspective

Abstract: The purpose of the research documented in this thesis is to identify and investigate the organisational design principles that influence change processes in a school context. The study analyses the various design features of the system which impinge on the processes of organisation change. Organisational design for the purpose of this study is defined as the beneficial assembly of organisational components in their proper relationships, a notion derived from studies in the natural order - permaculture (Mollison, 1990). There are four design principles that provide a perspective for the study of salient features that impinge on the processes of organisational change. These four perspectives are - site, social, energy and abstract. This conceptual framework based on a ""living systems"" approach to understanding complex systems was adopted for the study. Such a framework proposes that the same principles of operation underlie the dynamics of both natural and social orders. Such dynamic processes are in many instances, unpredictable and nonlinear in nature. Systems tend to develop progressively more complex levels of operation through the dynamic interaction of self-producing and self-renewal processes. Ironically, chaos and order are simultaneously present in complex systems. This dialectical tension has contributed to a deeper understanding of the influence of chaos theory and its impact on explaining social change. Since the study focused upon the complex nature of living systems, a research design incorporating a case study approach which was multi-disciplinary in scope and based on the research orientations of phenomenology, symbolic interactionism and chaos theory, was considered an appropriate framework to guide the research. The study concluded that the functioning of societal structures and processes manifested in a school undergoing change may be facilitated by the use of a framework derived from similar natural, complex systems.;So the four windows of site, social, energy and abstract used in the natural system of permaculture, were found to be an effective framework to arrive at a deeper understanding of the operation of change processes within a social system. The location and physical characteristics of the site seem to impact on the change process. The environment should be studied so that its full potential can be maximised in designing systems for change. It was also concluded that change in the school, if it is to be sustained within the system, needs to actively incorporate the participation of staff and students. There needs to be a sense of ownership by members of the community. This is consistent with the permacultural principle of working in a complementary way with all the elements within a naturally occurring system. In addition, the study found that those who manage change within a school context need to take into account the views of the community members in the generation of the new vision and the type of strategies suitable to actualise this vision. Permaculture asserts that for change to be productive the authority managing change must share responsibilities with the people who constitute the organisation. The role of the managers of change is to create self-managing systems through the correct assembly of components. Moreover, dissonance among partIcIpants should not be interpreted by school administrators as immovable opposition but as a challenge to instigate strategies to implement the vision. This reflects the principle of disorder within the permacultural system which holds that any system can only accept that quantity of resource which can be used productively. Any resource input beyond that point throws the system or organism into disorder or chaos. Leaders of school systems need to be aware of the influence that rapid change can have on stakeholders when they experience information overload.;The study also indicated that values and traditional beliefs can persist in a school undergoing significant change as long as current stakeholders contribute to the reformulation of foundational statements of beliefs. Permaculture maintains that stability of the values in a system is the result of the number of beneficial connections in a system which in turn increase the yield while maintaining the system's essential nature. In addition, it was found that stress associated with the change processes in the school need to be acknowledged and given deliberate appropriate expression. Timing of events associated with the proposed change was found to be significant. The individual's and group's ""tolerance of ambiguity"" need to be addressed through the redesign of elements in a way that promotes a movement towards sustainability. Finally, the study concluded that some perceived minor changes often occurring at the edges of the organisation often cause quite profound influences elsewhere within the system that were never anticipated by the change planners. This seems to resonate with the ""butterfly effect"" that is found in chaos theory

What Complexity Theory Can Contribute to Three Current Japanese Policy Challenges : Internationally Competitive : Higher Education, Venture Business, and Deregulation

Abstract: This article explores the possible contributions Complexity Theory can make to policy studies, using current Japanese policy challenges as case studies. Fundamental concepts in Complexity Theory are presented along with eight tools for applying them and a brif location of this theory in a history of systems science. A coalition building model of social goal formation, policy formation, policy selection, and policy implementation processes is presented. Complexity Theory challenges and enhancements to rational choice, public choice, preference, reframing and social movement theories are examined. Conflict between human designs, of social systems and self emergent forces in those situations is described and used to define policy tampering. A social cellular automata process that eliminates this tampering while allowing intervention to create and influence social situations is presented in detail. Revolution processes and the recent micro-banking innovation are presented to illustrate the social cellular automata process in action. A model uniting nine theories of Japan is presented along with Complexity Theory implications for making policy in such a culture. Complexity Theory contributions to competitive higher education, venture businessing, and de-regulation policy processes in Japan are identified and united into an overall model. Contributions to both theory and pratice of policy making are generated by this analysis. Finally, a new way of leading is described that allos current central controllers in Japan, to de-regulate not by large-scale institutional rearrangement but by changing the place and way that they intervene in social situations.

Religion and Social System of the Virasaiva Community

Abstract: Preface The Patterns of Religious Culture Vira'saivism: A Prologue 'Siva: The Vira'saiva Concept The Guru in the Vira'saiva Religious Tradition Ethical Bases of Vira'saivism Psychological Dimensions Theology of Vira'saivism Vira'saiva Philosophy The Social System and Cultural Dynamics The Social Vision of Basava The Monastic Organization Ideology and Practice: Social Equality and Inequality The Socio-Ethical Code of Conduct Family and Community, 1880-1950 Contemporary Family and Community, 1951-1996 The Status and Roles of Women The Future of the Vira'saiva Community The Community in Retrospect and Prospect Knowledge and Society Intellectuals and Culture Glossary References Index

Reinvigorating Social Responsibility in Organizations Through Relationships

Abstract: This article proposes that leadership, as a relationship, is necessary to reinvigorate social responsibility in organizations. Further, the call for social responsibility compels us to engage in relationships that are inspired by the common good and promote substantive change. Moreover, this article embraces the call for action to transcend the status quo through the reexamination of relationships between women and men in organizations--a pivotal point as we approach the twenty-first century. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to highlight the importance of relationships in organizations "as purposeful social systems" (Dixon, 1994, p. xiv).

Systems interpretation of the concept of alienation

Abstract: The theory of autopoietic social systems (Luhmann) is used as an explanatory framework for such historico‐sociological puzzles as the origins of social crisis, totalitarianism, the appearance of the crowd, the mass extermination of internal enemies (scapegoats), and the modern emergence of sociology itself. All of these seemingly incompatible phenomena have a connection with one particular emotion, namely, alienation, which is utilized as an integrative concept. On the basis of an elaboration of the concept of systems medium, social crisis is analysed as being solicited by a reduced availability of whatever systemic medium is most important in a given society.

Social Capital and Health: Implications for Public Health and Epidemiology

Abstract: Public health and its "basic science", epidemiology, have become colonised by the individualistic ethic of medicine and economics. Despite a history in public health dating back to John Snow that underlined the importance of social systems for health, an imbalance has developed in the attention given to generating "social capital" compared to such things as modification of individual's risk factors. In an illustrative analysis comparing the potential of six progressively less individualised and more community-focused interventions to prevent deaths from heart disease, social support and measures to increase social cohesion faired well against more individual medical care approaches. In the face of such evidence public health professionals and epidemiologists have an ethical and strategic decision concerning the relative effort they give to increasing social cohesion in communities vs expanding access for individuals to traditional public health programs. Practitioners' relative efforts will be influenced by the kind of research that is being produced by epidemiologists and by the political climate of acceptability for voluntary individual "treatment" approaches vs universal policies to build "social capital". For epidemiologists to further our emerging understanding of the link between social capital and health they must confront issues in measurement, study design and analysis. For public health advocates to sensitise the political environment to the potential dividend from building social capital, they must confront the values that focus on individual-level causal models rather than models of social structure (dis)integration. The evolution of explanations for inequalities in health is used to illustrate the nature of the change in values.

Religious Involution: Sacred and Secular Conflict among Sephardic Jews in Australia

Abstract: For immigrant Sephardic Jews in Sydney, Australia, a struggle between religious and secular powers is aggravated by the position of the Sephardim as a minority within a minority. (Limitations of functional analysis, religion as a divisive and dysfunctional force) From the middle of the twentieth century, large-scale immigration, accompanied by continual and dramatic social change, has brought many cultures together, in many cases causing friction or a struggle for power (Gelfand and Lee 1973). Within this context, immigrants from ascribed social systems often have had to adjust themselves to an open social system (Glazer and Moynihan 1963, 1975). This has altered the position of religion, which, like many other institutions, has lost many of its traditional functions. Functionalists (mainly following Malinowski 1973 and Radcliffe-Brown 1952) have long argued that belief and rituals reinforce tradition, strengthen ties between individuals, and enhance group solidarity. Conversely, the social structure of the group enables rituals, tradition, myths, and symbols to persist. While this argument is satisfactory when applied to ascribed social systems, it can hardly deal with situations of rapid social change. As Geertz (1973:143) points out, the tendency has been consistently to "demonstrate the manner in which religion preserves social and psychological structure rather than the manner in which it destroys and transforms it." There is therefore a need to emphasize the transactional nature and the consequences of the relationship between social structure and religion. Malinowski, of course, emphasized the individual's needs and their fulfillment by the social structure: "The individual, both in social theory and in the reality of cultural life, is the starting-point and the end" (Malinowski 1973:293). Under modern conditions, however, unchanged traditional institutions can no longer fulfill changed individual needs. Rather, the transactional relationship between the individual and the institution -- in this case religion -- must take a different form. It is crucial that any analytical discussion of religion in society consider tradition and historical experience. After all, culture is built on these, which continuously develop over the course of a group's history. Geertz (1973:146) suggests that "historical materials can be fitted into [a functionalist] conception, and the functional analysis of religion can therefore be widened to deal more adequately with processes of change." Indeed, functional theory can contribute to the analysis of the dynamic relationship between religion and society, provided that it takes into account historical material, the distinction between social and cultural structures, and the place of individual personalities. This article presents a case study of the Sephardic Jewish community in Sydney, Australia, whose members moved from a relatively traditional social system to live in a large-scale modern one. In the countries of origin, religion played a fundamental role as an integrative, consolidating force which helped perpetuate and preserve the social system even in times of strife. Yet, as will be shown, the adaptation of the Sephardim to the democratic system in Australia was largely hampered by the failure of their religious institution to deal effectively with change. That was due to the attempt to use old models to cope with new situations. Thus, religion in its old form was disintegrative and dysfunctional, dividing the community rather than integrating it. THE SEPHARDIC COMMUNITY IN AUSTRALIA Of the 40,000 Jews who reside in Sydney, about 5,000 are Sephardim (of Middle Eastern, Asiatic, and North African origin), while the rest are Ashkenazim (of Eastern European origin) (ABS 1986).[2] In the context of Australian society, the majority of Sephardim would be considered lower-middle class, although a few practice such professions as medicine and law. …

The role of variety in the evolution of information society

Abstract: Information is power. There are several theoretical considerations which guide the basic research on information society and its evolution. Some of them, worked out in this paper, deal with the role of social variety in the process of post‐industrial evolution. Exploring similarities in bio‐genetic information, the process of social transformation is approached by using social system theory. With certain analogies to biological transformations—mutations—important elements for the transformation of information‐guided behaviour systems (cultures) may be observed. They create a variety of elements (sub‐systems), which respond for changes in the social layout of all kinds of organisations like states, partys, groups, insofar as these changes aim the optimation of functional effectivity in dependence of the variety and its use by a social system's elements (events, acts). By information processing, collectivities are able to explote even subtile fluctuations in socio‐cultural information variety to “cause” cha...

Life-long learning ok! but to what future learning agenda?

Abstract: “Life-long learning” is at the forefront of the current educational debate, but invariably the driving assumption is the need for individuals to continuously develop their technical skills to maintain employability in the context of rapid technological change. Underpinning this is a current paradigm that education should develop independence and competitive capacity in individuals, with the norm expectation that they will generate a net contribution to the economy against a background of a competitive environment. However, the International Systems Institute (ISI), argue that this has led to an underconceptualisation of the purpose of education, and contributed to social decline. The ISI, often called the “social system design community”, propose that within future systems of human development and learning, a new learning agenda must be developed aimed at equipping individuals and communities with the capacity to co-design and co-create their future (see Banathy, 1991). This learning agenda will require a new underpinning paradigm which also stresses on individuals the need to recognise their interdependence with others and with their environment.

The Commodification of Classroom Discourse

Abstract: Marx (1867/1978) presents “the commodity” as the organizing principle of capitalist society. This review describes research on classroom discourse which shows that — although classroom language use seems removed from the marketplace — verbal practice in schools is often commodified. A clearer understanding of Marx’ concept can help us better understand language use in contemporary schools, and how schools fit into the social system.

On talcott parsons'The Social System

Abstract: At times, as I read this book, I am tempted to regard it as the greatest theoretical work since Weber. Generally, however, my assessment is that it falls well short of that standard. In many ways, Parsons does in The Social System what C. Wright Mills and I intended in our chapter on institutions in Character and Social Struc ture, to elaborate a general view of institutions and social structures and how they are related to persons.1 He does so mainly by constructing ty pologies that echo the analytical features of T?ennies's distinction between Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft, further subdividing each into "diffuseness vs. specificity," "status vs. contract," "particularistic vs. universalist," and so forth. By cross tabulating these categories, Parsons finds all sorts of big ger and better typological opportunities. At a theoretical level, this is all well and good and even somewhat im pressive as a display of conceptual virtuosity. When Parsons risks touching upon empirical reality, however, his points are frequently unconvincing and even mistaken, and his arguments take on an unreal quality. For example, in Parsons' view of the world, unearned income does not exist; rentier income from land disappears into his murky conception of a "reward structure"; and Marx's industrial reserve army as well as the issues, so prominent in the 1930s, of "technological unemployment" and the "dole" (another form of unearned income) also vanish in favor of a simple and naive "liberal theory model" through which the Chamber of Commerce's normative image of capi talism is transformed into a Parsonian ideal type. Or consider Parsons's dis missal of group prejudice, scapegoating, and class conflicts as mere symptoms of "strain" produced by technological change?and therefore "not to be ac cepted literally without discount"2?rather than as the result of inherent con flicts of interest. Such a perspective can tell us little about, say, the race riots