Showing papers on "Social system published in 1998"

The Complexity of Cooperation: Agent-Based Models of Competition and Collaboration

Abstract: A collection of seven essays that serves as an introductory text on complexity theory and computer modelling in the social sciences, and as an overview of the current state of the art in this field. The articles move beyond the basic paradigm of the "Prisoner's Dilemma" to study a rich set of issues, including how to cope with errors in perception or implementation, how norms emerge, and how political actors and regions of shared culture can develop. They use the shared methodology of agent-based modelling, a technique that specifies the rules of interaction between individuals and uses computer simulation to discover emergent properties of the social system.

Linking Social and Ecological Systems

Abstract: It is usually the case that scientists examine either ecological systems or social systems, yet the need for an interdisciplinary approach to the problems of environmental management and sustainable development is becoming increasingly obvious. Developed under the auspices of the Beijer Institute in Stockholm, this new book analyses social and ecological linkages in selected ecosystems using an international and interdisciplinary case study approach. The chapters provide detailed information on a variety of management practices for dealing with environmental change. Taken as a whole, the book will contribute to the greater understanding of essential social responses to changes in ecosystems, including the generation, accumulation and transmission of ecological knowledge, structure and dynamics of institutions, and the cultural values underlying these responses. A set of new (or rediscovered) principles for sustainable ecosystem management is also presented. Linking Social and Ecological Systems will be of value to natural and social scientists interested in sustainability.

Beyond individual differences : Social differentiation from first principles

Abstract: The author seeks to explain the emergence of social differentiation by developing a theory of information and social structure. This theory makes explanations of social differentiation offered by Herbert Spencer and Emile Durkheim more precise by borrowing simple assumptions from Kathleen Carley's constructural model and from the symbolic interactionist perspective. The author's arguments amplify an important insight of the classical theorists : no assumption of individual differences is necessary to explain the emergence of social differentiation. Computer simulations show that simple assumptions about interaction patterns, communication, the social construction of knowledge, and forgetting imply that originally undifferentiated social systems will become differentiated over time. The simulations show that system size negatively affects cultural homogeneity and positively affects social differentiation. Memory, or the capacity of individuals to store information, is determined by the information technologies individuals have at their disposal. Memory positively affects cultural homogeneity and negatively affects social differentiation. Memory also positively affects the size of integrated social systems such as organizations and societies. The author considers implications of this theory for the origins of sociodemographic dimensions, the study of inequality, and the sociology of culture

New Directions in Systems Theory: Chaos and Complexity

Abstract: At least since the 1940s, attempts have been made to construct a theory that would address the way in which ordered systems arise and behave. Social work practitioners have adopted such popular theoretical models as "general systems theory," developed by Ludwig von Bertalanffy and others, which has sought general principles that would apply to biology, psychology, sociology, or any other discipline that sought to explore self-sustaining, "open systems" (von Bertalanffy, 1968). Similarly, theorists such as Germaine and Gitterman (1981) developed models of social work practice based on an ecological metaphor, which seek broad principles of practice that will apply across different levels of human social systems. Recently, Wakefield (1996a, 1996b, 1996c) critiqued systems theories as an important basis for social work practice. Wakefield questioned the utility of systems theory and the empirical basis of the theories. This article responds in part to these critiques by introducing advances in systems theory that provide a more promising empirical and mathematical basis for studying human systems. During the past two decades, a mixed group of physical, social, biological, and computer scientists have devoted increasing attention to two systems-related disciplines: chaos theory and complexity theory. Often termed nonlinear dynamics because they seek to understand systems that change in ways that are not amenable to the linear cause and effect models familiar to social scientists, these theoretical perspectives are thought to have application across a wide range of scientific and social scientific disciplines (Kauffman, 1995; Kiel & Elliott, 1996). This article discusses the disciplines of nonlinear dynamics - chaos and complexity - in a way that is understandable and relevant to social work practitioners and researchers. This introduction to nonlinear dynamics will be mostly conceptual in nature, but will involve some mathematics as well. As yet, no general introductory text on nonlinear dynamics aimed specifically at social scientists exists, although the volume edited by Kiel and Elliott (1996) included solid articles on most of the central issues, including data analysis and theory. For those with a modest background in calculus and a love of math textbooks, either of two books by Devaney (1989, 1992) would constitute an excellent introduction to the mathematics involved. Kaplan and Glass (1995) also gave an excellent introduction, with an emphasis on biological applications. The mathematics is actually a bit more advanced than in the two Devaney texts, but the verbal discussion is easier to follow. Peak and Frame (1994) provided a thorough introduction without using mathematics any more complicated than high school algebra. A number of enjoyable and thoroughly nonmathematical introductions to chaos theory exist, including Gleick (1987) and Briggs and Peat (1989). Kellert (1993) introduced chaos theory in a nonmathematical manner that still manages to catch many of the technical nuances, in addition to discussing its implications for the future of science. Waldrop (1992), Lewin (1992), and Johnson (1995) introduced complexity theory in a similar fashion. After this introduction, the article explores the relevance of nonlinear dynamics to social work. Some of this exploration will, unavoidably, be metaphorical; nonlinear theory in the social sciences is only now being developed, and empirical work is still in the stage of basic research. Nevertheless, we hope that this material will provide social workers with new information that will inspire new and more empirical work on the applications of systems theory to social work practice. Understanding the Meaning of Nonlinear Dynamics and Deterministic Chaos The phrase "nonlinear dynamics," like most nomenclature, sounds more intimidating than it really is when you become familiar with the vocabulary and ideas. A dynamical system is a system that changes over time (Devaney, 1992). …

Historical Social Network Analysis

Abstract: In the past two decades, social network analysis (SNA) has become a major analytical paradigm in sociology and now occupies a strategic place in disciplinary debates on a wide variety of issues. Historians, however, have been slow to adopt the approach for at least three reasons. First, the conceptual orientation of sociologists practicing historical social network analysis (HSNA) remains unfamiliar to the majority of professional historians. Just when SNA was maturing in the late 1980s and 1990s, the interdisciplinary interest in social science theory among historians, so characteristic of the 1970s and early 1980s, began to wane. The subsequent turn toward post modernist thinking in history left the profession increasingly uninformed about both classical and contemporary social theory. Second, those quantitatively-oriented historians who might be predisposed to use SNA's specialized statistical methods constitute less than a quarter of the profession today, thus the risk of SNA finding its way into mainstream historical scholarship is low to start. Third, SNA's data requirements are formidable. SNA demands evidence of social interaction among all members of a social system for a variety of behaviors, and thus necessitates a broad range of high-quality records for the place, time and activities being studied. Because historians are plagued by an incomplete historical record and imperfect understandings of past social relations, HSNA remains an inherently problematic enterprise. Yet despite conceptual, methodological and evidentiary obstacles, SNA possesses real potential for historical analysis.

Society -- a complex adaptive system : essays in social theory

Abstract: Toward a fundamental societal theory basic problems in sociological methodology the nature and evolution of systems - an overview on sociocultural evolution a systems approach to the study of social change society as a complex adaptive system a systems approach to epistemology mind, mead and mental behaviourism towards a systems methodology of social control processes meaning and control in social systems social control - deviance, power and authority the functional theory of stratification science, policy and values - a systems view.

Social Conventions in Collaborative Virtual Environments

Abstract: In this paper we explore the question of whether collaborative virtual environments can be regarded as social systems. One criteria of social systems is the presence of social conventions which serve as a basis for common communication. We conducted empirical research in three different on-line environments in order to identify explicit and implicit social conventions. We found evidence that a number of social conventions exist and that the nature of their expression was different depending on the media and functionality available in the environment.

Organisations as social systems: the search for a systemic theory of organisational innovation processes

Abstract: Attempts to develop a conceptual model for analysing organisations as social systems from a systemic point of view. Develops aspects of a general theory for organisational innovation. Deliberates the way in which systemic thinking can be used as a means to understand, explain and predict stability and innovation in organisations regarded as social systems. Uses social autopoiesis theory expressed through an analytical model, conceptual models, and propositions.

Citizenship universalism, migration and the risks of exclusion

Abstract: The concept of functional differentiation is used to reformulate citizenship as inclusion in the political system and to describe the effects of the nation-State segmentation of the political system for the evolution of citizenship. In modern (functionally differentiated) society inclusion is system-specific, but not all-embracing. Inclusion in the political system is offered via two types of roles: the lay role of the voter and the professional role of the politician. Citizenship has not only a role, but also a status dimension. Citizenship is attributed to individuals by birth, either based on ius sanguinis or ius soli. In evolutionary perspective, nation-States have been particularly successful in including individuals in the political system by basing State rule on territoriality and by building up centralized State administrations. As a consequence, citizen-State relations are immediate, permanent, and exclusive. Nation-States also mediate the inclusion of individuals in social systems other than the political system. The nation-State as welfare state mediates inclusion in social systems by managing the risks of exclusion. With the emergence of large-scale cross-border migration and the advent of supranational forms of governance the risks of exclusion from nation-State based forms of inclusion increase not only for legal aliens, but for citizens as well. Thus the nation-State reflects the frictions between functional and segmentary differentiation of world society.

Poverty and Social Exclusion: A Sociological View

Abstract: The sociological literature on both poverty and social exclusion is large and varied, and the abundance of references means that providing a review is an arduous task. It becomes even more difficult when trying to compare different nations or cultures. Thus, there is no question of providing an exhaustive study of recent, past and ongoing research; however, it is more realistic to establish the complex linkage between this research, and social and political debate. The main problem for scholars in this field is constructing a research question which, whilst being distinct from contemporary ways of thinking which characterize the social debate (science must distance itself from the subject matter in order to build a conceptual framework) can also stimulate debate. Sociologists will favour studying what appears dysfunctional or anomalous in the social system at any given moment. They must, therefore, partially base their work in social debate. But the science which they aim to develop cannot simply be social criticism or, conversely, an ideological justification of existing norms.

Inculturation and African Religion: Indigenous and Western Approaches to Medical Practice

Abstract: The devastating conditions prevailing in Africa continue to intrigue observers. This study argues that understanding the conditions requires setting them within a broad contextual framework of development of the peoples' cultural, economic, political, religious, and social systems from pre-colonial times to the present. It breaks new ground by clearly demonstrating the impact of the social and religious teachings and practices of the colonists on patterns of illness and medical responses of Ghanaians. It insists that it is in the spirit of dialogue and equality that the material and spiritual needs of Africans will be met.

Social Assessment Theory and Practice: A Multi-Disciplinary Framework

Abstract: Part 1 Values of methodology social difference reflexivity historical location interacting social systems power. Part 2 Social assessment and multi-professional practice needs, risks and strengths children and families mental health older people disability. Part 3 Conclusion.

Changing Rural Social Systems: Adaptation and Survival.

Abstract: Can Structural-Functionalism be revised to account for adverse changes in these rural social systems? Can theoretical revisions then guide new forms of rural development in which communities rebuild familial and occupational systems so that social inequalities converge? In these essays, the answers to both questions invite new propositions on how rural social systems are organized.

Complexity and the Social

Abstract: Paul Haynes and Will Medd will discuss the way in which social scientists have translated aspects of complexity theory into the social world, and offer a critique of some of these translation methods. Their presentation will then bifurcate, with Will developing Luhmann's perspective on complexity and social systems, followed by Paul developing the wider question of modelling in general and cultural adaptation/mutation/transformation in particular. The arguments developed in this second part are intended to offer alternatives through which notions associated with complexity can be brought back into a more informed discussion of social and cultural phenomena.

Social information: the person is the message.

Abstract: Assumptions that Shannon's concepts cannot extend to social systems are challenged by showing that social information measures the reduced uncertainties individuals have about the systemic effects of each other's behavior. The `meaning' of individual actions is their collective consequences, which also measure reductions in systemic uncertainties about collective environments. Meaning is communicated through messages using media such as values, ethics and morals, which encourage individuals to act predictably and replicate the improbable behaviors characterizing particular societies. When individuals internalize meaning, their personal identities communicate societal priorities to future generations.

Assimilation and Localism: Some Very Small Towns in Mass Society

Abstract: A major theme in social theory concerns the transformation of social relationships in small communities as a result of modernization. This paper examines changing social relations in some small towns in southeastern Pennsylvania. For several hundred years, the residents of these towns have continuously developed institutions to preserve their local identity and maintain personal relations at the same time that they are incorporated into larger, regional social systems. The same local institutions and relations, however, are replicated in each small town, suggesting that local and particular interests are expressed through regional institutions. Although focused on a few small towns in one region of the United States, this paper examines the local expression of processes which are global.

The Military of Guatemala and Niklas Luhmann's Theory of Autopoietic Social Systems

Abstract: (Abstract) Niklas Luhmann's theory of autopoietic social systems challenges traditional social science by dissolving the individual as an analytical category and replacing it with the functional structures of social systems. The opaque complexity of this model of thought has rendered it extremely difficult to understand and apply, which has obstructed its reception on the part of empirically oriented scholars. This paper investigates the political and military strategy of Guatemala's armed forces during the 1960s-1990s civil war from the perspective of the theory of autopoietic social systems. It thereby illustrates and illuminates Luhmann's highly abstract theoretical framework and demonstrates its scope and limits as an explanatory model guiding empirical research in the social sciences. By the same token, it lends moderate support to the universality claim Luh-mann makes for his radical systems perspective and proposes new avenues of thought that could lead to a better understanding of Third World politics.

Human nature, humanistic social systems, and design

Abstract: Social systems are forces that influence the quality-of-life within human communities, and are especially relevant for advancing or constraining a people's economic, spiritual, social-cultural, and political development. As the world moves toward reinventing and redesigning social systems to cope with increasing complexity and challenges of the approaching twenty-first century, ‘user designers’ need to re-examine more closely how systems affect/effect stakeholders. This discussion links humanistic and systemic views by exploring the notion that particular system types can be incompatible with certain qualities of human nature. Four general qualities of human nature (developmental, socio-teleological, value-seeking, and creative/innovative) are selected and discussed in the context of the design and operation of rigidly controlled, deterministic, purposive, heuristic goal formulating, and purposeful intermediate systems types. Design Inquiry and key concepts for social system design are introduced and discussed in context to social systemic organizations designing for quality-of-life. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

An Inquiry into the Origins of Totalitarianism and the Feeling 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, and the mass extermination of internal enemies.

The View from Anthropology: Discussion of Castle's Conceptual Framework

Abstract: with a distinctive group, however, the idea of social capital has a long history in cultural anthropology. Anthropologists talk about the extent of social cohesion or integration of a group or whether a community is relatively cooperative, rather than use the newer term for these attributes of a social system. Not jumping on the social capital bandwagon probably has a lot to do with anthropologists not buying into the "everything is economics" or market-driven model for social be-

Autopoietic industrial relations and reflexive labour law in the world society

Abstract: The article suggests to improve the theory of industrial relations and labour law by using advanced sociological systems theory. It starts by criticising Dunlop's approach to industrial relations systems from the perspective of Niklas Luhmann's theory of social systems. It then outlines the major elements and structures of an autopoietic industrial relations system and introduces the concept of reflexive labour law. In its final part the article engages in a discussion of industrial relations in a world society which transcends national boundaries. Theories of globalisation and of world systems are compared and used for an assessment of the future of industrial relations and labour law in the emergent world society.

Societal System Differentiation and Semantik

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to clarify the Niklas Luhmann's frame of analysis of the modern west-european societal change from the perspective for the changes of historical-cultural products and its conditions. Luhmann thinks that the main phase of the modern societal change is the transformation from stratified differentiation to functional differentiation of the societal system. His hypothesis is that the increase of the complexity was the main condition for the changes of historical-cultural products which control communications. This hypothesis is based on his own social system theory. The term “Semantik” implicates a critical connection with accumulated studies of Historical-semantics in Germany. This paper, considering this connection, tries to clarify the Luhmann's frame of analysis of the modern “Semantik” changes as a frame of historical sociology of knowledge.

Chaos and designing social systems

Abstract: Growing appreciation of work done in the past several decades in complexity science is changing how we see the world. Efforts to apply what has been learned there to human systems such as organizations, perhaps through metaphor, challenges our views of social structures and how we may influence their organization and functioning. This article considers the implications of some key propositions from chaos theory for the design of social systems.

Relationship-based thinking and practice in social work'

Abstract: Summary Relationships with the users of social work are increasingly seen in procedural, legal and administrative terms. However, research studies examining both client satisfaction and intervention effectiveness regularly find that the psychosocial qualities of the worker-client relationship are a major component in the success or otherwise of the service offered. The case is made that the psychological selves of both practitioners and users acquire many of their characteristics, including personality, esteem, eJjcacy and defensive behaviours, within relationships throughout the lifepan. The level of social understanding and social competence that people develop depends on the quality of their relationship histo y. If poor relationships are where psychosocial competences go awy, then good relationships are where they are likely to recover. This observation has major implications for the quality, character and skill of the relationship experiences offered to clients by social workers. Inasmuch as social workers work with, talk to and generally engage clients, their professional lives might be seen as a series of relationships of one kind or another. However, talk of relationships soon reveals a complex phenomenon that a number of disciplines have sought to unravel including philosophy, psychology and clinical practice. In social work, we might recognise three broad positions that define the professional relationship. First, there are those who see the quality and character of the relationship as simply a function of the social work role. Second, whilst recognising that there is such a thing as the social work role, others believe that if the role is to be performed well, practitioners should acquire some relationship skills. The third position tips the balance even further by suggesting that the quality and character of the relationship itself can be considered independent of the agency role; indeed it is within the relationship that most of the important things happen, for good or ill, and whether social workers recognise it or not. I shall say a few brief things about the first two positions before putting them firmly to one side. It is the third view that I want to consider in most detail. I believe that a relationship-based approach lies at the heart of good practice, but social work's thoughts and feelings on such matters have recently become both confused and ambivalent, although there was a time, some 30 to 40 years ago, when this definitely was not the case. The concept of role has several meanings (Downie & Loudfoot, 1978). It can be used in the sense of a social function. Here, the actions that individuals perform function to help keep the social system going in some way. By chasing criminals and wrongdoers, the police officer in his or her role functions as a keeper of law and order. In her role as child welfare agent, the social worker functions as a supporter of family life.

Object-oriented simulation of social systems application to an employment agency

Abstract: The paper presents a simulation model for social systems which is based on individual interactions. A social organization can be considered as an intelligent information processing system. It appears that social systems involve a duality in their functioning, depending on whether the information exchanged between system components are rational or relational. Applying this point of view to an employment agency, the authors point out that the performances of this institution can fluctuate. This result echoes research work in the area of conventions economy and sociological research on social networks. As a matter of fact, new prospects can be considered for the behavior of the labour market and new ways can be considered to organize an employment agency.

The Relationship of Conflict and Law

Abstract: Having explored how expectations generalised in the three dimensions emerge as legal, we now need to establish the final leg of Luhmann’s definition of the function of law: the connection with conflict Note that it is this final connection with conflict that pivots my critique of republicanism, although the connection could not have been made in a way that brings out the weakness of the containment thesis, without the discussion of double contingency and the formation of legal expectations The disciplining of double contingency that comes with the emergence of systemic expectations is important if one is to understand how social expectations change at the threshold of legal institutionalisation And yet the function of law of stabilising expectations cannot yet be understood if one does not look at what gives law the opportunity to perform its function It is here that one needs to look at conflict, and more specifically ‘at the exploitation of conflict perspectives’ And also to keep a reversal in view: Luhmann is here not describing the function (in systems theory one would say ‘performance’) of law in situations of conflict - albeit their resolution or creation1 Instead Luhmann is describing how conflict is functional for law, in allowing it to draw its boundaries and perform its function in society (Note that this connection is absent in Parsons’ work While Parsons’ stresses the importance of boundary-maintaining mechanisms for social systems, he reduces conflict to ‘dysfunctional strain’ and fails to stress the connection of conflict to system maintenance)2