Sociocybernetic paradoxes : observation, control and evolution of self-steering systems

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Sociocybernetic paradoxes : observation, control and evolution of self-steering systems

editors, Felix Geyer and Johannes van der Zouwen

Sage, 1986

  • : pbk.

Available at  / 19 libraries

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Includes bibliographies and index

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Description

In this stimulating work, thirteen distinguished scholars examine and aim to reconcile the paradox that social systems tend to steer themselves with the knowledge that they are, at the same time, subject to steering and control from outside. 'Sociocybernetics' is the term they have coined to describe the tools used in the analysis of this paradox; tools which have themselves evolved from and influenced cybernetics and general systems theory. Sociocybernetic Paradoxes surveys both the possibilities and limitations of cybernetics in the analysis and treatment of social problems: Part One looks at concrete experiences of the steering of specific social systems; Part Two examines the planning, hierarchy and views of society and also the role of social science within it; and Part Three presents the wider context of governing and planning social systems.

Table of Contents

Introduction - Felix Geyer and Johannes van der Zouwen PART ONE: EXPERIENCES WITH THE STEERING OF PARTICULAR SOCIAL SYSTEMS Actors, Models, and Limits to Societal Self-Steering - Thomas Baumgartner The Family - Lauren Langman A 'Sociocybernetic' Approach to Theory and Policy Mental Health Service Delivery Systems in the United States - Ronald W Manderscheid The Control of Interaction Processes in Survey Interviews - Johannes van der Zouwen, Wil Dijkstra and Joop van de Bovenkamp Improvement of (self-)Steering Through Support Systems - Jan H G Klabbers PART TWO: PLANNING, HIERARCHY AND COMPETENCE The Planning Paradox - Michael Masuch Notes on the Concept of Self-Steering - Arvid Aulin Preprocessing - James R Beniger and Clifford I Nass Neglected Component of Sociocybernetics Social Change and the Design of Inquiry - Gerard De Zeeuw PART THREE: THE WIDER CONTEXT: EVOLUTION, AUTOPOIESIS AND DIALOGUE Systems and Societies - Ervin Laszlo The Basic Cybernetics of Social Evolution The Autopoiesis of Social Systems - Niklas Luhmann The Third Position -- Beyond Artificial and Autopoietic Reduction - Stein Braten Epilogue - Johannes van der Zouwen and Felix Geyer

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