Full 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.
Contents
Introduction - Felix Geyer and Johannes van der ZouwenActors, Models, and Limits to Societal Self-Steering - Thomas BaumgartnerThe Family - Lauren LangmanA 'Sociocybernetic' Approach to Theory and PolicyMental Health Service Delivery Systems in the United States - Ronald W ManderscheidThe Control of Interaction Processes in Survey Interviews - Johannes van der Zouwen, Wil Dijkstra and Joop van de BovenkampImprovement of (self-)Steering Through Support Systems - Jan H G KlabbersPART TWO: PLANNING, HIERARCHY AND COMPETENCEThe Planning Paradox - Michael MasuchNotes on the Concept of Self-Steering - Arvid AulinPreprocessing - James R Beniger and Clifford I NassNeglected Component of SociocyberneticsSocial Change and the Design of Inquiry - Gerard De ZeeuwPART THREE: THE WIDER CONTEXT: EVOLUTION, AUTOPOIESIS AND DIALOGUESystems and Societies - Ervin LaszloThe Basic Cybernetics of Social EvolutionThe Autopoiesis of Social Systems - Niklas LuhmannThe Third Position -- Beyond Artificial and Autopoietic Reduction - Stein BratenEpilogue - Johannes van der Zouwen and Felix Geyer
