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Sociocybernetics
Sociocybernetics is an interdisciplinary science between sociology and general systems theory and cybernetics. 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). Sociocybernetics aims to generate a general theoretical framework for understanding cooperative behavior in the context of a theory of evolution. Sociocybernetics claims to include both what are called first order cybernetics and second order cybernetics. Cybernetics, according to Wiener's definition, is the science of "control and communication in the animal and the machine". Heinz von Foerster went on to distinguish a first order cybernetics, "the study of observed systems", and a second order cybernetics, "the study of observing systems". Second order cyb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Felix Geyer
Rudolf Felix Geyer (born 13 October 1933) is a Dutch sociologist and cybernetician, former head of the methodology section of SISWO (Interuniversity Institute for Social Science Research) at the University of Amsterdam, known for his work in the fields of Social alienation, and on sociocybernetics. Biography Born in Amsterdam, Geyer began studies in geology at the University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other bein ... in 1951 and received his BA in 1953. He continued with studies in sociology and received his MA at the University of Amsterdam in 1961. Later in 1980 he received his PhD under Hiddo M. Jolles with a thesis, entitled "Alienation theories : a general systems approach". In the 1960s Geyer started working in industry, where he worked in the fields o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cybernetics
Cybernetics is a wide-ranging field concerned with circular causality, such as feedback, in regulatory and purposive systems. Cybernetics is named after an example of circular causal feedback, that of steering a ship, where the helmsperson maintains a steady course in a changing environment by adjusting their steering in continual response to the effect it is observed as having. Cybernetics is concerned with circular causal processes such as steering however they are embodied,Ashby, W. R. (1956). An introduction to cybernetics. London: Chapman & Hall, p. 1. including in ecological, technological, biological, cognitive, and social systems, and in the context of practical activities such as designing, learning, managing, conversation, and the practice of cybernetics itself. Cybernetics' transdisciplinary and "antidisciplinary" character has meant that it intersects with a number of other fields, leading to it having both wide influence and diverse interpretations. Cybernetics ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johannes Van Der Zouwen
Johannes "Hans" van der Zouwen (born 1939) is a Dutch sociologist, and Emeritus Professor of Social Research Methodology at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, known for his pioneering work with Felix Geyer in the field of sociocybernetics. In the 1960s Van der Zouwen received his MA in sociology and 1970 his PhD in sociology from the Vrije Universiteit with a thesisJohannes van der Zouwen (1970) ''De Gereformeerden en de Vrije Universiteit: sociologisch onderzoek naar inhoud en ontwikkeling van de relatie tussen een instelling en haar recruteringsveld voor steunverlening''. Alphen aan den Rijn: Samsom. about the sociological aspects of volunteer work around the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. In the late 1960s Van der Zouwen had started his academic career at the Vrije University in Amsterdam. In 1969 he had become chair of the department of Social Research Methodology. From 1971 to early 2000 he was Professor of Social Research Methodology. Since then he is affiliated with the I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Niklas Luhmann
Niklas Luhmann (; ; December 8, 1927 – November 6, 1998) was a German sociologist, philosopher of social science, and a prominent thinker in systems theory. Biography Luhmann was born in Lüneburg, Free State of Prussia, where his father's family had been running a brewery for several generations. He entered the Gymnasium Johanneum at Luneburg in 1937. In 1943, he was conscripted as a Luftwaffenhelfer in World War II and served for two years until, at the age of 17, he was taken prisoner of war by American troops in 1945. After the war Luhmann studied law at the University of Freiburg from 1946 to 1949, when he obtained a law degree, and then began a career in Lüneburg's public administration. During a sabbatical in 1961, he went to Harvard, where he met and studied under Talcott Parsons, then the world's most influential social systems theorist. In later days, Luhmann dismissed Parsons' theory, developing a rival approach of his own. Leaving the civil service in 1962, he l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Social Cycle Theory
Social 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(s), sociological cycle theory argues that events and stages of society and history generally repeat themselves in cycles. Such a theory does not necessarily imply that there cannot be any social progress. In the early theory of Sima Qian and the more recent theories of long-term ("secular") political-demographic cycles as well as in the Varnic theory of P.R. Sarkar an explicit accounting is made of social progress. Historical forerunners Interpretation of history as repeating cycles of Dark and Golden Ages was a common belief among ancient cultures. The more limited cyclical view of history defined as repeating cycles of events was put forward in the academic world in the 19th century in historiosophy (a branch of historiography) and is a concept that falls under t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Béla H
Béla may refer to: * Béla (crater), an elongated lunar crater * Béla (given name), a common Hungarian male given name See also * Bela (other) * Belá (other) * Bělá (other) Bělá, derived from ''bílá'' (''white''), is the name of several places in the Czech Republic: * Bělá (Havlíčkův Brod District), a municipality and village in the Vysočina Region * Bělá (Mírová pod Kozákovem), a village, a part of the ... {{DEFAULTSORT:Bela de:Béla pl:Béla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World-systems Theory
World-systems theory (also known as world-systems analysis or the world-systems perspective)Immanuel Wallerstein, (2004), "World-systems Analysis." In ''World System History'', ed. George Modelski, in ''Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems'' (EOLSS), Developed under the Auspices of the UNESCO, Eolss Publishers, Oxford, UK is a multidisciplinary approach to world history and social change which emphasizes the world-system (and not nation states) as the primary (but not exclusive) unit of social analysis. "World-system" refers to the inter-regional and transnational division of labor, which divides the world into core countries, semi-periphery countries, and the periphery countries. Core countries focus on higher-skill, capital-intensive production, and the rest of the world focuses on low-skill, labor-intensive production and extraction of raw materials. This constantly reinforces the dominance of the core countries. Nonetheless, the system has dynamic characteristics, in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
War Cycles
Edward Russel Dewey (1895–1978) was an economist who studied cycles in economics and other fields. Dewey's cycles work Dewey first became interested in cycles while Chief Economic Analyst of the Department of Commerce in 1930 or 1931 because President of the United States, President Herbert Hoover, Hoover wanted to know the cause of the Great Depression. Dewey reported that each economist to whom he spoke gave him a different answer and he lost faith in the current economic methods. He received and took advice to study how business behaviour occurred rather than why. Therefore, his views are generally regarded as inconsistent with mainstream economics. Dewey devoted his life to the study of List of cycles, cycles, claiming that "everything that has been studied has been found to have cycles present." He carried out extensive studies of cyclicity in economics, geology, biology, sociology, and other disciplines. In 1940, Edward R. Dewey learned of a 1931 Canadian conference on b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Systems Thinking
Systems thinking is a way of making sense of the complexity of the world by looking at it in terms of wholes and relationships rather than by splitting it down into its parts. It has been used as a way of exploring and developing effective action in complex contexts, enablinsystems change Systems thinking draws on and contributes to systems theory and the system sciences. History Frameworks and methodologies Frameworks and methodologies for systems thinking include: * Critical systems thinking * Soft systems methodology * Systemic design * System dynamics System dynamics (SD) is an approach to understanding the nonlinear behaviour of complex systems over time using stocks, flows, internal feedback loops, table functions and time delays. Overview System dynamics is a methodology and mathematic ... * Viable system model Multi-method approach See also * Management cybernetics * Operational research References Systems science Cybernetics Systems theory Syst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Systems Philosophy
Systems philosophy is a discipline aimed at constructing a new philosophy (in the sense of worldview) by using systems concepts. The discipline was first described by Ervin Laszlo in his 1972 book ''Introduction to Systems Philosophy: Toward a New Paradigm of Contemporary Thought''. It has been described as the "reorientation of thought and world view ensuing from the introduction of "systems" as a new scientific paradigm". Overview Soon after Laszlo founded systems philosophy it was placed in context by Ludwig von Bertalanffy, one of the founders of general system theory, when he categorized three domains within systemics namely: # " Systems science", which is concerned with "scientific exploration and theory of "systems" in the various sciences...and general system theory as doctrine of principles applying to all systems"; # "Systems technology", which is concerned with "the problems arising in modern technology and society, comprising both the "hardware" of computers, automat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Superorganisms
A superorganism or supraorganism is a group of synergetically interacting organisms of the same species. A community of synergetically interacting organisms of different species is called a holobiont. Concept The term superorganism is used most often to describe a social unit of eusocial animals, where division of labour is highly specialised and where individuals are not able to survive by themselves for extended periods. Ants are the best-known example of such a superorganism. A superorganism can be defined as "a collection of agents which can act in concert to produce phenomena governed by the collective", phenomena being any activity "the hive wants" such as ants collecting food and avoiding predators, or bees choosing a new nest site. In challenging environments, micro organisms collaborate and evolve together to process unlikely sources of nutrients such as methane. This process called syntrophy ("eating together") might be linked to the evolution of eukaryote cells an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
