Hello all!

This is a preliminary version of our next newsletter

32, which contains some useful information for this

week in Vienna: The RC51 social network presence

(page 1), four attractions that may not be in the

main touristic booklets but can be also visited this

week (page 5), and the sessions programme (page

12).

Please also remember that all sessions will be at

Juridicum, Hörsaal 15, see you there

Thank you Chaime, Patricia, Luciano and Jorge for

your support to make this possible!

Juancho

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RC51 on Sociocybernetics Social Networks Presence

By Luciano GALLÓN

2016.06

This is a short report on the so-called e-Presence of our RC51 on Sociocybernetics

community. You are very welcome to join us if have not do it so far:

Social Network

How to reach it Members

as 2015.06.15

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/groups/1792820 488

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/ISARC51Sociocybernetics/ 33

Mendeley https://www.mendeley.com/groups/7015891/isa-rc51-on-sociocybernetics/

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WebPage https://sociocybernetics.wordpress.com/

JoS https://papiro.unizar.es/ojs/index.php/rc51-jos/index

As you can see, LinkedIn is the one with more members, followed by Facebook that have

been getting more acceptance for academic audiences.

Our webpage and our Journal of Sociocybernetics (JoS) do not work on membership

basis, but, in particular our webpage, give us the possibility to know some interesting

information of our community as number of visits by country. For example, on Figure 1,

you can see the 2012 visits and, on Figure 2, for 2015.

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Figure 1. RC51 2012 webpage visits.

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Figure 2. RC51 2015 webpage visits.

The top20 countries that visit our website since 2012 can be noted on Table 1.

Table 1- 2012-2016 top20 RC51 website visitors by country

2012 2013 2014 2015

Country Visits Country Visits Country Visits Country Visits

Portugal 655 Mexico 1147 Mexico 465 Spain 798 United States 578 United States 473 United States 406 Mexico 596 Spain 403 Germany 358 Germany 187 Romania 547 Germany 341 Spain 337 Italy 168 United States 468 Mexico 262 Italy 319 Japan 161 Germany 351 United Kingdom 241 Japan 302 United Kingdom 154

United Kingdom 246

Italy 200 United Kingdom 294 Spain 128 Japan 220 Philippines 164 Portugal 237 Portugal 125 Portugal 205 Austria 154 Colombia 193 Brazil 103 Canada 166 Canada 127 Canada 174 Colombia 98 India 166 Japan 126 Poland 145 Romania 55 Denmark 131 Russia 113 Brazil 112 Austria 55 Russia 119 India 106 Turkey 109 Denmark 54 Poland 114 Sweden 98 India 97 Canada 53 Belgium 113

4

Turkey 91 Netherlands 89 Russia 45 Colombia 99 Argentina 87 France 84 Slovakia 43 Italy 94 Hong Kong 81 Greece 70 Netherlands 41 Brazil 87 Poland 79 Argentina 67 Poland 40 Argentina 76 Latvia 72 Sweden 60 Chile 40 Australia 63 Colombia 67 Austria 40 Australia 38 Netherlands 57

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Four places to visit in Vienna this week

By Jorge Cardiel

For us attending the upcoming Third ISA Forum of Sociology, it is well

known that the city of Vienna offers a wide range of cultural attractions

deserving a visit. That is why, aside from the main touristic attractions,

which are also worthy looking at but you will find in every city map, we

present a short selection of places and museums to attend which, in our

opinion, are essential to the history of Viennese art and thought.

1. Wittgenstein’s House

3., Parkgasse 18

U3: Rochusgasse,

bus 4A: Geusaugasse

tel. 713 31 64

Mon - Fri 10 am - noon and 3 - 4:30 pm

by prior arrangement only

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«I am not interested in erecting a building, but in [...] presenting to

myself the foundations of all possible buildings.»

— Ludwig Wittgenstein

Haus Wittgenstein, (also known as the Stonborough House and the

Wittgenstein House) is a house in the modernist style designed and built

on the Kundmanngasse, Vienna, by the Austrian architect Paul

Engelmann and the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. It is said

that in its severity and simplicity, the structure reflects the logical clarity

of Wittgenstein's thinking. Wittgenstein worked on Haus Wittgenstein

between 1926 and 1929.

In 1926 Wittgenstein was working as a gardener for a number of months

at the monastery of Hütteldorf, where he had also inquired about

becoming a monk. His sister, Margaret, invited him to help with the

design of her new townhouse in Vienna's Kundmanngasse.

Wittgenstein, his friend Paul Engelmann, and a team of architects

developed a spare modernist house. In particular, Wittgenstein focused

on the windows, doors, and radiators, demanding that every detail be

exactly as he specified. When the house was nearly finished

Wittgenstein had an entire ceiling raised 30mm so that the room had the

exact proportions he wanted. Ray Monk, Wittgenstein’s biographer,

writes: «This is not so marginal as it may at first appear, for it is precisely

these details that lend what is otherwise a rather plain, even ugly house

its distinctive beauty.»

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It took him a year to design the door handles and another to design the

radiators. Each window was covered by a metal screen that weighed

150 kg, moved by a pulley Wittgenstein designed. Bernhard Leitner,

author of The Architecture of Ludwig Wittgenstein, said there is barely

anything comparable in the history of interior design: «It is as ingenious

as it is expensive. A metal curtain that could be lowered into the floor».

The house was finished by December 1928 and the family gathered

there at Christmas to celebrate its completion. Wittgenstein's sister

Hermine wrote: «Even though I admired the house very much… It

seemed indeed to be much more a dwelling for the gods». Wittgenstein

said «the house I built for Gretl is the product of a decidedly sensitive

ear and good manners, and expression of great understanding... But

primordial life, wild life striving to erupt into the open– that is lacking».

Monk comments that the same might be said of the technically excellent,

but austere, terracotta sculpture Wittgenstein had modelled of

Marguerite Respinger in 1926, and that, as Russell first noticed, this

«wild life striving to be in the open» was precisely the substance of

Wittgenstein's philosophical work.

After World War II, the house became a barracks and stables for

Russian soldiers. It was owned by Thomas Stonborough, son of

Margaret until 1968 when it was sold to a developer for demolition. For

two years after this the house was under threat of demolition. The

Vienna Landmark Commission saved it and made it a national

monument in 1971, and since 1975 it has housed the cultural

department of the Bulgarian Embassy.

Link: A Dwelling for the Gods by Stuart Jeffries

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/jan/05/arts.highereducation

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2. Sigmund Freud Museum

Berggasse 19

1090 Vienna

Austria

Subway: U2 Schottentor, U4

Schottenring

Tram: D Schlickgasse, 37, 38, 40, 41,

42 Schwarzspanierstraße

Bus: 40 A Berggasse

Daily open (Monday – Sunday),

10.00 a.m. – 6.00 p.m.

The Sigmund Freud Museum in

Vienna is a museum founded in 1971

covering Sigmund Freud's life story. It is located in the Alsergrund

district, at Berggasse 19. In 2003 the museum was put in the hands of

the newly established Sigmund Freud Foundation, which has since

received the entire building as an endowment. It also covers the history

of psychoanalysis.

The museum consists of Freud's former practice and a part of his old

private quarters. Attached to the museum are Europe's largest

psychoanalytic research library, with 35,000 volumes, and the research

institute of the Sigmund Freud Foundation. The display includes original

items owned by Freud, the practice's waiting room, and parts of Freud's

extensive antique collection. However his famous couch is now in the

Freud Museum in London, along with most of the original furnishings, as

Freud was able to take his furniture with him when he emigrated. A third

Freud Museum, after London and Vienna, was started in the Czech town

of Příbor in 2006 when the house of his birth was opened to the public.

The museum contains an archive of images containing around two

thousand documents, mostly photographs, but also paintings, drawings,

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and sculptures. The collection consists of almost all of the existing

photos of Sigmund Freud and his family, a large number of photos of

Anna Freud and photos from psychoanalytic congresses.

Since 1971, the Sigmund Freud Museum has been welcoming visitors

in Sigmund Freud’s former office and apartment. Formerly a room of

commemoration, the Sigmund Freud Museum has developed into a

tourist attraction with more than 80,000 visitors per year and a place of

debate and discussion with research and education projects, scientific

events and Europe's largest library on Psychoanalysis.

3. Haus der Musik (House of Music)

The Haus der Musik (House of Music) in Vienna opened in 2000, and is

the first museum of sound and music in Austria. Across an exhibition

space of 54,000 sq. ft., a range of hi-tech interactive and multimedia

presentations introduce the world of music, from the earliest human use

of instruments to the music of the present day.

Those involved in developing the museum included four Austrian

universities, two foreign university institutes, a team of musicians and

music theorists, artists from multimedia and other areas, sound

technicians, architects, and students. In 2002 the Haus der Musik was

awarded the Austrian Museum Prize for its innovative conception. In

2009 it was the 19th most popular attraction in Vienna, with 205,000

visitors.

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Haus der Musik is an interactive sound museum which provides a new

approach to music on a playful as well as scientific level. For years the

aim has been to provide knowledge and understanding as well as open-

mindedness and enthusiasm when dealing with music. Since its opening

in 2000, Haus der Musik has welcomed over 2,7 million visitors. In

addition to the interactive exhibition, Haus der Musik offers a dense

programme including live concerts, artist talks, and a varied agenda

particularly for children as well as music festivals.

At one time the former Palais of Archduke Charles, today's Haus der

Musik was also the residence of Otto Nicolai (1810 - 1849), who

composed the opera "The Merry Wives of Windsor" and founded the

Vienna Philharmonic concerts here. On the "Beletage" first floor, the only

historically preserved rooms in the house, the Vienna Philharmonic

present original documents from their history.

After it opened its doors to the public, Maestro Zubin Mehta assumed

Haus der Musik’s honorary chairmanship. What inspired him to do so

was the cheerful and direct presentation of the musical material that

brings people with a wide range of music tastes together, gets them

talking, grabs their interest and counteracts any preconceived notions

associated with encountering music from an intellectual and

musicological point of view.

Vienna has always been a city of musical innovation and a place where

people were not afraid to try the unconventional. Haus der Musik seeks

to reflect Vienna‘s pioneering character in terms of music by offering

theirs visitors inventive and novel approaches deliberately distinct from

classical music education. Besides historical aspects Haus der Musik

puts a particular emphasis on the interplay of natural and electronic

sound production and the relationship between analogue and digital.

They seek to build bridges between tradition and innovation. Thus the

aesthetic and artistic translation of musicological content finds its

expression in the architectural combination of a historical building

structure with high-tech elements.

Link: http://www.hausdermusik.com

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4. Arnold Schönberg Center

Schwarzenbergplatz 6

Zaunergasse 1-3 (Entrance)

A-1030 Wien

Mo - Fr 10 - 17 Uhr

The Arnold Schönberg Center, established in 1998 in Vienna, is an

unique repository of Arnold Schönberg’s archival legacy and a cultural

center that is open to the public.

Arnold Schönberg – composer, painter, teacher, theoretician and

innovator – was born in Vienna in 1874 and died in Los Angeles in 1951.

He also resided in Berlin, Barcelona, Paris and Boston. In music history

Schönberg’s name is associated with an epoch-making innovation: the

“Method of composing with twelve tones which are related only with one

another.”

Exhibitions on Schönberg’s life and work, a gallery of his paintings, a

replica of his Los Angeles study, a library on topics relating to the

Viennese School, as well as concerts, lectures, workshops and

symposia all contribute to a comprehensive experience that will enable

the visitor to better understand Schönberg’s contributions to music and

the arts.

Activities at the Center are geared not only to the dedicated scholar but

also to the general public. Professional assistance is granted for

examining and studying Schönberg’s music manuscripts, writings and

his correspondence. Scholarly results of the Center’s symposia are

being published through the periodical “Journal of the Arnold Schönberg

Center.” A museum shop includes publications in various languages,

scores and both current and historic recordings of Schönberg’s works.

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RC 51 on Sociocybernetics

Sessions Program

—booklet—

13

All sessions will be at Juridicum, Hörsaal 15

Monday, 11 July 2016:

09:00 - 10:30

Modern Sociological Systems Theory in Practice – Applications to Societal

Problems. Session Organizer, Karl-Heinz SIMON, University of Kassel, Germany

10:45 - 12:15

Critical Assessment of Systems Approach in Sociology: To Update the Theory of

Society. Session Organizer: Saburo AKAHORI, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University,

Japan

14:15 - 15:45

Sociocybernetics, Simulation and Anticipation: Paradigms and Challenges. Session

Organizer: Luciano GALLON, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Colombia

16:00 - 17:30

Sociocybernetic Understandings of the Human Condition. Session Organizer:

Bernard SCOTT, Centre for Sociocybernetics Studies, United Kingdom

Tuesday, 12 July

09:00 - 10:30,

Sociocybernetics and Complex Problems. Part I. Session Organizer: Patricia

ALMAGUER-KALIXTO, UAdeC-UNAM, Mexico

10:45 - 12:15,

Sociocybernetics and Complex Problems. Part II. Session Organizer: Juan David

GOMEZ QUINTERO, University of Zaragoza. Psicology and Sociology, Spain

14:15 - 15:45,

Data and Society. Session Organizer: Fabio GIGLIETTO, University of Urbino Carlo

Bo, Italy.

16:00 - 17:30,

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Sociocybernetics, Transitional Justice and Other Issues. Session Organizers:

Michael PAETAU, Center for Sociocybernetics Studies, Germany and Pedro

ESCRICHE, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain

18.00-19.00,

RC51 Board Meeting

Wednesday, 13 July

09:00 - 10:30,

La Investigación Interdisciplinaria desde la Sociocibernética y Sistemas Sociales

Complejos. Session Organizer: Elisa Margarita MAASS, UNAM, Mexico

10:45 - 12:15,

Science Its Power, Responsibility and the Limits of Human Knowing. Session

Organizer: Arne KJELLMAN, Stockholm University, Sweden

14:15 - 15:45,

Social Forces behind Our Backs - Searching for Points of Intervention. Session

Organizers: John RAVEN, Eye on Society, United Kingdom and Bernd HORNUNG,

University Hospital Giessen and Marburg, Germany

16:00 - 17:30,

RC51 Business Meeting

Thursday, 14 July

09:00 - 10:30,

Inclusive Innovation for Inclusive Growth. Session Organizer: Eva BUCHINGER,

Austrian Institute of Technology AIT, Austria

10:45 - 12:15,

Epistemic Uncertainty and Complexity Theories. Session Organizer: Andrea PITASI,

World Complexity Science Academy, Italy

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16

3rd ISA FORUM OF SOCIOLOGY http://www.isa-sociology.org/forum-2016/

Forum President

Markus S. SCHULZ, ISA Vice-President Research, New School for Social Research, New York, USA

Forum Vice-Presidents

Margaret ABRAHAM, ISA President, Hofstra University, USA

Rudolf RICHTER, Chair, Local Organizing Committee, University of Vienna, Austria

RC51 Program Coordinators

Chaime Marcuello Servós (Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain)

Patricia E. Almaguer-Kalixto (Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain)

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Monday, 11 July 2016:

09:00 - 10:30,

Modern Sociological Systems Theory in Practice – Applications to Societal Problems

Session Organizer & Chair: Karl-Heinz SIMON, University of Kassel, Germany. Email: simon@cesr.de

Systems Theory and Governing: Towards a Sociological Theory of Societal Efforts

Toru TAKAHASHI, Chuo University, Japan

Our societies are faced with various and numerous challenges at local, national, supranational and global levels.

A multitude of actors with a variety of skills are tackling these challenges at each level. Actors from any functional

domains (such as scientists, jurists, artists etc.) can contribute to such efforts with their expertise. And they often

organize borderless networks of collaborations that expand across these levels. This situation even undermines

the theoretical importance of spatial distinctions such as local/ global. This paper uses the adjective “societal”

as connoting a horizon of social order which encompasses every spatial level and functional domain. So, societal

efforts include from local practice of civic volunteers to multifunctional practice, which mobilizes a variety of

expertise, through borderless networks.

Jan Kooiman’s “sociocybernetic” theory of governance provides us a set of technical terms to describe societal

efforts. He formulates people’s practice to achieve common goals as “governing”. How can sociological theory,

especially social systems theory, formulate societal governing from its own perspectives? Niklas Luhmann

prepares a specified category for protest movements (social movements) as one of four types of autopoietic

social systems. However, while actors of movements and resolvers of targeted problems are often separated in

protest movements (for instance, civic protesters and government), actors in societal efforts are trying to be

resolvers. Despite the difference between nature of protest movements and societal efforts, Luhmann’s theory

of protest movements can be a good starting ground to elaborate the concept of societal efforts from a

perspective of sociological theory.

The Sociology of Complex Social Systems: Applications of Moderns Systems Theory to Practical

Problems

Tom R. BURNS, Uppsala University, Sweden, Nora MACHADO DES JOHANSSON, ISCTE-IUL ISCTE -

University Institute of Lisbon, Portugal, Dolores CALVO, Gothenburg University, Sweden, Ugo

CORTE, Department of Sociology, University of Uppsala, Sweden, Alexandra WALKER, Australian

National University, Australia, Ilan KELMAN, University College London, England and Monica

FREITAS, Faculty of Social Science, Nova University of Lisbon, Portugal

This article outlines a sociological systems theory, drawing on the work of Walter Buckley, Margaret Archer,

Thomas Baumgartner, Tom R. Burns, Philippe DeVille, Felix Geyer, and others.. The work has shown how key

social science concepts are readily incorporated and applied in system description and analysis: institutional,

cultural, and normative conceptualizations; concepts of human agency and social movements; diverse types of

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roles and social relationships; social systems in relation to one another and in relation to the natural environment

and material systems; and processes of transformation and sustainability.

A key feature of the theory is its consideration of social systems as open to, and interacting with, their social

and physical environments. Through interaction with their environment—as well as through internal

processes—such systems acquire new properties and are transformed, resulting in evolutionary developments.

The theory incorporates in its framework human agents as creative (destructive) transforming forces. They may

choose to deviate, oppose, or act in innovative and even perverse ways relative to the norms, values, and social

structures of the particular social systems within which they act and interact.

The theoretical approach has entailed several key applications, each of which will be briefly

illustrated/exemplified in the paper: (1) the conceptualization of human agents as creative (also destructive),

and drivers of innovation and creative development within particular social system contexts; (2) the

conceptualization of collective consciousness in terms of self-representation and self-reflectivity and applied in

analyses of the gaps and dilemmas of international law regarding gender equality; (3) a theory identifying the

universal features of groups and organizations and their dynamics; (4) a theory of paradigm shifts in policy

regimes and regulative institutions (selected case studies of major EU policy shifts); (5) transition and

transformation of social systems: selected historical cases as well as the ongoing “sustainability revolution.”

Towards a Sistemic Theory of Irregular Migration

Gabriel ECHEVERRIA CUBELLO, Universita degli Studi di Trento, Italy

A great number of different theories have been proposed to explain the causes of irregular migration. Broadly

speaking, two opposite arguments have been proposed. On the one hand, the idea of a “decadent state”, which,

overwhelmed by the forces of globalization, would not be able to control migration fluxes anymore. On the other

hand, the idea of an “almighty state”, which, in order to fulfil its own or other social interests, would “produce”

or “favour” the existence of irregularity. While certainly illuminating of important aspects, all these theories

appear to be affected by three important limitations: they offer mono-causal explanations; tend to overstate

the role of the state (even when they diagnose its current or upcoming decline); are unable to explain the

emergence of irregular migration within different contexts. All these theoretical limitations can be linked to an

inadequate, largely influenced by the modern state semantics, conceptualization of modern society. The

proposed paper will present the results a theoretical study, which, building on the critiques to the principal

theoretical explanations of irregular migration, focused on the theoretical work of Niklas Luhmann in search for

a more convincing theoretical framework. This approach helped to overcome most of the theoretical difficulties

and paradoxes that have characterized the field of research. It allowed to go beyond a dichotomist

understanding of the relation between agency/structure and to retrieve a social perspective where a statist one

had been clearly dominant. Irregular migration emerged as a complex, differentiated, structural phenomenon

of modern world society. Its development was related to the existing structural mismatch between the dominant

form of social differentiation (functional) and the specific form of internal differentiation (segmentary) into

territorial states of the political system.

Refugees Welcome? Mass Migration As a Highly Complex Steering Problem

Michael PAETAU, Center for Sociocybernetics Studies, Bonn, Germany

The exodus of refugees in the year 2015 from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and different countries of Africa to Europe

hits the European Union in a complicated situation, where the economic and social positions of the single

member states heavily differ from each other and no consensus exists about an adequate strategy how to handle

the surge of refugees pounding at Europe's gates. Finding a solution which can operate even on an approximate

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adequate basis, requires a way of thinking and analysis which is able to deal with highly complex and dynamic

matters.

The paper proposed here, will show the potential of SOCIOCYBERNETICS to do this. It concentrates on the

situation at the second half of the year 2015 in Germany, when the German government declared its willingness

to accept entry of a very large number of refugees for offering them asylum. In contrary to earlier situations the

German government and the German public accept that the question whether the refugees after a while will

return to their homeland or not is an open question and one have to recognize that most of them will stay in

Germany or another European country for the future.

This presumption requires strategies to ensure the inclusion of a large number of asylum-seekers into society

(and that means in all social systems) at an early stage. My paper using an observable model will show which

arrangements are necessary in three different respects:

1) for different social systems (economy, education, family, health, etc.),

2) on different administrative levels (federal, single German states, administrative districts and municipality),

and

3) in different time frames (immediately after arrival, within the first three month, within the first year, three

years etc.).

Structural Coupling: Conflicts and Co-Evolution Between Religious Animal Release and Ecological

Risk

Hsiao-Mei JUAN, National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan

This essay examines the animal release in Taiwanese Buddhism and the dissents it faces mainly from the

environmental or animal protection groups. According to the German sociologist, Niklas Luhmann, these two

fronts are regarded as separately closed social systems, operating religious and ecological communications

respectively. They produce autonomously their own elements of which they consist. The relationship between

the religious and ecological systems can be described as a “structural coupling”. In such a coupling, each system

takes critics, dissents and conflicts from outside seriously, but their interplay is not casually determined. Related

systems experience dissents as irritations and undergo a process of inter-translation.

This essay first introduces the concepts of autonomous self-organization of social systems and structural

coupling in light of Luhmann’s theory. Luhmann’s theory offers an interesting frame to examine empirically the

interplay of animal release in Taiwanese Buddhism and the ecological risks it may cause. This seems to be a

promising way to explain how a system thematizes the irritations from outside as its own problem and offers

only solutions with which it can connect internally, avoiding the presumption of a pre-given consensus and line-

determination.

10:45 - 12:15,

Critical Assessment of Systems Approach in Sociology: To Update the Theory of Society

Session Organizer: Saburo AKAHORI, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University, Japan

Chair: Eva BUCHINGER, Austrian Institute of Technology AIT, Austria

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Communication and Situated Intra-Action: Entangling Systems Theory and New Materialism

Cornelia SCHADLER, University of Vienna, Austria and Jasmin SIRI, Ludwigs Maximilians University

Munich, Germany

For Luhmann communication is the basic foundation of society. His notion of communication includes concepts

of radical temporality (because communication has to be altered on a regular basis), process ontologies (because

communication connects instable and constantly reconfiguring systems), anti-humanisms (because humans are

not the sole cause of communication) and anti-dualisms (because communication is neither merely natural nor

cultural or structural nor individual). Within the last decades postmodern, post-structural or non-

representational theories made similar claims. Most recently a nexus of theories subsumed under the notion of

“New Materialism” (Dolphijn & Van der Tuin 2012) ventures into that territory. New Materialisms (Barad 2007,

Braidotti 2013) trouble boundaries and in particular human boundaries. Agency becomes a process of intra-

action that is situated within material-discursive processes in constant differentiation.

In this talk we aim to discuss fruitful irritations of Systems Theory and New Materialism. Most recently a

discussion about the critical potentials of Systems Theory has emerged (Amstutz & Fischer-Lescano 2014, Siri &

Möller 2015) and discussed normative potentials as well as ‘blind spots’ of this theory of society. By focusing on

Karen Barads Agential Realism (2007) and a critical reading of Luhmann’s works we encounter and condense

entanglements between two theoretical worlds, which seem to be severely imcompatible only at the first glance.

By approaching empirical phenomenons with a mix of Luhmann’s Functional Analysis and New Materialist

ethnographies strengths and blind spots of both perspectives can be balanced and analyzed theoretically.

Barad, Karen (2007) Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and

Meaning. Durham.

Siri, Jasmin & Möller, Kolja (2015) (Eds.). Systemtheorie & Kritik. Special Issue von Soziale Systeme. Bielefeld.

Amstutz, Marc & Fischer-Lescano, Andreas (2014) (Eds.) Kritische Systemtheorie. Zur Evolution einer normativen

Theorie. Bielefeld.

Braidotti, Rosi (2013) The Posthuman. Cambridge.

Convergences of General System Theory, Critical Realism and Theory of Society

Wolfgang HOFKIRCHNER, Vienna University of Technology, Austria; Bertalanffy Center for the

study of systems science, Austria

This paper discusses philosophical, that is, praxiological, ontological and epistemological foundations of a theory

of social systems. In particular, it addresses the confluence of critical thinking and systems thinking – of Critical

Theory and Systems Philosophy – in the context of social theory. Critical Theory has its origins in the Frankfurt

School going back to Marx and has developed since into a variety of different approaches. Systems Philosophy

is considered as having its origins in Ludwig von Bertalanffy’s General System Theory. It has been developing in

the discourse about Evolutionary Systems and Complexity Thinking.

A special focus is given to the post-Luhmannian attempts to reframe the social (Wan 2011). They show a striking

affinity of two strands: Critical Realism, on the one hand, that is grounded in some Marxian assumptions and

dialectical logic, and Emergentist Systemism, on the other, as the gist of Systems Philosophy so far (Hofkirchner

2013, 2014, 2015, 2016).

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In the light of those convergences, also some Luhmannian topoi can be revisited and interpreted so as to fit a

more coherent social theory.

Wolfgang Hofkirchner (2013) Self-Organisation as the Mechanism of Development and Evolution in

Social Systems. In: Archer, M. S. (ed.), Social Morphogenesis, Springer, Dordrecht, 125-143

Wolfgang Hofkirchner (2014) On the Validity of Describing ‘Morphogenic Society’ as a System and Justifiability of

Thinking About It as a Social Formation. In: Archer, M. S. (ed.), Late Modernity, Springer, Dordrecht, 119-141

Wolfgang Hofkirchner (2015) “Mechanisms” at Work in the Information Society. In: Archer, M. S. (ed.), Generative

Mechanisms Transforming the Social Order, Springer, Dordrecht, 95-112

Wolfgang Hofkirchner (2016) Ethics from Systems: Origin, Development and Current State of Normativity. In:

Archer, M. S. (ed.), Morphogenesis and Normativity, Springer, Dordrecht, 239-253 (in print)

Poe Yu-Ze Wan (2011) Reframing the Social: Emergentist Systemism and Social Theory. Ashgate, Surrey

Gradual Differentiation and Justifiable Cognizance: Adjusting the Notion of Functional

Differentiation

Isabel KUSCHE, Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, Denmark

A central point of Luhmann’s theory of society is the importance of functional differentiation as the defining

feature of modern (world) society. The notion of function systems is very helpful in this regard and it has allowed

an advancement of the theory of society in many respects. Nevertheless there are also some limitations in using

Luhmann’s systems theory in this context. I would like to point out two major difficulties. First, the concept of

autopoiesis, which is attractive from the point of view of theoretical generalization, becomes a hindrance when

the aim is to account for the empirical variety of world society. The notion of autopoiesis makes it difficult to

think of differentiation as a gradual concept, which is however necessary in order to understand the outcome of

worldwide differentiation processes. A return to earlier versions of Luhmann’s theory that did without

autopoiesis may be the remedy in this regard. Second, Luhmann’s theory lacks sensitivity when it comes to actual

new societal developments such as the internet. Consequences – for example with regard to copyright and

property regimes – are not just a matter of the operation of different function systems, but the cognizance of

the latter is not yet routinized. Therefore, questions of worth and justification are especially relevant in such

context, but ignored by Luhmann’s theory. I propose that Boltanski’s and Thévenot’s work on conventions of

justification may be used in order to address this blind spot of the theory.

Towards a De-Ontologized Notion of Society

Till JANSEN, University of Witten/Herdecke, Germany

One of Niklas Luhmanns´ main theoretical aims was to build a de-ontologized theory. However, the very core of

his theoretical design, the famous assumption that there are systems made at the beginning of “Social Systems”,

proofed to be the root for such an ontology of the social: His theory of society proposes a clear-cut set of systems

that are thought of as existing, having structures, containing center and periphery. Luhmann ends up with a

theory that in a certain way is the opposite of the theoretical design he aimed at. His later preference for other

theoretical foundations (e.g. George Spencer-Brown, Gotthard Günther) can be regarded as a response to the

shortcomings of his initial concept of social systems. However, his theorizing never fully left the solid ground of

this very concept.

This raises the question for a new foundation of a theory of society that offers a higher degree of de-ontologized

thinking. I would like to propose strengthening Günthers notion of polycontexturality that has been partly

adopted by Luhmann, who is using it as a description for functional differentiation. Drawing from the idealist

tradition (Fichte & Hegel), Günther formalizes social relations. Instead of assuming an ontologically fixed entity

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as social or psychic systems, he starts with the immediacy of being and reflexivity that does not have to be given

a fixed ontological place but is thought of as logical area (contexture). Starting from this purely formal concept

he develops a theory of multiple reflexive positions that link up to what he calls compound-contextures. From

this perspective a theory of society would be less clear-cut and much more dynamic. The ontology of a society

consisting of orderly function systems would give way to a vibrating notion of interlinked, ontologically not

defined reflexive spheres.

Money As a Medium/Form-Distinction: The Challenge of Blockchain-Economy to Luhmann's

Concept of Money As a Symbolically Generalized Communication Medium.

Michael PAETAU, Center for Sociocybernetics Studies, Bonn, Germany

With the emerge of „Bitcoin“ since 2008 a new understanding of money arose which is a great challenge for

Economic-Theory. Blockchain-Economy, based of experiences with Bitcoin says: Looking for a medium to solve

the problem of the failing coincidence of wants at a certain stage of market-complexity, it was not in every case

necessary to find a good which could play the role of an general equivalent to the complete world of goods on

the market. It was sufficient and easier to account credits and debits of the actors of the market, and at certain

point of time it was balanced. This idea turns the traditional understanding on the nature of money upside down:

Money is nothing than a form of credit (or debit) represented by a special form of currency. So Money is a sign

for a specific social relation. In this view Money is not a good, it is the system of credit account and their clearing

that currency represents. In his work „Die Gesellschaft der Gesellschaft“ Luhmann calls the attention on the fact,

that in economics the concept of money is reasoned with the facilitation of exchange but doesn't consider the

medium, in which exchange take place. So – this is Luhmann's consequence - there is no reason for sociologists

to take over this initial point of the economic discourse. „Probably money was generated not with respect to its

intermediate function for exchange but as a sign for unbalanced performance ratios, first probably in household

economies.“ (GdG 348) Even if systems thinking Sociology is better prepared for the challenge of cryptocurrency

there are open questions. Particulary for Luhmann's Theory of Social Systems the question arise, if BITCOIN

would modify the code in the sence, that a new media/form-difference could be dominant in the economic

system of society.

14:15 - 15:45

Sociocybernetics, Simulation and Anticipation: Paradigms and Challenges

Session Organizer:Luciano GALLON, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Colombia

Chair: Roberto MANCILLA, (RC51 Member), Mexico

Sociocybernetics: Designing Mathematical Models and Its Simulation As a Decision Support

System.

Dr. Héctor Zamorano, Facultad Ciencias Económicas y Estadística, Universidad de Rosario –

Argentina

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Is it possible to make experiments within Social Sciences? Some would say "NO" because after the first

experiment the social system learns and reacts differently. However, if we have a good model, we can

experiment simulating the model.

Into the organizations, the managers must take decisions in order to solve a problem, but sometimes they make

it worse. This is because “the rapidly increasing difficulty of action and decision in such a complex and highly

dynamic world”. (HORNUNG). To coop with this difficulty the human brain and their mental models are not

enough. It would be necessary, first of all, to have the ability to see the world as a complex system, where

everything is connected to everything.

System Dynamics is a method to enhance approaching to complex systems. System Dynamics to deal with the

complex systems into the organizations requires tools to represent the mental models formal models and

simulation methods to test and design new policies or to test our hypothesis without affecting the real system

to have a long term view of the consequences of our decisions Cybernetics provides us a key concept: FEED

FORWARD that will let us to work with “government” concept instead of “controlling”.

This requires a circular – causality reasoning instead the linear reasoning.

“The art of system dynamics modeling is discovering and representing the feedback processes, which, along with

stock and flow structures, time delays, and nonlinearities, determine the dynamics of a system.” (STERMAN).

This kind of tools let us to create virtual worlds. Virtual Worlds “are formal models, simulations, or “microworlds”

in which decision makers can refresh decision-making skills, conduct experiments, and play.” (STERMAN)

Characterization of Development Models and Its Impact on Policy Implementation

Gerson BEDOYA and Luciano GALLON, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Colombia

The Global Models to explain human development on the planet have been conceived to be important and

useful. They are the result of simulation methodologies and paradigms for viewing the world in their macro

dynamics, considering a large number of possible causes of the problems that arise, and that, based on historical

data, shows how the world will behave in a determined future in different possible scenarios. They were born

due to the global concern about the impact human actions have on the environment, for the unsustainability of

population and economic growth and for the disappointing results of recurrently approved government's

programs to combat those problems. The aim of the global models is to provide the necessary tools to formulate

alternative answers for humanity steer toward the best-case scenario. They have made many, but others need

to be developed that serve to analyze specific contexts such as South America or Colombia. This work takes stock

of a representative set of global models of the past sixty years to characterize and identify the paradigms and

assumptions that support them, their structures, results and, particularly, components that may be useful for

future design and construction of a system dynamics model to study the performance of the implementation of

development policies.

Critical Sociocybernetics and Mediascapes in North America: Prospective Scenarios

Juan Carlos BARRON-PASTOR, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico

The broad goal of the research is developing the field of “Critical Sociocybernetics”. This incipient field intends

studying social systems considering power inequalities and seeking the critique and transformation of those

systems for society’s viability (Barron, 2014). It is based on the one hand that social systems can be captured by

very exclusive sectors of societies aiming to enhance its power in order to control territories and populations.

On the other hand, it is affirmed that social systems perform in complex ways that can be studied using

sociocybernetics’ tools; but not to describe neither naturalize its functioning, but all the opposite: to exhibit its

forms of control and the mechanisms it uses to reproduce its power impairing societies.

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Mass-media is an adaptive social system of communication that excludes corporeal presence among interacting

actors (Luhmann, 1996). Mass-media perform a fragmented collective imaginary, which is autonomous and

parallel to individual and collective imaginaries (Castoriadis, 1998). Hegemonic mass-media system is performing

autopoietically for the better of its owners, not of society; hegemonic mass-media is an adaptive system seeking

the reproduction and expansion of its power (Barrón, 2014). Mass-media could be arguably considered an

anticipatory system. ‘‘An anticipatory system is a system containing a predictive model of itself and/or its

environment, which allows it to change state at an instant in accord with the model’s predictions pertaining to

a later instant’’ (Rosen, 1985: 341). Rosen, and more recently, Poli (2010) have explained that anticipatory

systems enable certain controllers that allow them forestalling.

How do the North-American mass-media system perform in manners that allow us to infer those controllers?

This paper aims to identify how controllers would work into the mass-media system, and eventually identifying

if controllers could be emerging nodes inserted in other systems in North America, and/or within media

corporations.

The Work of Pickering and Luhmann Theoretically Viewed from within Current Social Work

Practice

Raija KOSKINEN, University of Helsinki, Finland

In his book The Cybernetic Brain Sketches for Another Future Pickering (2011) disseminates the English

cybernetics in a very practical manner by presenting few central scholars and their actual doings. Furthermore,

he elaborates further his own thinking presented in 1995 in the The Mangle of Practice Time, Agency and

Science. The work of Pickering has been influental in the field of science and technology studies.

The theory of social systems developed by Niklas Luhmann has been widely utilized when studying social work

and social services. In this paper the contribution of Pickering is brought into a dialogue with Luhmannian

theories of society. This is done in order to achieve new understanding useful when studying the mangle of

practice in current social services dealing with new innovations and technologies.

Society As an Observing System: A Perspective By Incongruity?

Saburo AKAHORI, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University, Japan

It is not limited to Niklas Luhmann’s case, systems thinking has been one of the most important sources of

sociological insights. At the same time sociological systems theory sometimes tends to be blamed as

unintelligible. However, generally speaking, abstract theory makes things clear. If things become more complex

because of sociological systems theory, it must be dysfunctioning. From such a viewpoint, we focus on the notion

of society as an observer (or, observing system) in Luhmann’s theory, especially on the connection between

systems theory and sociological theory. The main points are as follows: (1) To discuss the notion of meaning-

constructing system in contrast with living system. (2) To distinguish between social systems (systems of “the

social”) and a societal system (system of “society”). (3) To distinguish between sociology as second-order

observer and the functionally-differentiated modern society as second order observer. After reviewing these

points, we conclude that, systems theory would be a very useful tool to see things sociologically if it is properly

connected to sociological theory.

16:00 - 17:30,

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Sociocybernetic Understandings of the Human Condition

Session Organizer & Chair: Bernard SCOTT, Centre for Sociocybernetics Studies, United Kingdom

Sociocybernetic Reflections on the Human Condition

Bernard SCOTT, Center for Sociocybernetic Studies, Germany

Sociocybernetics is concerned with applying concepts from the system sciences to the social sciences. Talcott

Parsons was perhaps the first well-known social theorist who incorporated concepts from cybernetics and

systems theory in his work. These concepts remained central in his thinking up to the time of his final meditations

on ‘the human condition’. By this term, I believe Parsons meant a general and profound concern with

understanding what it is to be human. In this paper, I reflect on what concepts taken from sociocybernetics can

contribute to our understanding of the human condition in the context of the current and emerging global world,

with its major issues of ecological crisis, conflict and its consequences, global economic instability and insecurity,

and exploitation and inequality. In contemporary sociology, Parsons is but one example out of many theorists

who have used concepts from sociocybernetics in their work. Others include Niklas Luhmann, Walter Buckley,

Gordon Pask, Felix Geyer and Bernd Hornung. In answering the question what can sociocybernetics tell us about

the human condition, I draw from several of these sources. In particular, I take from Talcott Parsons the analytic

concepts of biological, psychological, cultural and social systems and from Gordon Pask’s conversation and

interaction of actors theories the concept of evolving psychosocial unities and his analytic distinction between

the conversational cognitive systems that constitute psychosocial unities and the biological and technological

systems that embody them.

On (Socio-) Semio- Cybernetics of Life

Helmut K. LOECKENHOFF, -, Germany

The evolution point of view may distinguish two kinds of information. Very roughly, thermodynamic information

lies at the base of any matter, any existent unit. Created by and derived from energy rich molecules (free energy)

thermodynamic information constitutes the energetic funds of any life in the scaffolds of local order. Catalysing

their own synthesis, autocatalytic systems indicate the origin of cybernetic information. Cybernetic information

fosters self-referent and ever more complex open systems developing into autopoietic systems. On the

(physical) base of thermodynamics and on statistical mechanics, cybernetic information leads and drives the

evolution of life from simple coded molecules to higher consciousness and mental artefacts. (J.S. Avery 2012)

Cybernetic information generates transfers and evolves meaning: what a situation, potential, an action, a

decision within action and option space may mean for survival, procreation and development of the actual

system. In essence, any cybernetic information implies semio-cybernetics, syntax and semiosis. In a generalized

sense, cybernetic information and in particular socio-cybernetics rest on semio-cybernetics, the cybernetics of

meaning.

Approaches to understand evolution corroborate. For example, a set of transdisciplinary models will begin with

the potentiality field governed by principles. The rules of physic, statistics and free energy let spontaneously

‘materialize’ matter. Mutual relations and interaction foster systems and system dynamics. System dynamics

and evolution driven by complexity dynamics closely intertwine and mutually enhance with semiosis dynamics.

With growing complexity of the social system, semio-cybernetics increasingly determine socio-cybernetics by

the impact and the evolvement of meaning.

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The attempt presupposes fundamental stances to be aligned. It opens approaches deeper to understand socio-

cybernetics in theory, modelling and actual practice. Both need to be explored, confirmed and differentiated.

Social Subjects, Social Objects and Their Mutual Bootstrapping: A Constructivist View on the

Morphogenesis of Human Societies

Pablo NAVARRO, University of Valencia, Spain

Human societies emerge and develop their multifarious forms through a double process of sociogenetic

bootstrapping. This process intertwines the progressive differentiation of human social subjects and the

correlated differentiation of (constructed) social objects. It is a process of mutual boostrapping: human subjects

differentiate by means of their dealings with other subjects; but these dealings are meditated through social

objects. And social objects are socially constructed in the process of interaction between subjects. The

sociogenesis of the individual subject may be viewed as a process of progressive differentiation between ego

and (the representation within and by ego's mind of) other subjects. Initially, the child is an undifferentiated

subject (there is no difference, within its mind, between ego and alter). Through a process of subjective

boostrapping, the child starts to distinguish between itself and other subjects. This process may be conceived as

a process of agential symmetry breaking. Agential symmetries are broken reflectively (through the production

of different, contrasting images of ego and alter) and they are recomposed transactionally (by means of a trans-

action between ego and alter). The sociogenesis of social objects is parallel to that of social subjects. Initially,

the child lives in an undifferentiated world. Progressively, this undiffentiated reality starts to break into distinct

(physical) objects endowed with peculiar properties. A similar process drives the emergence of social objects. In

this case, those objects are defined not by means of physical interaction, but by means of social interactions

(which involve ego, but alteres as well). The differentiation of the social subject amounts to the constitution of

internal, imaginary societies that guide the interactin of the social individual. On the other hand, the

differentiation of social objects amounts to the constitution of internal “social world views” that are in gear with

the “individual society” of each social agent.

The Technological and the Human in Contemporary Society: Artifacts, Devices and

Representations

Jorge CARDIEL, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico

My research project is located at the convergence of Social Studies of Technology, Anthropology and Social

Systems Theory, mainly focused at emerging and potential relations of humans and technological artifacts

through the organizing processes of social formations. Relying on Luhmann’s distinction between social structure

and semantics, on the medium/form distinction, and on the concept of structural coupling, the questions guiding

this paper are: ¿How social structures that couple the human and the technological are formed? ¿How a device

emerges, which is both social form and material support? ¿How does contemporary society includes and

excludes the technological in its representations of the human? ¿Which social movements appear, searching to

uncouple or to couple in alternative ways the human and the technological?

In this study I observe how some communications of contemporary society react to an increasing

interdependence between humans and technology and reflect on how technological proliferation modifies the

human condition. To achieve my aims, I analyze certain outcomes creating public opinion (newspapers, radio,

television and social media), artworks, literature, and technological metaphors and metonymies in

contemporary philosophical thought.

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By thinking the human as a bio-psycho-social event from a social systems theory approach, my aim is to observe

not only the structural couplings between psychical (consciousness) and social systems (communication), but

also how biological (corporality) and technological systems (devices, artifacts) are implicated in the formation of

social structures of interaction. This means complementing Luhmann’s theory, like Jorge Galindo proposes, by

recognizing an embodied social form (as in Bourdieu’s notion of habitus) and the presence of social forms

surrounding 'non-human' technological artifacts (as in Latour’s actor–network theory).

Between Competencies and Bildung in the Digital Medium Environment

Jesper TÆKKE, Aarhus University, Denmark and Michael PAULSEN, Aalborg University, Denmark

We are living in a media revolution, in a period where new social structures arise in the communicative space of

digital media. This means that psychic systems must try to adapt to a changing social world within all social

arenas like economy, work-life, love relations and last but not least education. What happens is that the

information– and interaction-situations change so almost any information becomes only few clicks away and

everybody in the world can message you where ever you are. The problem is not that the students now must

face a new digitalized school, but that students meet a school system that have not found it’s own feeds yet.

Especially two reactions to this unclear situation can be identified; one that tries to work against the new media

because one cannot find suitable education methods, or have ideological opposition to the new social relations

enabled by digital media. The other reaction comes from industrial and economic logics influencing governments

and management of educational institutions to improve media literacy focusing on digital competencies. The

latter reaction we find most constructive because looking at the history of media evolution the new media are

here to stay and the social will evolve within their possibility space. But we also find the scope of just looking at

competencies much too narrow. Therefor this paper tries to create a concept of Digital Bildung drawing on Klafki

and Biesta who both in their theories points at the important aspect of making students able to think critically

and become citizens taking social responsibility gaining not only technically competencies. Thereto we apply

Luhmanns systems theory to integrate the concept into educational sociology and medium sociology. The paper

draws on empirical findings from the Socio Media Education experiment, a Danish action research project in

upper secondary school.

Tuesday, 12 July 2016

09:00 - 10:30,

Sociocybernetics and Complex Problems. Part I

Session Organizer: Patricia ALMAGUER-KALIXTO, UAdeC-UNAM, Mexico

Chair: Hector ZAMORANO GALLEANO, RC51, Argentina

Investigación e Interdisciplina: Reto y Estrategia En Grupo

Abril GAMBOA ESTEVES1, Maria Alejandra PONCE MORALES2, Norma Angelica MARTINEZ LOPEZ2,

Maria Del Carmen TENORIO CONTRERAS2, Alejandro GEORGE CRUZ2 and Carmen Wendy

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CASANOVA REYES2, (1)Benemerita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla, Mexico, (2)Benemérita

Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Mexico

Los grupos y cuerpos académicos existentes en la Facultad de Ciencias de la Comunicación de la BUAP, caminan

bajo los esquemas tradicionales para desarrollar investigación; por ello un grupo de Profesores-Investigadores

de Tiempo Completo conformamos un Grupo de Investigación denominado “Comunicación y Cibercultur@”, con

el propósito de explorar nuevas formas de generar conocimiento, integrando distintos enfoques disciplinarios

desde la perspectiva de la Cibercultur@, los Sistemas Complejos y la Sociocibernética.

Como Grupo de Investigación, nuestra estrategia para incorporar la Investigación Interdisciplinaria a nuestros

ámbitos de investigación y docencia, se expresa a partir de la Cibercultur@ como una actitud reflexiva, colectiva

y de acciones coordinadas para incidir en nuestra forma de percibir y relacionarnos con la información, la

comunicación y el conocimiento; como valor de desarrollo a partir de la investigación interdisciplinaria que

contribuya a la autodeterminación de los docentes y estudiantes y, finalmente, como objeto de estudio, referido

al vector tecnológico, estrategia integral que reconocemos como sistémica y compleja. (Almaguer, P.;

Amozurrutia, J.; González, L.; Maass, M.; Meza, M.; 2012 44-51)

Acorde a lo anterior, realizamos una serie de acciones como Grupo de Investigación y como docentes a nivel

licenciatura. Como Grupo de Investigación y como docentes, pretendemos contribuir a responder uno de los

cuestionamientos planteados por parte del RC51 Sociocybernetics de la ISA: ¿Por qué la investigación

interdisciplinaria podría ser una estrategia docente para ayudar a formar a nuestros estudiantes de manera

distinta?, mediante los resultados preliminares de un estudio, a partir de técnicas de investigación distributivas

(sondeo/encuesta) y estructurales (grupo de discusión) (Ibáñez, J., 1986; 1988) que busca conocer el impacto

que han tenido nuestras acciones como grupo de investigación, entre los estudiantes de licenciatura para

motivarlos a generar proyectos de investigación desde un abordaje complejo.

El Trabajo Interdisciplinario Como Experiencia Formativa En Estudiantes De Posgrado: El

Patrimonio Cultural Hña Hñu En El Estado De Guanajuato, México.

Jaime GONZALEZ CHAVEZ and Efrain DELGADO RIVERA, Universidad De La Salle, Mexico

El presente estudio muestra la estrategia de trabajo interdisciplinario y de aprendizaje entre expertos y

estudiantes de posgrado, dentro y fuera del aula en la Universidad De La Salle, Bajío.

El equipo de trabajo, parte de la observación de un sistema social que se ubica interdefinido por distintos

aspectos que le confieren una complejidad relativa. Desde esta perspectiva, es importante el acercamiento

interdisciplinario que, de manera dialógica, permita construir preguntas prácticas pertinentes para ser resueltas

desde las diferentes posiciones disciplinarias.

El problema práctico a resolver fue diagnosticar la factibilidad de un proyecto carretero en la zona indígena

otomí de San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, desde el punto de vista histórico, arqueológico, antropológico,

ambiental y sociocultural. Se trabajó dentro del aula con los estudiantes y fuera de ella, mediante el

acercamiento a expertos de diferentes instituciones y disciplinas en el trabajo de campo; y en conjunto, la

generación de una publicación monográfica en formato de libro y productos audiovisuales relacionados con

dicha experiencia. Las preguntas emanan del objeto y son planteadas desde los diferentes niveles de

organización sistémica que integran factores ambientales, culturales, y sociales. Por tal motivo, se optó por

construir un equipo conformado por varios especialistas de diferentes áreas de enfoque: Arqueología,

Antropología Social, Comunicación, Sociología, Historia, Metodología, Arquitectura e Ingeniería Civil.

La Enseñanza De La Comunicación En El Trabajo Social: Claves De Una Didáctica Interdisciplinar

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Juan David GOMEZ QUINTERO, University of Zaragoza. Psicology and Sociology., Spain and Jesus

CARRERAS AGUERRI, University of Zaragoza, Spain

El estudio de la comunicación ha tenido y tiene múltiples perspectivas, muchas veces dependientes de los

enfoques otorgados por los campos científicos. De hecho, es uno de los campos en los que, a pesar de su corta

historia, destaca por su “pluralismo teórico y metodológico” (Roiz & Muñoz Carrión 1986, 197) y su enorme

interés interdisciplinar (Mattelart, 1997). Este pluralismo teórico es, sin ninguna duda, una de las mayores

dificultades para definir los límites teóricos y metodológicos de la enseñanza de la comunicación en el Trabajo

Social. Galindo Cáceres (2007) observa cuatro dimensiones presentes en el estudio de la configuración y

trayectoria de los sistemas de comunicación: unas dimensiones básicas centradas en la difusión, y otras en la

interacción. Ambas constituyen las dimensiones de primer orden del proyecto general. Sobre ellas se configuran

otras dos dimensiones, en un segundo orden, que son la expresión y la estructuración. La connotación de

comunicación interpersonal nos acerca al ámbito de acción del Trabajo Social. La comunicación intrapersonal

(siguiendo a Gardner, 1995 y a Salinas, 2012), corresponde al campo de la psicología, el psicoanálisis o la filosofía,

aunque será importante considerarlo porque entra en relación con el sistema de comunicación interpersonal, al

menos si hacemos caso a los axiomas de la comunicación humana (Watzlawick, Helmick, & Jackson, 1985), a la

noción de auto-interacción (Blumer 1981) y de la inteligencia emocional (Gardner 1995). En la comunicación

interpersonal podemos diferenciar la interpersonal diádica y grupal; la diádica es relativa a relaciones persona a

persona estrictamente y la grupal corresponde a las relaciones al interior de un grupo o entre integrantes de

grupos diversos. El objetivo de la comunicación es exponer las reflexiones sistematizadas por docentes

universitarios y las claves utilizadas en el aula para la ensañanza de la comunicación desde un enfoque

interdisciplinar.

Investigación Interdisciplinaria En Conocimiento y Gestión Ambiental: Una Reflexión Desde La

Sociocibernética Sobre Una Experiencia Formativa..

Alan ALBERT1, Patricia ALMAGUER-KALIXTO2,3, Michiko AMEMIYA-RAMIREZ4, Juan Jaime ANAYA4,

Luis Miguel AREVALO4, Fernando CARRILLO4, Carla Patricia GALAN-GUEVARA5, Claudia LUNA4, Ana

Yesica MARTINEZ4, Lilia TERAN4 and Monica SUAREZ6: (1)DCHDI -UADEC/UNAM, USA, (2)UAdeC-UNAM,

Mexico, (3)Interdisciplinary Institute on Human Ecology and Sustainability (INTERHES), Mexico, (4)DCHDI, UAdeC-UNAM,

Mexico, (5)Universidad Auntónoma de México, Mexico, (6)DCHDI, UAdeC-UNAM, Colombia

El proceso de construcción de conocimiento es un proceso complejo, más aún si se plantea intencionalmente

hacerlo de forma colectiva e interdisciplinaria, como se hace en el marco del Doctorado en Ciencias y

Humanidades para el Desarrollo Interdisciplinario (DCHDI). Esta presentación aborda una experiencia empírica

de construcción de conocimiento colectivo en el contexto del DCHDI y, en concreto, del grupo de investigación

sobre “Conocimiento y Gestión Ambiental”.

Para abordar objetos de estudio como sistemas sociales complejos, el grupo de investigación desarrolla un

proceso formativo en investigación interdisciplinaria del cual destacamos tres niveles de actividad cognoscitiva:

1) INTRA: hacia el interior, es decir, a nivel de individuos, enfrentados a teorías, conceptos y metodologías que

se ven contrastadas y reflexionadas a partir de la relación con los otros miembros del grupo; 2) INTER: con el

grupo, definiendo complejos cognitivos correspondientes a los objetos de estudio individuales pero

interdefinidos, y que responden a una construcción interdisciplinaria; y 3) TRANS: contrastando conocimientos

y procesos de construcción de conocimiento con otros grupos de investigación al interior y exterior del

doctorado.

Entre los principales resultados de dicho proceso, destacamos la construcción de una comunidad de

conocimiento en la que compartimos e integramos la perspectiva conceptual de la Epistemología Genética y la

sociocibernética y los sistemas complejos, como base conceptual, la investigación interdisciplinaria y la

Cibercultur@, como base metodológica común y la ecología política y los debates de la relación naturaleza-

sociedad para construir nuevas propuestas en el campo del “Conocimiento y Gestión Ambiental”. Este complejo

teórico-metodológico articula cada uno de los proyectos de investigación y la relación entre ellos. Orientados

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por la sociocibernética, enfatizamos el camino hacia la generación de un marco epistémico, un lenguaje y un

metalenguaje comunes, a partir de las reflexiones de segundo orden y la construcción de un sistema de

información colectivo.

Relatos Digitales Personales Como Estrategia De Investigación Interdisciplinaria De Sociedades

En Conflicto

Gloria LONDOÑO, Profesional Autonoma, Colombia

El contar historias personales es un mecanismo humano esencial de relación social, de autorrepresentación, de

identidad y de comprensión de lo que sucede en el entorno. Las tecnologías de información y comunicación, con

Internet y los relatos digitales amateur y multimediales, han dinamizado las formas y el alcance de la expresión

individual, y ello ha influido en las maneras de percibir y entender la propia realidad y la de los grupos sociales

en los que se participa.

Con el objetivo de usar los relatos digitales personales como una estrategia de doble vía, educativa y periodística,

se realizó en Bojayá (Chocó, Colombia), una experiencia de investigación-acción interdisciplinaria, con personas

que han vivido de forma directa el conflicto armado colombiano, en la que narraron apartes de sus vidas, antes,

durante y después de hechos violentos. Posteriormente, sus relatos fueron sometidos, por el equipo

periodístico, a un proceso de edición audiovisual para darlos a conocer en Internet, y por otro, a uno de análisis

cualitativo para identificar en ellos las opiniones e imaginarios sobre las causas del conflicto armado, sus

consecuencias, los factores que lo han incrementado y las propuestas de solución. Esto no solo sirvió para

interpretar la realidad del conflicto con quienes lo han vivido de forma cercana, sino también para repensar la

propuesta metodológica para trabajar este tipo de relatos con finalidades educativas, en contextos informales

y de pobreza.

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10:45 - 12:15,

Sociocybernetics and Complex Problems. Part II

Session Organizer: Juan David GOMEZ QUINTERO, University of Zaragoza. Psicology and Sociology,

Spain

Chair: Fernando GONZALEZ MIGUEL, THEMOLINO PROYECTOS, Spain

User, Community and Communication

Wei-Hsin HSIAO, Universität Witten/Herdecke, Germany

The concept of the user and the community has renewed its definition after the internet usage has seen

tremendous growth. Comparing with the machine, the computers and their connections (internet or network)

are entirely demanding on the continuous inputs of users. The concept of medium and communication offers us

to observe how people are recognized as users and the relation of the users and the internet. The medium

distinguishes user who is included and excluded. By contrast, the medium provides concrete forms, which enable

users be recognized.

In this abstract, we presented an empirical study of the second-order approach, which clarifies neither users or

internet are dominated. Flickr is a website and so-called a social networking platform. The users are gathered,

observed and organized by Flickr. People were not familiar with each other, nor share photos until becoming

the users on Flickr. The communication has started while they registered as an user or not by understanding and

accepting the instructions of Flickr. Since Flickr assumes that the communication to people will be realized,

people are divided into users and potential users who will possibly be included later. Up to now Flickr provides

several forms which enable these users organized as communities. Under different forms of tags, keywords,

topics, locations and photos we can find users tightly gathered as communities, and can easily be separated and

reformed into new community. In summary, the conventional sociological analysis of users or virtual

communities does not take the influence of the computer and internet into account. Nevertheless through

communication, the users and communities are with dynamic in Flickr and the forms provided Flickr enable users

transforming from individual state into communities.

The Problem of Legitimacy in Japan's Political System: A Luhmannian Perspective

Andrew MITCHELL, Kumamoto University, Japan

Within Japanese politics the ruling LDP administration, led by Abe Shinzo, has been at the forefront of numerous

controversial policy decisions regarding the military and nuclear power. Public dissatisfaction with such policies

has led to the Abe administration’s approval rating slipping to 38.5% by September 2015, its lowest level since

Abe took office in December 2012. Yet the support rating of the largest opposition party, the DPJ, is only 4.9%,

making them a statistical factor rather than a potential electoral challenger. This is not an anomalous result and

reflects the underlying reality of LDP political domination, with the party having held power almost unbroken

since 1955. This lack of viable political plurality in the face of sliding ratings for the Abe administration raises the

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issue of political legitimacy. Japan’s lack of an effective political opposition through which public opinion can

enter into the political system also raises the question as to whether Japan’s political system can truly be

considered democratic.

In this paper I wish to take a Luhmannian reading of the Japanese political system, focusing on Luhmann’s

assertion that the binary coding of the political system is government/opposition and that political legitimacy is

created through this coding. Through an analysis of Luhmann’s political theory I shall track the development of

Japan’s democratic development, focusing on its initial emergence during the Meiji restoration and its reform

during the SCAP administration led by the Americans post-war. By then focusing on the political realities of

modern Japan, I shall critique Japan’s political system from a Luhmannian perspective. I shall then consider

whether such a reading offers any novel approaches for political development.

Complexity and the Viable System Model: A Proposal

Roberto MANCILLA, (RC51 Member), Mexico; Freelance, USA

Stafford Beer intended with the viable system model to create a model of human organization that could be

applied to any known institution. His intuition was that social systems tended towards the maintaining of their

identity and organization in light of a changing environment; that is, their viability. This model is comprised of

five interacting subsystems; systems 1, 2 and 3 are concerned with the day to day operations- the “here and

now”- while systems 3, 4 and 5 are in charge of policy- the “there and then” that helps to secure viability on a

long term.

Two striking features of this model are the fact that it can be used on both private and public organizations and

the fact that it is recursive, as viable systems contain others of its kind that can be modeled using an isomorphic

description, i.e. another viable system model. However, there are shortcomings on the original model, such as

the lack of elaboration of what constitutes an environment; also, the perception of variety seems too unified, it

does not take into account subjectivity from the subsystems.

Many of these aspects were corrected by Espejo, a close collaborator of Beer; he adds complexity management

to the model and improves it a great deal, however, he changes the core model and makes it more rigid. For

this paper I will review existing literature on the model and I will retake Beer’s original model and adding some

of Espejo’s improvements, I will further adapt VSM by adding: a) network theory and dominant coalition theory

to both the relevant environment and the composition of the VSM, b) subjectivity in the perception of variety

and c)organizational states in the perception of variety (homeostasis as low variety, dynamic equilibrium as

changing varietal states and hypercomplexity as untenable variety).

The Computational Psychology of Digital Shop Assistants

Marzia ANTENORE1, Alessandro PANCONESI2, Giovanna LEONE1 and Erisa TEROLLI2,

(1)Communication and Social Research Department, Sapienza - University of Rome, Italy,

(2)Computer Science Department, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

This proposal describes a project lying at the intersection of Computer Science and Social Sciences whose goal

is to state and investigate some basic questions concerning recommender systems (henceforth RS’s).

The advent of the internet has changed cultural markets in profound ways. The global volume of online

purchases of music, books, movies, video games and other forms of cultural products has reached the 1.5 trillion

dollars mark in 2014, and the trend is increasing. Today, an estimated 1.22 billions people acquire cultural

products through the internet. RS’s are a key component of these online markets. In the old days, a regular

customer of, say, a music shop, could get the advice of a knowledgeable shop assistant with whom s/he had

developed a relationship of trust. Based on the knowledge of the customer’s taste and of the music world, the

assistant could offer insightful suggestions to the customer, providing useful advice. Roughly speaking, a RS is a

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digital, algorithmic analogue of the shop assistant that, on the basis of the past online behaviour of the current

customer and of the entire collective behaviour of online visitors, helps navigate the huge catalogue of online

choices by providing suggestions in a purely algorithmic fashion. Thus, a visitor to the YouTube home site will

be presented with a list of videos that, hopefully, will match his/her interests, and a person looking for a book

on Amazon will likewise see a list of other interesting books to buy.

In spite of the fact that RS’s are fundamental actors of online cultural markets, their power to shape and

influence is still largely unknown. The goal of this proposal is to investigate the extent to which a cultural market

can be affected by RS’s and the interplay between computational and psychological mechanisms underlying

them.

Citizenfour: Internet Publics and the Imaginary of Privacy. a Content Analysis of Twitter

Commentaries Around the 2015 Oscar Winning Documentary

Giovanni BOCCIA ARTIERI1, Fabio GIGLIETTO2 and Laura GEMINI1, (1)University of Urbino Carlo Bo,

Italy, (2)Communication Studies & Humanities, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Urbino, Italy

The paper analyze the Twitter conversations produced by networked publics during the TV premier of Laura

Poitras’s documentary Citizenfour (2014). The documentary deals with the case of the computer analyst Edward

Snowden who, in 2013, leaked classified documents he had obtained from the National Security Agency detailing

the extent of government surveillance of U.S. citizens. It was aired by HBO in USA (East and Pacific time) and

Channel 4 in UK respectively the 23th and 25th of February 2015. We focused on the type of representations

produced around the relationship between privacy and the Internet, ie the imaginary related to privacy

conveyed by Snowden case. The paper thus attempt to answer the following RQ: what are the privacy’s imagery

around Snowden case emerging from double screen audience of documentary Citizenfour? Based on a complete

corpus of 129,000 tweets containing either the hashtags #citizenfour or Snowden or Poitras and created

between 22th and 26th of February 2015, the study identified peaks in the Twitter activity (through a ‘breakout

detection’) as well as what accounted for those peaks. Finally, a sample of tweets was content analyzed - using

a codeset derived by DeCew*. The analysis identified the most discussed excerpts of the documentary and the

way the online discussion articulated around informational, accessibility and expressive privacy during this

excerpts. At the same time, we also observed significant differences between the imaginary of privacy created

around the documentary by US and UK audience.

* DeCew, J. (1997). In Pursuit of privacy: Law, ethics, and the rise of technology. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

14:15 - 15:45,

Data and Society

Session Organizer: Fabio GIGLIETTO, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Italy

Chair: Czeslaw MESJASZ, Cracow University of Economics, Poland

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The Shadow of Big Data: Data-Citizenship and Exclusion

Luca ROSSI, Christina NEUMAYER and Morten HJELHOLT, IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Big data are understood as being able to provide insights on human behaviour at an individual as well as at an

aggregated societal level (Manyka et al. 2011). These insights are expected to be more detailed and precise than

anything before thanks to the large volume of digital data and to the unobstrusive nature of the data collection

(Fishleigh 2014). Within this perspective, these two dimensions (volume and unobstrusiveness) define

contemporary big data techniques as a socio-technical offering to society, a live representation of itself. More

precisely, within a system theory approach (Luhmann 1982, 2010), large-scale big data work as a boundary-

drawing operation where the difference between the system and its environment is reproduced. Here the result

of system observation is defined by what is made visible as (big) data.

Within this process "data-citizenship" emerges. Data-citizenship assumes that citizens will be visible to the state

through the data they produce. On a general level data-citizenship shifts citizenship from an intrinsic status of a

group of people to a status achieved through action. This approach assumes equal possibilities of action for

every citizen, even if research has shown that an unequal distribution of participatory potential is unavoidable

(boyd & Crawford 2012).

Data-citizenships echoes what was envisioned by Luhmann (2010): When society is defined through the

metacode of inclusion/exclusion, persons (of which citizens are equivalent within the legal system) are

emancipated depending on their ability of being data producers.

To empirically explore this topic, the presentation will present preliminary results of an ongoing research about

the digitalisation process in the Danish public sector. Through the analysis of specific examples we will show

how those citizens who do not leave (digital) traces not only appear at the margins or entirely disappear

(Bourdieu 1999) in the shadow of big-data.

The Everyday Data Collectors: Privacy, Surveillance and Cloud-Based Smartphone Applications

Daniel KERPEN and Michael EGGERT, Institute of Sociology at RWTH Aachen University, Germany

The term “Cloud Computing” (CC) describes models in which users access networks, servers, platforms, and

applications as ubiquitous, shared pools of scalable, rapidly provisioned computing resources. Undoubtedly, CC

is important for allocating and distributing IT resources: Concepts like Internet of Things or Big Data require

dynamic and efficient management of storage, transfer capacities, and computational power.

Furthermore, a significant share of actual everyday communication is realized via cloud technologies; especially

when considering the steady rise of global smartphone usage: Smartphones are extraordinarily dependent on

CC infrastructures; finally, such infrstructures provide devices and installed applications with full functionality.

Hence, with growing interconnectedness of devices and apps/services, different kinds of data are increasingly

related to one another, frequently combining big-data-assets with individual data.

Consequently, CC must be considered a relevant technological phenomenon, deeply interwoven with a broad

range of social and societal structures and processes: E.g., although not explicitly designed as surveillance

technologies, smartphones bear the potential to (and do!) form an extremely dense surveillance network which

extends into the most private realm. But the system of ubiquitous visibility emerges, quasi, as a by-product—

often borne by seeking gains in quality of life or convenience through the use of such devices.

We explore this issue of privacy and surveillance against the background of cloud-connected smart portable

devices drawing on first insights of a recently established interdisciplinary research project on social acceptance

of cloud-based smartphone applications. We gain insights into visions and fears that individuals harbor

concerning smart artifacts and the socio-technical network they constitute, as well as their expectations about

technology's impact on privacy and its influence in terms of behavioral control. The paper concludes with an

outlook on the question of trust in smart devices and some implications for their design.

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36

Exploring the Online Practices of Self-Disclosure, Privacy Concerns and Gender Differences in the

Time of Facebook

Manuela FARINOSI, University of Udine, Italy and Sakari TAIPALE, University of Jyväskylä, Finland

Within a relatively short time span, social media applications have intruded into all parts of life and have come

to play a crucial role in contemporary culture and society. Online and mobile applications offer people the

opportunity to participate in creating, sharing and consuming digital content and to engage in online

conversation. In this contribution, we focus our attention on the most popular relationship networks, Facebook,

and on how it reshaped the way in which individuals think about themselves and construct their identities. These

transformations have potentially profound consequences due to the blurring of traditional boundaries between

the private and the public.

Our study investigates the gendered privacy practices and concerns on Facebook by leaning on the idea of

privacy management as a form of immaterial labour. We analysed if young Facebook users are more concern

about the privacy against other users than against Facebook as a company or third-party partners, and also if

privacy concerns and practices are differentiated by gender. A structured online survey collected from university

students (aged 18-34, N=813) in Udine, Italy, is analysed. Our results show that students have just slightly more

privacy concerns against other users than against Facebook and much less against third-party partners. However,

women are consistently more concern about privacy related risk than men. We suggest that these results may

account for different perception online risks between men and women.

Public Policies on Big Data and Open Data: Ibge, a Sociocybernetical Approach

Alexandre VELOSO, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain

La manera como se produce y difunde la información en la sociedad actual es muy distinta de como era hace

pocos años. Las tecnologías disponibles permiten que sea posible producir y almacenar un inmenso volumen y

variedad de datos en una velocidad y escala cada vez más grandes. El desarrollo de la sociedad en nuestros días

no puede pensarse sin tener en cuenta la influencia de la cibernética. Los gobiernos, organizaciones y ciudadanos

cuentan con plataformas informáticas que les permiten interactuar en escala global, haciendo que todos sean,

a la vez, productores activos y receptores masivos de información.

El reto es generar información de valor a partir de esa enorme cantidad de datos. Los institutos oficiales de

producción de estadísticas son instituciones que suelen tener históricamente un papel relevante en la

producción y diseminación de gran volumen de datos. Así, esa expertise institucional les daría, en teoría, una

ventaja competitiva en el nuevo mundo de la información global.

En este trabajo, desde un enfoque sociocibernético, se discute como son esos procesos y si eso de hecho ocurre,

proponiendo un estudio de caso. El IBGE - Instituto Brasileño de Geografía y Estadística - busca estrategias para

adaptarse al nuevo escenario y emprende acciones para su inserción positiva en la actual realidad. El análisis de

las acciones de IBGE pretende contribuir a la discusión sobre el rol y el desempeño de las instituciones públicas

en este nuevo y cambiante sistema social. Para ello este trabajo se divide en cinco apartados, incluyendo

introducción y conclusiones.

Towards a Sociological Perspective on Data Society

Bianca PRIETL, Department of Sociology, Germany

Datafication by now has invaded every sphere of the social and, hence, poses a challenge to sociological

reasoning. Media studies have pointed out the implications of digital forms of communication as well as

knowledge production, consumption, and distribution mostly with respect to social media. Building on these

insights we argue for a more radical approach that understands an increasing number of societal processes as

37

being data driven and, thus, analyzes our current society as a ‘data society’. We will argue for such a perspective

by making a twofold argument:

(1) We point at the imperative necessity for sociology to develop theoretical perspectives and practical methods

to meet the uprising challenges posed by datafication and digitalization. Although big data is currently paid

considerable attention, it is mostly treated as a rather isolated phenomenon with discussions being limited to

narrow issues such as privacy. However, data based social processes not only have become ubiquitous but their

(re)production, utilization, and relevance have reached novel qualities which render society as a whole deeply

changed. Therefore, sociological reasoning needs to confront itself with this data society.

(2) In order to demonstrate this, we will reconstruct processes of algorithmization and their relevance to society

at large. Drawing, among others, on system theoretical approaches, we develop an analytical framework to

understand the new forms of data communication and their data traces, identified by media studies, as

manifesting interpenetrating qualities to all kinds of social systems. Eventually, this focus on data related

communication enables us to formulate a research agenda that meets current societal developments.

16:00 - 17:30,

Sociocybernetics, Transitional Justice and Other Issues

Session Organizers: Michael PAETAU, Center for Sociocybernetics Studies, Germany and Pedro

ESCRICHE, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain

Chair: Michael PAETAU, Centre of Sociocybernetics, Germany

Violence As System: A Case Study of Migrant Disappearances in Oaxaca

Wendy LOPEZ JUAREZ, Centro de Estudios Interdisciplinarios en Religión y Cultura (CEIRC) Oaxaca.,

Mexico and Chaime MARCUELLO-SERVOS, Psicología y Sociología, Universidad de Zaragoza,

ZARAGOZA, Spain

Violence is a complex phenomenon. It affects individuals, groups and institutions on three levels: interpersonal,

intergroup, and institutional. Violence is not only a behaviour involving physical force. It can be cause and

consequence; sometimes it is a requirement or a way of understanding, for instance, markets and states. Violent

acts are interpreted according to social meanings. The performance analysis of violence phenomena has

different theoretical underpinnings within sociological theory. There is a wide range of literature and authors.

Here we study a violent case: the disappearance of “undocumented” Oaxacan migrants and the effects on their

families, from a sociocybernetical approach.

A missing person is a tragedy for any family. Different types of disappearance happen in dictatorships,

authoritarian states and also in violent societies and failed states, like Mexico. We take into account the effects

that it has on the families of the disappeared, their communities and civil society. The mistrust in state

institutions and the consequences of a failed state system require system theory concepts to explain them. We

propose a second order observation process to consider the complexity of these enforced disappearances and

to describe the functions, elements and structures operating in the migrant system. We present a case study in

Oaxaca to illustrate the problem. We use participant observation and interviews, from a process of support to

families of missing migrants.

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The paper is divided into five sections including introduction and conclusions. Firstly, it examines the

phenomenon of disappearances from a general perspective. Secondly, migration in Mexico and the scene of the

disappearances. Thirdly, through the case study, the effects that these disappearances have on families are

displayed. The result is a typology of family archetypes and a theoretical framework to explain violence as a

system.

Thinking a Different Way to Govern: The Challenge of Political Decisions in a Complex Society

Jorge GARCÍA CASTRO, Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico

Interest in the study of political decisions and their impact on the legitimacy of the political system lies in the

main features that rise when observing a society like present-day Mexico, where there exists an unusual breach

of rules, great inequality and violated civil rights; all of which is enough to doubt the true possibilities of inference

and decision-making that the citizen really possesses in democratic social life.

Political decisions in the Mexican context are often aimed under the power of elite groups isolated from the rest

of population; thereby, the lack of representativeness in many decisions is part of the public landscape in which

social discontent intensifies. However, in political decisions, the referents produced by protest movements do

not represent all of the options that can be observed and analyzed in the political environment. It is precisely on

this point that there is a possibility to observe and problematize the economic and corporative function of the

state's decisions vis a vis the demands shown in the social discussions as part of a more detailed hetero-

observation.

In the framework of a representative democracy, political decisions should be based on social referents that

guide to the formulation of satisfactory answers to the whole of society and not just for the powerful few.

Therefore starting from the rupture between public interest and political decisions in Mexico, it is important to

think of a strategy for linking public demands, economic arrangements, and political decisions in this country as

a theoretical and practical challenge of a complex society.

Science, Complexity and Emotions: Proposals for a New Urban Sociology

Fernando GONZALEZ MIGUEL, THEMOLINO PROYECTOS, Spain

The bursting of Spanish housing bubble introduced a practical problem in public policies, in people lives and in

technical and scientific approach to town planning. This particular case calls to a paradigm shift. Several factors

have triggered this need: the economic crisis, the establishment of a new "meta-value", sustainability, a growing

demand for greater citizen participation and control of intervention activity in the city, as well as a revision of

complexity and emotions. Recent political arguments are supported in technical and scientific considerations

that reject the emotions and usually the complexity of the issue. Power, science and responsibility are needed

to go through the objectivism of the arguments that dropped into the economic and social crisis.

This paper proposes a theoretical approach to this political issue. We have to take into account all urban aspects,

not only physical reality and regulations, but the citizens, the social processes, changes and problems of cities

and urban areas. This vision will provide us inputs for new planning practices and policies. However, we need to

review the theoretical perspective. The paradigm shift in urban planning needs a multidisciplinary work, the

management of a holistic, complex and systemic view of the city, not only as building and society, but also

relations, environment and economy. In these days we need working teams capable of providing global

solutions, and they are therefore crucial for leaders with vision and appropriate training to face the complexity

of the urban reality and develop unified strategies of intervention.

The demanded complex view of the city has to consider emotions and feelings of the social actors. Professional

teams and leaders involved in urban matters should develop methodology to include these key concepts in the

way through the paradigm shift.

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The Indigenous Movement in Ecuador As an Exercise of Self-Inclusion – a Luhmannian View on

Social Movements in the Global South

Philipp ALTMANN, Universidad Central del Ecuador, Ecuador

The exclusion from one social subsystem can lead to the exclusion from other and maybe all social subsystems.

This gives a new meaning to the old dictum that the subaltern cannot speak. Actually, he (or she) cannot –

because he is excluded from most communicative systems. This is the situation of a considerably large part of

the population worldwide and especially in the Global South. This presentation argues that self-organization –

for instance as a social movement- can serve on the long run as a means for self-inclusion. The indigenous

movement in Ecuador is a good example for the possibility of self-inclusion: a vast number of people lived for

centuries almost completely excluded from economy (relegated to subsistence activities or semi-feudalism),

politics (without the right to vote and political visibility), education and so on. In the early 20th century, this very

people starts to organize in worker unions that with the time establish clandestine schools, later production and

credit cooperatives, church communities, sports clubs and finally a political party. Until the 1990s, the moment

of high visibility of the movement, it already established a wide range of structures that put the indigenous

peoples in the possibility to communicate in virtually every subsystem.

This presentation will develop another approach to the study of social movements in the Global South by

applying Luhmannian ideas. By this, an alternative to the mostly Eurocentric theories of social movements will

be developed.

Wednesday, 13 July 2016

09:00 - 10:30,

La Investigación Interdisciplinaria desde la Sociocibernética y Sistemas Sociales

Complejos

Session Organizer: Elisa Margarita MAASS, UNAM, Mexico

Chair: Lilia TERAN, DCHDI, UAdeC-UNAM, Mexico

Educación y Complejidad: Hacia Una Articulación Interdisciplinaria

Jose Antonio AMOZURRUTIA, Centro de Investigaciones Interdisciplinarias en Ciencias y

Humanidades (CEIICH). UNAM, Mexico and Leticia RODRIGUEZ AUDIRAC, Universidad

Veracruzana, Mexico

La exigencia de formas multidimensionales en el ámbito de una educación orientada a la formación integral no

solo de estudiantes, sino de maestros, coordinadores y directivos de instituciones académicas, exige de nuevas

perspectivas para la comprensión de su dinámica compleja y una mayor potenciación de su reflexividad,

orientada a toma de decisiones. Dos atributos de dichas formas son la articulación disciplinaria y la

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transversalización de conocimientos comunes a ellas. Ambos atributos implican un entramado que puede tomar

diversas formas dependiendo de su contexto.

Estos retos los enfrentamos desde una perspectiva Sociocibernética, que además de formular una organización

inteligente de sus partes y relaciones, nos permite enfrentar los retos de una metodología orientada a la sucesiva

aproximación en la definición de un objeto de conocimiento compartida por varios especialistas.

En este trabajo sintetizamos una unidad de análisis multidimensional que nos permite formular dicha

transversalidad. En ella incluimos un componente epistemológico, uno social y uno cultural engarzados y

acoplados desde una propuesta de correspondencias e isomorfismos en el marco de la epistemología genética

piagetiana. La concepción sistémica se caracteriza por tener diversas posibilidades para adaptarse a las

necesidades articuladoras propias de la dinámica en la educación superior. Posteriormente describimos un caso

de estudio, derivado del trabajo de campo dentro de la Universidad Veracruzana en México, y más adelante

presentamos los retos y hallazgos que hemos encontrado en la conformación de un equipo de trabajo

interdisciplinario orientado a dichos fines. Concluimos sintetizando algunos productos de la investigación, en el

marco de una Cibercultur@, entendida como una forma de desarrollo integral ante problemas complejos.

Construcción Identitaria De La Vejez: El Reto De La Resignificación Desde La Infancia.

Abel RODRÍGUEZ MALDONADO, UAdeC, UNAM, Mexico

La problemática de la calidad de vida en la tercera edad es un tema que ha cobrado relevancia en los últimos

años. México atraviesa por un proceso complejo de cambios en la composición de la población, siendo este

sector cada vez más numeroso y desdeñado. La complejidad de los elementos que constituyen la realidad de los

adultos mayores, es una amalgama que requiere la mirada interdisciplinar mediante procesos de integración y

diferenciación (García, 2006), de tal manera que las aproximaciones al objeto de estudio puedan estar en

constante retroalimentación y reconstrucción cognoscitiva (García, 2000). La calidad de vida, abordada a través

de la resignificación social de la vejez, como parte de un sistema complejo e interdisciplinar, se aproxima a un

planeamiento reflexivo, histórico, social, inclusivo, identitario y cultural con implicaciones recíprocas entre los

ancianos y la sociedad durante todo el trayecto de la vida, por lo que el objeto de estudio se dirige a la

intervención en los procesos cognoscitivos y didácticos de resignificación de representaciones en los alumnos

de Educación Primaria.

El objetivo del subsistema resignificación social, es aproximarse empíricamente a las representaciones sociales

de distintas generaciones, así como articular sistemas de información, y mediante la disminución de la entropía

en el sistema (Pozo, 2014), proponer un manejo más certero de las propuestas tendientes al mejoramiento de

la calidad de vida de los ancianos, incidiendo desde la niñez.

Los resultados en la aplicación de grupos focales y entrevistas a profundidad muestran representaciones poco

deseables respecto a la vejez y un deterioro paulatino de la imagen del anciano. El modelo de calidad de vida

desde la resignificación social como sistema autogestivo y autoregulador (Bertalanffy, 1968), parte

fundamentalmente de las reflexividades múltiples de sus implicados y el fortalecimiento de la identidad a través

de la inclusión de los ancianos.

Social Impact of the Misuse of the Free Time

Blanca GONZÁLEZ MONROY1, Alejandra PEREZ1 and Melina PAREDES ACOSTA2, (1)INSTITUTO

TECNOLOGICO DE ATITALAQUIA, Mexico, (2)Instituto Tecnologico de Atitalalquia, Mexico

The increase in rates of violence and crime in the world constitute a complex social problem. In the state of

Hidalgo, as well as in many other states of Mexico, the problem is urgent. In the project "social impact of the

misuse of free time" -that responds to the demand on "the future that we want to" -, we are looking at the "free

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time" as an indicator of time potentially associated with the violence and as a factor of social risk implicit in all

ages.

Our attention is the construction of our own measures in the framework of human development indicators. The

project analyses the main physiological, social and cultural or recreational activities, from 18 to 25 year olds in

the city of Atitalaquia, Hgo. We apply second order reflexivity and a heuristic strategy from Sociocybernetics, as

well as the construction of complex systems from the Cybercultur@.

In the first part of our presentation, we present the codification criteria and the critical conditions of the region

observed from different disciplines. In the second part, we describe the unit of analysis that will enable us to

infer the most significant indicators for that group of young people in their socio-cultural conditions, and in the

third part we present some results of the field work and the first definitions of these index of measurement

violence in Atitalaquia.

Vejez y Vivienda. Casa De Retiro Auto-Sustentable Proyecto De Investigación Interdisciplinaria

Sobre Un Problema Complejo

Elisa Margarita MAASS, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico

En el proyecto de investigación interdisciplinaria de Vejez y Envejecimiento del CEIIH-UNAM, se desarrolla este

sobre Vejez y vivienda: una Casa de Retiro ecológica y auto-sustentable y auto-regulada (Bertalanffy 1968). El

objetivo de este trabajo es contribuir a la reflexión de la problemática de la vivienda en la vejez como un

problema complejo, desde una perspectiva sistémica. Metodológicamente se trabajaron entrevistas a

profundidad, una encuesta exploratoria y un estudio de la oferta de casas para adultos mayores en la ciudad de

México. El documento está estructurado en cuatro partes. Inicio con un estudio realizado en México sobre la

realidad de vivienda de para la vejez. Sigo con los resultados de un diagnóstico sobre lo que ofrecen las casas de

retiro y los costos econòmicos. Los resultados de la investigación interdisciplinaria nos llevan a proponer el

modelo de la Casa de Retiro auto-sustentable, auto-referente, auto-gestiva, y construido como un sistema

complejo adaptivo y la auto-regulado (Buckley 1998), a partir del concepto de sustentabilidad de desarrollo

sustentable y auto-determinado planteado por Amartya Sen (2002) y por Víctor Toledo (2004). Posteriormente

se presenta el Modelo de Planeación para vivir la vejez como toda una empresa colectiva y entre amigos, la

forma ecológica y sustentable para vivir con calidad de vida (salud, bienestar fìsica, mental, emocional) en la

etapa de adultos mayores produciendo sus propio alimentos y utilizando racionalmente los recursos naturales

de la zona y sus propios recursos culturales, económicos y sociales. Finalmente se presenta la aplicación de este

modelo en LaGuancha, una casa de retiro, constituida por un grupo interdisciplinario de adultos mayores, que

desean vivir en armonía, en paz y con respeto al compartir sus próximos años y en la etapa de retiro y vejez, en

un lugar creado con su trabajo.

Cultura Metro Como Modo De Relación: Investigación Interdisciplinaria Del Liderazgo Humano

Luciano GALLON1, Richard URIBE1, Juan F. MEJIA1, Hernando URIBE1 and Jairo GUTIERREZ2,

(1)Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Colombia, (2)Empresa de Transporte Masivo del Valle de

Aburrá / Metro de Medellín, Colombia

La historia de la humanidad, en cada uno de sus trayectos, ha exigido líderes para movilizar el progreso, la

transformación y el cambio; no obstante, la formación de líderes es una práctica ética, política y estética que

exige pensar los contextos de manera situada y, sin lugar a dudas, innovar en relación con las condiciones y

contingencias que el desarrollo mismo de las sociedades va imponiendo. En el caso de la ciudad de Medellín y

su Área Metropolitana, en Colombia, en donde el concepto líder ha sido relacionado en ocasiones con la riqueza,

el dominio de otros y el crecimiento egoísta de sí mismo, es ineludible pensar una condición de líder cuyo eje y

42

cualidad sea el trabajo comunitario, la formación de sí mismo y de otros, y la capacidad para afrontar la

transformación y el conflicto como posibilidades y oportunidades para formar y aprender a vivir mejor juntos.

Es en este panorama que el la Empresa de Transporte Masivo del Valle de Aburrá - Metro de Medellín y la

Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana diseñaron y llevaron a cabo la Diplomatura Formación de líderes Metro:

cultura como modo de relación, como una práctica de formación humana que dinamiza y actualiza la Cultura

Metro y permite que, cada vez más, los ciudadanos vivan una experiencia amable con su ciudad, puesto que se

construyen con ella y trabajan activamente por su cuidado, su sostenibilidad y su futuro. De esta manera se

realiza investigación interdisciplinaria del liderazgo humano, en una lógica comprensiva que entiende la cultura

como modo de relación que construye relaciones entre personas que se lideran a sí mismas y a otros para la

construcción de la paz, la calidad de vida y el bienestar para lograr una ciudad amable.

10:45 - 12:15,

Science Its Power, Responsibility and the Limits of Human Knowing

Session Organizer: Arne KJELLMAN, Stockholm University, Sweden

Chair: Chaime MARCUELLO-SERVOS, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain

The Limits of Knowing and Re-Emergence of Human Feeling in Science.

Arne KJELLMAN, Stockholm University, Computer and Systems Sciences, Sweden, Sweden

This presentation, which builds on the “Subject-Oriented Approach to Knowing” (SOA), discusses the limits of

human experience and knowing. It shows that the phenomenon of life cannot be understood unless the concept

of human feeling is re-introduced into science at a very fundamental level. The claim is that in the very moment

a subject/thinker/knower introduces “matter”, or the like, as something real or distinct from the subject, she

has introduced a crippling matter/mind distinction from which human knowing can never recover.

With the SOA, the dichotomies of truth or falsity, right or wrong, fact or value disappear, and the role of science

as a pursuit of ‘truth’ is undermined. Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle applies to all forms of decision as such

also truth assessments, which are now relativized along the lines of Protagoras’ ancient suggestion that “Man is

the measure of all things.” As such all decisions are intimately tied to his feelings by means of the SOA’s model

of human consciousness and knowing, which is in many respects close to Henry Poincaré’s 1898 proposal. This

also means that all knowledge endeavours can be grouped under the same umbrella, as the physicist Ernst Mach

once suggested, and the cleft between the social and natural sciences is removed.

The idea of a common objective reality gives way to the idea of a private universe – a ‘priverse’ – belonging to

each and every person, and laboriously constructed on the basis of purely private experience. It is to mankind,

or at least science, no longer any need to fall back on some ultimate ‘external’ power of intelligence or

omnipotence. Man is by reason fully capable of handling life without the guiding principles or laws of some all-

mighty God, and is consistently free to embrace ‘internal’ God/gods of his own personal desire.

Rolando García's Complex Systems Theory and Its Relevance to Sociocybernetics

Gaston BECERRA, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina and Jose Antonio AMOZURRUTIA,

Centro de Investigaciones Interdisciplinarias en Ciencias y Humanidades (CEIICH). UNAM, Mexico

43

Complex Systems Theory by the Argentine-Mexican physicist and epistemologist Rolando García provides a

comprehensive framework to approach complex issues or complex problems requiring an interdisciplinary

approach. In this work its theoretical framework, proposal for methodology and constructivist epistemology are

summarized and evaluated in accordance to their relevance for sociocybernetic. In our opinion, García’s proposal

not only shares core principles of sociocybernetics but also make several contributions to its major challenges:

a dialectical analysis of the interdisciplinary praxis based on differentiations and integrations and supported by

a strong reflexivity on research questions, observables and system variables; a discussion of how central the

researchers’ political viewpoint is to framing the questions-guidelines and constructing the system; making

observables and inferences explicit along with outlining the empirical complex.

Gotthard Guenther's Claim for a Cybernetics of Volition

Karl-Heinz SIMON, Center for Environmental Systems Research, University of Kassel, Kassel,

Germany

In the analysis of many real-world problems the gap between knowledge and behavior / action is recognized.

From a philosophical point of view such a gap is not a surprise because of the influential Cartesian tradition in

which mind and body, reason and will are strictly separated. Beside others, G Guenther broke with that tradition

and claims for cybernetics to adopt a crucial role in solving social and political problems (1971/1979), going hand

in hand with a closer connection of Reason and Will. He states that cognition and volition are two exactly

complementary aspects of subjectivity.

Both aspects can be interpreted as forming a feedback loop: environment – (cognition) - subject - (volition) -

environment. The different interfaces are identical with a change in structural form, a structural upgrading. The

subject is urged to act in a situation which is not fully determined by the environment. What does that mean

when that situation is characterized as of a higher structural complexity? A possible answer should refer to

information processing in the subject’s part of the loop, e.g. reflections on the future of circumstances which

cannot be extracted from purely objective facts. Another crucial problem is about the differentiation of

“subjectivity” or the general subject in manifold interacting subjectivities.

Some interesting consequences of such a concept of feedback will be discussed. However, Guenther goes one

step further and tries to develop a calculus representing these interfaces that link cognition with volition. It is

centered around a principal exchangeability of form (subjectivity) and the material content of form (objectivity).

According to the change in structural form a new operator is introduced, called “proemial” relationship, which

“represents a peculiar interlocking of exchange and order”, thereby relativizing the difference between form

and matter. A first impression of how the calculus works will be presented.

The Society of the Brain: An Introduction

Fermin ARELLANO MORLAS, RC51, Spain

The development of neuroscience has advanced importantly in the last decades. It consisted in overcoming the

internal physiological brain and the nervous system, to reach a practical application in other sciences. This lead

to the appearance of new fields such as neuroeconomy, neuromarketing, neurolinguistics, and also

neurosociology.

We part from the knowledge we have reached from the way our brain functions to apply it to other sciences.

We also have to bear in mind that we do not have an accepted model of the brain itself.

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It is for this, that we suggest what it would be another step forward in the development of neuroscience. Using

the knowledge of sociology, we will approach, using its tools and methodology, a new model of the functioning

of the human brain. We are talking about social neuroscience.

Some classical authors have defined the object of study of sociology as the search and interpretation of a social

fact or a social action. Here, we suggest that is more useful to our purposes to consider communication as a

nexus of both fields. This leads us to Luhmann´s theory of social systems. The mind/brain can be observed

through complexity perspective. It can be considered as a way of penetration that accompanies the assimilation

and accommodation inside the learning process.

In this introduction, some examples will help us in the consideration of the brain as a society. Among them, we

will point out the theory of the moral panic of Stanley Cohen and its relation with the investigations of Antonio

Damasio about emotions. We will also study the attention process and the options selection in a world of scarce

or the framework of conformity and its cognitive aspects.

The Withdrawal and Comeback of Subject from Niklas Luhmann's Perspectives

Hsiao-Mei JUAN, National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan

This article will study the human existence and related issues in the modern society based on Niklas Luhmann’s

theories. It takes the problematic of subject seriously and tries to connect with the increasingly popular de-

subjectivation and reconstruction of subject in the fields of sociology as well as sociological theory. Guided by

Luhmann’s theoretical concepts, this project wishes to comb the different dimensions and levels of human

picture, clarify their relationships and point out the contribution, limitation and further perspectives of

Luhmann’s theory. It will concentrate on withdrawal and comeback of subject, namely on the switch of questions

from “What is the subject” to “How is human regarded as subject”. By so doing, it will give the human a

subjective position sociologically and explore the reasoning of human as subject, without appealing to

transcendental subject and his ability. Concretely speaking, this article will take consideration of social structure,

emotion, body and material object into the formation of subject. It will also explore the consequential issues

involved in the process of withdrawal and comeback of the subject, for example, alienation, aloneness, deficit

of meaning, disintegration and narcissism epidemic, analyzing the subjective identity and its possible risk in the

modern society. Based on the theoretical reflection, this aarticle will try to figure out a more appropriate frame

to grasp and interpret the different, controversial and paradoxical dimensions of individualization.

14:15 - 15:45,

Social Forces behind Our Backs - Searching for Points of Intervention

Special RC51 Session

Session Organizer: John RAVEN, Eye on Society, United Kingdom

Chair: Bernd HORNUNG, University Hospital Giessen and Marburg, Germany

Room: Hoersaal 15, Juridicum

45

The Issue:

Social life has conflicting premises. Society is clearly man-made, but when we are born into it and start actingt, it is a given.

Acting in it, we often intend to change it, sometimes it does change sometimes not. If we succeed to change something,

often it changes in a way different from what we had intended. Moreover, there are many changes which are unintended.

Social processes are going on in structures which are given at that moment. Often they go on behind our backs and without

being realized, moving society in directions we may not want. Attempts at controlling and steering such social forces have

turned out quite ineffective. Organizational actors which are supposed to do so, e.g. governments, are quite helpless, the

more we move towards global issues. "Social forces" does not refer to some global conspiracy group, but to the

mechanisms and processes built into society at a given moment.

This problem was presented in previous conferences of RC51. This session is intended to explore to what extent and

possibly by what (new and innovative) mechanisms human intention can effectively influence where society is going, also

at the global level. The session will start with a series of short introductory statements by the presenters an invited

panellists, after which discussion will be open also to the participants, so that hopefully ideas about “points of

intervention” will come up.

14:15 - 14:45

1) John Raven: What is the problem?

2) Bernd Hornung: Some ideas towards solutions

3) Karl-Heinz Simon: Helpful techniques of modeling social, technical, and ecosystems

4) Luciano Gallon: The potential contribution of computer simulation

5) Francisco Leon and Jordi Tena-Sanchez: A role for agent-based simulation?

6) David Hernández Casas: A sociopoetics of dwelling, A point of intervention?

7) Michael Paetau: A role for new social movements like the “Pirates” in Germany?

14:45 - 15:45

Plenary discussion with the panelists. Please note, the challenge is to present within 3 minutes a SMALL NUMBER OF KEY

POINTS of the paper/view which may be discussed in the following.

Note:

We expect to make the full papers by John Raven, Bernd Hornung, Francisco Leon and Jordi Tena-Sanchez, and David

Hernández Casas, as scheduled in the original program, available on CD along with some additional materials about the

issue.

Harnessing Social Processes for the Common Good

John RAVEN, Eye on Society, United Kingdom

46

The paper deals with ways of tackling the serious ecological, economic, and social problems facing our society.

Findings suggest that these problems are not economic but arise from the way society is run. The solution

proposes is a learning and management system which is decentralised, dynamic, and characterised by innovation

and evaluation. It will not appeal to those preoccupied with centralised planning, control, orderliness, and

narrowly defined efficiency.

The first of three requirements for any radical transformation in society is the creation of a climate of innovation

going along with better arrangements for monitoring innovative experiments.

Second, the evolution of much better arrangements is required for initiating the collection of information,

bringing it together, sifting it for good ideas, initiating action, monitoring the results, learning from the

monitoring process, and restarting the cycle. This is primarily a responsibility for public servants.

Third, new ways of thinking about management, bureaucracy, democracy, and citizenship are required.

Recognition is necessary that management has to focus on releasing the energy, creativity, and initiative of

others. Such innovation requires new forms of participative democracy grounded in network based supervision

of the public service. It cannot not be implemented by central decree. The invisible hand of the marketplace will

be replaced by visible monitoring and learning arrangements aimed at understanding systems processes. This

will allow the consideration, assessment, and control of multiple determinants of events and identification of a

wide range of desired and desirable outcomes.

The main aim of this paper is to help to operationalise a concept of “the information society”. An issue not

discussed in the paper, but to which input is expected from the audience, is methodology. What is the

appropriate methodology to understand and analyze the systems processes? Systemograms? Computer

simulation? If so, which kind of simulation?

Human Resources, Management, and Leadership in Turbulent Times. Stephen Covey from a

Sociocybernetic View: A Point of Intervention?

Bernd HORNUNG, Data Protection Office, University Hospital Giessen and Marburg, Marburg,

Germany

Society is man-made, but when we are born into it and start acting, it is a given. Social processes are going on in

structures given at that moment. Often they go on behind our backs without being realized, moving society in

unwanted directions. Attempts at controlling and steering such social forces turned out quite ineffective, and

organizational actors, which are supposed to do so (like governments), are quite helpless. "Social forces" does

not refer to some global conspiracy group, but to the mechanisms and processes built into society at a given

moment.

This paper explores to what extent and possibly by what mechanisms human intention can effectively influence

where society is going, also at the global level.

For coping with this situation it is proposed. To say definitely farewell to the machine paradigm of determination

of social processes and to adopt a cybernetic view, conceiving individuals, social systems, and societies as

navigating in troubled waters which cannot be influenced while social systems themselves can be steered. Covey

calls this the knowledge-worker mindset.

Also individual, collective, and organizational behaviours are needed towards what Covey calls the habits of

effective people, which corresponds to sociocybernetic principles.

With regard to the latter the present paper proposes that the ideas of the late Stephen Covey, a renowned

researcher, consultant, and coach in management and leadership might show a way to develop such new and

different behaviours the current state of the world calls for.

Covey calls this new orientation the "industrial mind-set" vs. the "knowledge worker mind-set" of knowledge

society. He presents a coherent scientifically grounded approach which is not declared "systemic" or "(socio-

47

)cybernetic" explicitly. Implicitly, however, Covey takes a systems approach and the paper will argue that it is

fully in line with sociocybernetics and the new orientations e.g. John Raven calls for.

Preference Falsification, Social Influence and Triggering Events of Abrupt Social Changes

Francisco LEON, Universitat de Girona, Spain and Jordi TENA-SANCHEZ, Universitat Autonoma de

Barcelona, Spain

Kuran’s models of preference falsification helped us to better understand why some abrupt social changes take

us by surprise but are perfectly explainable in hindsight. To him, sudden changes in public opinion are sometimes

the result of certain social influence processes that put an end to a lasting period of concealment of private

preferences. In this paper, we present an Agent-Based Simulation that allows us to overcome some of the main

limitations of Kuran’s models. (1) Unlike classical mathematical models based on homogeneous and utility

maximizing agents, we model heterogeneous actors guided by simple and cognitive feasible decision rules

(heuristics) conditioned by time, space and social interactions. (2) Our model captures the central role of status

hierarchies in preference falsification: the concealment of beliefs is highly dependent on face-to-face

interactions between high and low status agents. (3) We also model the impact of preference falsification on

beliefs adaptation. While the concealment of private preferences could be seen as a result of social forces

operating upon the individual, our model shows that micro-level social influence processes taking place in small

groups explain the spread of preference falsification, but they also have the potential for its reversal. Analyzing

the simulation outputs we identify some triggering events that can lead to a massive disclosure of private

preferences and thus to an abrupt change in public opinion. Specifically, we focus our analysis in the role of

exogenous factors affecting (1) agents’ beliefs about others’ opinions, (2) people’s political thresholds for

preference falsification, and (3) changes in the distribution of private preferences. The knowledge of these

triggering events could help us to improve our ability to steer social influence dynamics in such a way that the

undesirable and distorting gap between public and private political preferences could be overtaken, thus leading

to relevant social changes.

Epistemology for a Sociopoetics on Dwelling

David HERNANDEZ CASAS, UNAM, Mexico

Mexico city has become a constant reminder of our failure as dwellers and designers of our habitat. Architecture

and urbanism are two disciplines that have shaped the city and the way people inhabit it. But these have failed

to account for a city that is for the peolpe and not just for commerce or politics and cars. Therefore, failed

architecture and urbanism are only capable to produce wrong representations and practices of dwelling.

My research question is: What epistemological, sociological and artistic integrated processes might be

constructed to look for a sociopoetics that aims to transform representations and practices of inhabiting our

city? To achieve that porpuse I have integrated a theoretical corpus under a systemic perspective based on the

Adaptive Model for Social Analysis.[1] Formed by: a) Piaget and Rolando Garcia’s genetic and constructivist

epistemology, b) Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of habitus[2] and, c) a block of artistic, architectonic, urbanistic and

philosophical discourses on dwelling. With these basis I can face the challenge to have a better understanding

of the habitus of dwelling organized as a complex social system, and it also guides me into constructing an artistic

practice that I call sociopoetics.

As part of the results of such sociopoetics, I present the project called “Ciudad en segundo piso/Pie de casa de

azotea” as a series of artistic, architectural and urbanistic proposals designed by myself to come up with better

ways of living within Mexico City’s chaotic environment.

[1] Amozurrutia, J. (2011). Complejidad y Ciencias Sociales. Un modelo adaptativo para la investigación

interdisciplinaria. México. CEIICH-UNAM

48

[2] García R. (2000). El conocimiento en Construcción. España. Gedisa, y Bourdieu, Pierre. (1997). Razones

Prácticas. Sobre la teoría de la acción. Barcelona. Anagrama y (2012). La Distinción. Criterio y bases sociales del

gusto. México. Taurus

16:00 - 17:30,

RC51 Business Meeting

Thursday, 14 July 2016

09:00 - 10:30,

Inclusive Innovation for Inclusive Growth

Session Organizer: Eva BUCHINGER, Austrian Institute of Technology AIT, Austria

Chair: Saburo AKAHORI, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University, Japan

Socioenvironmental Development As a Guided Self-Organized PHASE Transition

Felipe LARA-ROSANO, Centro de Ciencias de la Complejidad, UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL

AUTONOMA DE MEXICO, Mexico

Development is an evolutionary socioeconomic process characterized by the improvement in the sustainable

satisfaction of the basic needs of the population related with a societal system.

A socioeconomic system has four types of interrelated economic processes:

a) Production of goods.

b) Exchanging part of the goods produced for other goods produced outside the system.

c) Investing part of the available goods to enlarge its productive infrastructure.

d) Consuming part of the available goods to satisfy the needs of its population.

It is the balanced development of these four types of economic processes what allows the development of the

socioeconomic system.

The socioeconomic system may be modeled as a complex adaptive system in interaction with its environment.

Its four economic processes have properties expressed as state variables associated with a value that is changing

through the development process. The analysis of the development dynamics is based on the behavior of these

state variables.

49

An underdeveloped society is not able to satisfy the basic physiological and safety needs of the majority of its

people because its state is on the basin of a poverty attractor. Then it must implement a guided self-organizing

phase transition to a sustainable development attractor as following:

1. Analyze its economic processes through participatory workshops.

2. Define short, medium and long-term development objectives.

3. Prioritize problems to be solved in the development process.

4. Identify and collect the appropriate resources to solve the detected problems.

5. Programming, implementing and monitoring the specific actions to address the problems identified.

In this paper a conceptual model of the development process is presented, based on the Complex Systems

Approach and tested through a field research and a detailed case study in the State Chiapas.

Inclusive Innovation: A Systems Theoretic Perspective

Eva BUCHINGER, Innovation Systems, Austrian Institute of Technology AIT, Austria

Inclusive innovation is nowadays a catchword in political strategies such as of the OECD, the World Bank, and

the European Union. Because of its diverse use, the underlying theoretical foundation is somewhat blurred. This

contribution aims at clarifying the concept of inclusive innovation on the basis of social systems theory (N.

Luhmann, R. Stichweh). Inclusive innovation can thereby occur on several system levels: basically on the level of

interaction systems (face-to-face), followed by the level of organization systems (membership) and – most close

to the above mentioned political concern – on the level of function systems such as education, economy, health

etc. Therefore, the focus will be on the latter. Inclusive innovation on the level of function systems can unfold in

four steps. First, identify weakly included (or even excluded) societal groups (elderly people, unemployed youth,

migrants etc.). Second, ensure that weakly included groups do have a reasonable chance to be included (good

education, reasonable jobs, optimal health-care etc.). Third, consider the (possible) necessity of innovations

especially designed to better integrate the weakly included (i.e. social innovations such as micro-credits or

product innovations such as easy useable, cheap equipment especially designed for the weakly integrated).

Forth, enable participation in the development of future benefits and services which these function systems

provide (via ‘open innovation’, ‘distributed innovation’, ‘user innovation’ etc.). From a systems theoretical

perspective it is most striking that a person (i.e. an embodied psychic system with a social ‘persona’) is usually

not fully integrated in every function system (e.g. as it may be true for the science system). Therefore, the

concept of inclusive innovation may also not be treated as a universal demand. This contribution will discuss the

above mentioned four steps of inclusive innovation in relation to the specific conditions of different functions

systems.

Complexity of Social Systems in the Era of Information Overload

Czeslaw MESJASZ, Cracow University of Economics, Poland

Increasing amount of information in modern society has brought about numerous unpredicted and

unpredictable consequences. One of them is changing meaning of complexity applied in description and analysis

of phenomena at all levels of societal hierarchy. A survey of definitions of complexity of social systems allows to

identify two approaches. First, “hard” complexity associated with mathematical modelling of non-linear

phenomena, dynamical systems, etc. Second, “soft” complexity, which is either based upon analogies and

metaphors deriving from the “hard” complexity, or which is associated with qualitative indigenous ideas of

complexity of social systems, e.g. Luhmann. It may be concluded that complexity reflects subjective perception

of the world and of the observer herself/himself – “complexity is in the eyes of the beholder” and social systems

can be treated as self-reflexive “complexities of complexities”.

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The interpretation of complexity of social systems as a consequence of insufficient capability of information

processing by an observer obtains a new weight in the time of exponentially increasing amount of information

stored and transmitted in modern society.

The aim of the paper is to provide at least partial answers to the following questions:

What types of barriers of perception and understanding of social systems by individual observers result from

increased amount of information?

What are the consequences of information asymmetry in social systems resulting from the increasing amount

of information?

What are the new phenomena associated with reflexivity and self-reflexivity of social systems which are

resulting from rapidly increasing amount of information?

Inclusion of Digital Technologies in the School of Catalonia, Spain. Consequences of the

Compulsive Implementation of the 1x1 Project: "Escuela 2.0"

Pablo RIVERA, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain; Universitat de Barcelona, Spain

Nowadays we are experiencing a growing phenomenon of overcrowding and inclusion of digital technologies in

key areas of our lives. However, a reflective and democratic basis has not always been given to this process.

Compulsive initiatives have also proliferated, demonstrating the existence of a deterministic trend regarding its

use, imposing the debate about the need and real use of them.

This situation tends to increase in education area, where the inclusion of digital technologies in the classroom is

generating profound institutional andpedagogical changes. An emblematic case of this is the "Escuela2.0"

project, that was implemented by the Spanish Government in 2009 in order topromote the digitization of the

classroom in the first secondary years and in some primary schools. This digitalization was executed providing

infrastructureand equipment as well as training and advice to the teachers. However, given the rejection

generated by its compulsive execution by part of the educational community and the deep economic crisis lived

in Spain in 2012, the project was canceled. As consequence, hundreds of schools were left adrift with the

obligation to manage the project by themselves.

The process and the results obtained during the execution of the doctoral research entitled "Between innovation

and transience in the technological education policies: analysis of the impact of the "Escuela2.0" project in

Catalonia" are described in this paper. The actions that have been promoted byschools and the administration

once the project was closed are analyzed. In addition, emphasis is placed on the analysis of the consequences

of carrying out a public policy of this type in a compulsively way. The research was carried out through a study

case in the Salvador Espriu High School, located in Barcelona which is a reference center about the inclusion of

digital technologies in the classroom.

The Transformation of Reflexivity and Japanese Market

Machiko NAKANISHI, Chukyo University, Japan

The purpose of my presentation is to discuss the transformation of reflexivity and to study reflexivity in the

Japanese market. Reflexivity refers to the concept of reflecting oneself in the presence of others, and discovering

51

oneself by other’s reflections. By repeating this feedback process, we change who we are. In self-reflexivity agent

reflects on itself. Institutional reflexivity refers to social conditions upon which agent reflects.

Anthony Giddens thinks it is very important for reflexivity to be based on sociological and linguistic foundations.

He suggests many personal habits become collective as they are shaped by commodification, or as a result of

the influences of institutional reflexivity. Urlich Beck distinguishes reflection as self-conscious and reflexivity as

autonomous. He defines the autonomous, undesired, and unseen transition from industrial to risk society.

Scott Lash criticizes Beck and Gidddens, as they presuppose that reflexivity is essentially cognitive and

institutional. He draws attention to the aesthetic dimension of reflexivity than the cognitive. He insists capitalism

opens up possibilities not only cognitive but also aesthetic reflexivity. Aesthetic reflexivity is fundamentally

mimetic in nature, and is in the tradition of European modernism in the arts. It can be seen in the expressive

individualism in contemporary consumer capitalism. He also argues about hermeneutic reflexivity.

The concept of reflexivity changes according to social change. The senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch

are changed by markets and, globalized by commodification. Including senses, emotions, and consumer behavior

etc., new reflexivities can be born and transform themselves according to markets, which I call market reflexivity.

I conclude that in the global information society, market reflexivity will change us more radically and quickly

than at present. It is important especially for Japanese, to be conscious of market reflexivity to predict its future

affects and other reflexivities that may arise.

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10:45 - 12:15,

Epistemic Uncertainty and Complexity Theories

Session Organizer: Andrea PITASI, World Complexity Science Academy, Italy

Chair: Andrea PITASI, Gabriele D'Annunzio University, Italy

Determinism and Unpredictability in Social Systems: Can Law Engender Development?

Andre FOLLONI, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Brazil

Most of the complex systems studied by the hard sciences, such as physical dynamical systems, modify

themselves according to determinant rules that can be described in mathematical terms. Those rules are what

we call scientific laws. Laws of this kind cannot be violated – you can’t violate the law of gravity. The determinism

associated with these rules lead to the thought that scientific method can engender a kind of knowledge that is

able to predict how a dynamical complex system will behave in the future: since you know the initial conditions

of a system and the rules that govern its evolution, than you will necessarily know how the system will behave

and also its final state. Chaos theory had shown how even systems governed by deterministic rules can behave

in unpredictably ways, if the system is sensitively dependent on the initial conditions. Chaos theory is then

responsible for the separation between determinism and predictability, at least in chaotic complex systems.

Hence one of the most important epistemological consequences of chaos theory is to accept that science does

not necessarily have to predict to be a real science, and that explain or describe does not necessarily involve the

ability of prediction. This situation is even more important in the soft sciences, such as social sciences, since the

behavior of the social systems’ agents is governed by rules that can be violated, whether these are economical,

ethical, legal or religious rules. So it seems like it is especially difficult to predict human and social behavior in

the long term. If this is true, then every attempt to create a law to produce some social consequence is involved

with a deep degree of uncertainty, and then complexity science in social sciences is even more complex than in

natural sciences.

The Notion of ‘Phase Transition' in the Social Science

Massimiliano RUZZEDDU, University Niccolo Cusano Rome, Italy

The notion ‘phase transition’ is one of the most important in the system and complexity theories. It denotes the

passage of a system to a different condition. Actually, the use of notion is quite more frequent in the natural

science, especially physics, and includes phenomena like liquid to vapor, not-magnetic to magnetic etc. This

presentation will explore the epistemic potentiality of this notion within the social sciences, where this category

denotes all the cases of social change of a system, no matter if global, national or local.

More precisely, I will focus on the difference between the first order and the second order phase transitions.

While the first describes an abrupt change from one state of order to another, the second refers to gradual and

fluid changes, with high degrees of chaos in the between.

The point is that, while the social structures change according to second order phase transitions, with chaotic

states such as strives, conflicts and other turbulences, the social representations of change are habitually first

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order. In other words, gaps can arise between social actors, which figure out immediate and complete changes,

and structural changes, which are slow, incomplete and unclear.

Namely, those gaps are nowadays most frequent in the contemporary political-juridical domains, where political

programs and/or laws are issued to quickly respond to an ever growing number of social demands. The

consequence is that those programs fail to meet those demands, like in the case of school reforms in Italy. Basing

on this idea, I will try to draw a theoretical model, that can give account of the possible failures in the political

goal implementation, in term of conflicts between legal/political systems that hold first order phase-transitions

and the social structure that changes through second order phase-transitions.

Complexity and New Media Representations

Ivo Stefano GERMANO, University of Molise, Italy and Giorgio PORCELLI, University of Trieste, Italy

The analysis of complexity is so important as the study of the way in which complexity is communicated in

today’s world. So far the sociological debate has interpreted new media either within a technological perspective

or through a critical approach. This contribution aims at presenting an analysis of the new media environment

within the perspective of the theory of complexity. New media as the main conduit of today social

communication represents both an hyper-complex environment in itself and the representation of an hyper-

complex world. According to Luhmann sociology should be an unveiling science. However the same unveiling

attitude hasn’t been implemented by new media studies more prone to the hope of refounding the community

and follow the fashion and the enthusiasm towards everything that is or makes the network. These two features

constitutes, in Luhmann’s view, an environmental noise with respect to digital communication. In “Theory of

Society” Luhmann and De Giorgi consider the topic of the novelty of the communicative processes as an issue

of systemic reduction. Following the same path the argument could be extended and be an attempt to read the

luhmannian categories of the mass media reality and apply them to the new media context. Then it could be

possible to think of new media as an organizational and territorial “network environment” and with respect to

social communication as a new binary code of the new media semantic.

Visualizing Complex Global Change

Andrea PITASI, World Complexity Science Academy, Italy; Gabriele D'Annunzio University, Italy

At the very beginning of the famous movie WALL STREET – MONEY NEVER SLEEPS-Gordon Gekko starred by

Michael Douglas gets out of jail after 8 years. The out of field commentary says that every financial crisis is a

Cambrian Explosion……Sociological imagination is also the capability to visualize the invisible, intangible,

immsterial of social phenomena , especially the most complex ones : a spiral can help to make sense visually of

even the most turbulent dynamics

We are all living in a new “Cambrian Explosion” through which obsolete knowledge and beliefs are destroyed

and emerging new evolutionary systems start taking shape also possible to be visualized as turbulent, complex,

nonlinear, convergent metaspiral of convergent lower order convergence and this metoconvergence of

convergences shapes a spiral which is the visualization of the theorem of the next complex systems evolution.

ƒx Visualizing knowledge is systemically pivotal and the convergence of convergences (metaconvergence) is

taking shape as follows.

Starting from an interdisciplinary perspective this essay is focused on the analysis regarding how the megatrends

of demography, technological convergence and world order redesign are shaping a dematerialized global

scenario in which a key systemic bifurcation is emerging: on one side the Malthus Trap on the other one the

Gegnet, the limitless opening to the possible

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Navigating the Sea of Epistemic Uncertainty in a World of Complexity

Ton JORG, University of Utrecht, Netherlands

Living in the Age of Complexity, most scholars of complexity have no clear understanding of complexity. This

state of art is very much part of what Helga Nowotny has called “the embarrassment of complexity” (Nowotny,

2013). This embarrassment “begins when we realize that old structures are no longer adequate and the new

ones are not yet in place” (p. 1). She continues: “when it dawns on us that the categories we normally use to

neatly separate issues or problems fall far short of corresponding to the real world, with all its non-linear

dynamical inter-linkages” (p. 1). Her position seems in agreement with other complexity scholars who have

noticed that complexity itself is still very much a contested concept. According to Melanie Mitchell “[M]any think

the word complexity is not meaningful” (Mitchell, 2011). She also makes mention of the fact that to most

complexity scholars there is not yet a science of complexity (see Mitchell, 2011, p. 299). Neither is a general

theory of complexity yet available. So, it may be concluded that understanding complexity is still very much a

problem in our 21st century of complexity. This problem may be linked to “a crisis of knowledge” (Cilliers, 1998,

p. 121). Time is ripe to recognize this crisis and to deal with this crisis of knowing itself (Jörg, 2014). In my

presentation, I will go deeper into the nature of the crisis: how this crisis is linked to how we view the role of

complexity in the world. This complexity is still very much a hidden complexity. Complexity can manifest itself

as dynamic, self-generating, self-sustaining, self-maintaining, and self-potentiating (Rescher, 1998). This the very

complexity we cannot see, but which is part of the real world. Time is ripe to reframe complexity for the sake of

dealing with this still hidden complexity.

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