Self-organizing social systems

This purpose of this page is to explore the hypotheses:

"All groups of people self-organize.
The possibilities are limited only by
the integrative abilities of the members."

I. All groups of people self-organize.

We don't have to cite a lot or research to prove this. Just look around you. The data are ubiquitous. Every time a group gets together they form some sort of structure. If you need more proof than your own experience, try these websites:

evolution of cultures
kinship and social organization
game theory and evolution of cooperation

II. The possibilities of group evolution are limited only by the integrative skills of the members.

First, what limits any group?
Too much stability.

Many interesting phenomena arise from the interaction of a large number of individual components. Examples include turbulent fluids, the stock market, the ecosystem, and the brain. Recent advances in computing permit such systems to be studied using simple models with a large number of variables. These models exhibit many of the general properties of natural complex systems such as self-organization, evolution, adaptation, and artificial intelligence.

Characteristics of Self-organising systems

1. Bottom-up Organisation
•No central controller.
•Parts of the system interact locally, and respond (and maybe even learn) on the basis of local interactions.
•The global behaviour of the system is the emergent result of local behaviours.

2. Graceful Degradation
As parts of the system are removed, the system's performance will slowly worsen.
There is no sudden failure in the systems performance.

3.The "Edge of Chaos" Bifurcation
The basic idea here is that
Stability=Stagnation
The ability to adapt is the ability to respond to changing conditions. The systems which are best able to adapt are the ones which are least locked into particular patterns of activity.
Some degree of order is however necessary. The less stable a system is, whilst still retaining a degree of order, the better able to adapt it will be. The boundary between order and chaos is called the edge of chaos bifurcation. For more on how facilitators help their groups progress by staying on the edge of chaos see the page on conceptual pluralism.

Ilya Prigogine is a good basic source on systems on the edge of chaos or non-equilibrium systems. Or you can explore the foundations of this field by looking into von Bertalanffy and the origin of systems.

Building groups on the edge of chaos

In social systems, the group must first stay on this boundary if it is to progress. Then it is open to the integration of conflicting approaches which will enable it to progress. To learn how to integrate conflicting perspectives, see the page on integration, synthesis and innovation

As these skills become established in the group, the facilitator's job becomes steering the group away from stagnating stability. The successful facilitator becomes an inducer and manager of chaos.