• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
INVITED PAPER
Toward a formal theoryof socioculture
A
yin-yang 
information-based theoryof social change
M. Yolles
School of Business Information, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK 
B.R. Frieden
Optical Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA, and 
G. Kemp
 Lentz Foundation, Hest Bank, Lancaster, UK 
Abstract
Purpose
– This paper aims to initiate a new, formal theory of sociocultural physics.
Design/methodology/approach
– Its intended scope is limited to predicting either long-term,large-scale or short-term, small-scale sociocultural events. The theory that the authors develop, calledsociohistory, links three independent but relatable approaches: part of Sorokin’s epistemologicaltheory of sociocultural dynamics, Frieden’s epistemological theory of extreme physical information(EPI), and Yolles’s social viable systems (SVS) theory.
Findings
– Although not all of Sorokin’s ideas are universally accepted, a subset of them is found tobe extremely useful for describing the conceptual context of complex systems. This includes howsociocultural processes link closely into political processes.
Research limitations/implications
– The theory that develops helps explain how opposing,cultural enantiomers or
yin-yang 
forces (represented, for instance, by the polar mindsets represented inIslamic fundamentalism and global enterprise) can result in violent conflict, or in either viable ornon-viable social communities. The informations
I 
and
J 
of EPI theory are regarded, respectively, assensate and ideational enantiomers.
Originality/value
– While the resulting sociocultural physics is in its infancy, an illustrativeapplication to the developmental dynamics of post-colonial Iran demonstrates its potential utility.
Keywords
Cybernetics, Physics, Social structure
Paper type
Research paper
1. Introduction
In this section, we shall posit some of the notions that are essential to underpin anyattempt to create a formal theory of socioculture that some people may refer to associocultural physics. The problem with this title is that physics is a logical andphenomenal/material exploration, and does not incorporate notions of consciousness.In exploring socioculture we shall explore the background ideas that facilitatesociocultural physics, and then move onto notions of sociohistory and psychohistorythat will refer to our approach. We shall then look at some of the ideas that are relevant
K37,7
850
KybernetesVol. 37 No. 7, 2008pp. 850-909
 
to exploring sociocultural dynamics as past and future history. Beyond this we shalldefine and then set up the formal basis for our approach. This basis will be constitutedthrough logical and mathematical formulations for sociohistory. Finally, we shallsummarize and reflect on what we have attempted to develop.
1.1 Background to a sociocultural physics
There is a growing literature on attempts to purposely view sociocultural problems asphysical problems. The aim is to apply modern mathematical methods of physics tosolve problems in economics, health care, sociology, psychology, political science, etc.(Capra, 1983; Wheatley, 1999). What could justify such a synthesis? Our view is that allsuch phenomena share a common property of being sensate, and therefore, observed.The observation of any effect, be it physical or sociocultural in nature, gives rise to aflow of information from the effect (or noumenon of Kant) to the observer. This flow of information follows a mathematical principle called extreme physical information(EPI). Use of the principle gives the mathematical description of the effect, as a law of physics. Hence, the use of EPI is epistemological in nature. In this paper, EPI is appliedto sociocultural phenomena (general uses of EPI have been reported on at recentconference sessions devoted to EPI applications. See references at the end to “ThirdInternational Workshop (2004)” and “Cybernetics and Information Technologies,Systems and Applications” (CITSA, 2005)).Inpractice,EPIiscombinedwithanotherepistemologicaltheory,thatofPitrimSorokin.This has been expressed in terms of social viable systems (SVS) of Yolles and elaboratedupon in order to create the basis for a social physics. EPI is generally applied to find theprobability law that defines a given system. We will find that the application of EPI to asociocultural system through the use of SVS likewise results in a definite theory. This isexpressedinthegeneralformofawaveequationthatrepresentssocioculturalcurrentsintime. The equation can adopt the structure of classical statistical mechanics, or insteadmay be non-classical in nature. Classical statistical mechanics is typically capable of addressing both equilibrium and non-equilibrium system states. This suggests likecapabilities for the approach taken here, though it must be said that such extrapolationwithouttheprovisionofasuitablepropositionalbasewithinthesocioculturalcontextdoesusnofavors.Consequently,thescopeofthesocioculturaltheoryispurposelyrestricted.Inparticular, a quantum theory of sociocultural events that is offered by EPI is not yetsufficiently understood to explore significantly.A suitable theory is capable, in principle, of being used for prediction. Attempts toquantifyandpredicthistorydateapproximatelyfromnineteenthcenturyFrance.TheideawasoriginallypositedbyAugusteComte(1798-1857).Sincethenavoluminousamountof literature has amassed on the subject. Recent attempts appear sufficiently instructive.Work in the 1960s exposed a caveat that any such theory must address. At that time,ambitious socialscientiststried tomathematicallyquantifya number ofill-definedsocialbenefitsandcosts.ThesewerethenusedtoadvisePresidentJohnF.Kennedyonformingpolicies with “scientific” merit on issues of economics, the budget and natural resources.Even the Vietnam War was to be run partly on the basis of such computerized models.Unfortunately, the extrapolation of trends is an exceedingly hazardous process. Theadministrationlearnedtoolatethatthepredictionsfrommathematicalmodelsareonlyasvalidastheirinputs(assumeddegreesoffreedomandboundaryconditions).Inparticular,unanticipated factors can greatly alter the actual course of events.
Toward a formaltheory of socioculture
851
 
For these reasons, any such computer models must be used with appropriate aimsin mind. For instance, they can be used validly to show tendencies or trends, or, tomake a limited range of predictions depending upon population size. As examples,small populations should only be expected to obey short-term predictions, with onlylarger populations being reasonably expected to obey longer-term predictions. This isconnected with social inertia: as a reaction to unanticipated inputs, smaller groups aremuch more prone to large fluctuations than are larger groups.The theory that will be developed here directly acknowledges the above problem of unanticipated factors, requiring a number
N 
of effectively interacting populations befixed and known over the time interval of interest. There is another problem to do withboundary. Boundary conditions, whether they are qualitative and discussed, orquantitative and part of a mathematical model, should always be exposed to a form of boundary critique (Ulrich, 1977, 2003; Yolles, 2001). One approach to boundary critiquefor computer-based mathematical models is the creation of model scenarios. Here, theboundary propositions that drive the simulated dynamics can be established asscenarios with transparent criteria shells that list boundary conditions and inputexpectations, and in an intelligent computer system the shells can be continuallycritiqued and modified through exposure to pragmatic knowledge.Despite boundary limitations, the development of a social physics is topical today.According to Urry (2004) a new social physics has been emerging with the rise of complexity theory:
The authoritative
Gulbenkian Commission on the Restructuring of the Social Sciences
thatreported in 1996 recommended dissolving the boundaries between “natural” and “social”science through seeing both as characterized by “complexity”. The Commission was chairedby world systems sociologist Immanuel Wallerstein and included non-linear systems Nobelprize-winning scientist Ilya Prigogine. The Commission recommended that analysis “basedon the dynamics of non-equilibria, with its emphasis on multiple futures, bifurcation andchoice, historical dependence, and [
. . .
] intrinsic and inherent uncertainty” should be themodel for
all 
sciences. This involves not: “conceiving of humanity as mechanical, but ratherinstead conceiving of nature as active and creative”, so as to make “the laws of naturecompatible with the idea of events, of novelty, and of creativity” (Wallerstein 1996, pp. 61, 63).
Such creativity characterizes the observer of nature as well. The physicist Wheeler(1990, 1994) has famously hypothesized that:
All things physical are information-theoretic in origin and this is a participatory universe [
. . .
]Observer participancy gives rise to information; and information gives rise to physics.
This has been followed up (Frieden, 1998, 2004), and it was found that the particularinformation called “Fisher information” works as Wheeler’s hypothetical information.It may be used to derive all known physics. This information is in fact a sensitivemeasure of the very “complexity” that John Urry describes above as characteristic of the natural and social sciences.Ball (2004) indicates that a physics of society cannot tell us how things should be,but it can hopefully elucidate the consequences of particular choices and policies.We propose below that it also can assign approximate numerical probability values tothese choices and policies, quantifying it as a “statistical mechanics” of socioculturalbehavior that would be represented as a non-equilibrium statistical mechanics.
K37,7
852
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...