Approaches and Implications of using Complexity Theory for dealing with Social Systems

There exist an increasing awareness within the scientific community for the need
to deal with the complex dimension of social systems. This paper examines three
approaches to incorporate complexity theory into the practice of social sciences. The first
approach consists of supplementing the modernist program with chaos theory. The
second one proposes a metaphoric application of complexity theory to describe social
systems. The third approach is based on Post-Normal Science. Both the first and the
second try to fit complexity theory into the paradigms used up to now in social sciences.
Although this exercise can provide some interesting methods for understanding of social
systems, it is argued that a fundamental change in the way Western society conceives
science is necessary. Complexity analysis (or synthesis) should not only consist of adding
more or different syntactical rules to the mathematical formal systems used to model the
causal relations perceived in the outside world. Rather, it should imply a generalization of
the scientific formalisms in order to include semantic relations, subjectivity, and context
dependency. Even more, this generalization should go as far as to include into the
umbrella of science a plurality of systems of knowledge in order to better understand the
multidimensionality of social systems. The legitimation of a broader spectrum of formal
systems of representation and communication of reality, will affect profoundly the
collective and individual way in which Western societies perceive the world, and the very
evolution of human beings as species.

Ostara

Ostara brings together communities of change-makers to radically reimagine our collective future.
Climate breakdown, ecosystem collapse, and growing inequality are deeply interconnected and systemic. Yet, despite decades of effort, progress has remained incremental.
We create spaces to dream beyond the limits of our current systems, and reimagine the world together. From business leaders, policy makers and scientists, to Indigenous voices, farmers and youth representatives — we convene diverse actors to address entrenched issues and incubate transformative solutions.
What makes our work distinct is how we hold the space between worlds: between inner and outer, Indigenous and Western, human and more-than-human, imagination and action. We draw credibility from decades within established systems while walking alongside those giving form to what is emerging.

The new concepts of power? Power-over, power-to and power-with.

The distinction between the notions of power-over, power-to and power-with is gaining prominence in contemporary literature on power. In this article, recent contributions to the study of power will be presented and assessed to provide an overview of the evolving meanings of power-to, power-over and power-with. In particular, we will show that the distinction between power-over, power-to and power-with is no longer interpreted as a dispute about the real meaning of a same concept of power; rather, the three expressions appear to have crystallized and institutionalized themselves into three different, freestanding, concepts.

Hospicing modernity: Facing humanity’s wrongs and the implications for social activism

This is not strictly an academic book, but an educational experiment full of dancing stories, metaphors, allegories, creative maps, and exercises that ask you to sit at the limits of our modern desires and imagination. Half-serious warning: don’t read it if you are seeking clear-cut answers, easy solutions or self-validation. Two sample chapters are available here. ISBN: 9781623176242 “Beyond a mere critique of modernity, this is a book written for us as people who struggle with the everyday manifestations of modern power. Clear, creative, and cogent, the work offers cutting-edge philosophy at the same time that it furnishes usable guidance for how to cope with the coming perils of colonialism and capitalism. It’s a book for the future, yet written to meet us where we are at right now as individuals living with trauma and facing ethical dilemmas about what it means to take meaningful actions under conditions of complexity.” — KYLE WHYTE, PhD, George Willis Pack Professor of Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan “Asking the question ‘What if racism, colonialism, and all other forms of toxic and contagious divisions are preventable social diseases?’, Hospicing Modernity invites its reader to dare and educate themselves by undergoing a process of self-unmaking. Drawing on and moving beyond traditions of radical pedagogy, such as those inspired by Paulo Freire, the author has created a powerful tool for uncovering, undoing, and recovering from the deadly ways in which modernity also lives and dies as humans experience it subjectively.” — DENISE FERREIRA DA SILVA, PhD, professor at the University of British Columbia Social Justice Institute and author of Toward a Global Idea of Race and Unpayable Debt

Grand Theory of Societal Advancement

Grand Theory of Societal Advancement
A comprehensive theory, a historic echo of our first version of civilization formed from the Neolithic package of upgrades. Comprised of specialized works from a broad spectrum of fields of study and independent researchers. The overarching goal of GTSA is to provide humanity with the necessary tools and systems for enhanced global cooperation, innovation, and unity, particularly in navigating the challenges of the 21st century and the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene is a major adaptation in our evolutionary journey of civilization:
a. Civilization 1.0: Marked by the stability and developments of the Neolithic Package, representing the dawn of structured human society.
b. The Industrial Age: Characterized by significant technological and industrial advancements.
c. The Great Acceleration: A period of rapid development with both benefits and challenges, marking a significant leap in human capability and impact.
d. Civilization 1.95: Defined by persistent crises, highlighting the need for a significant shift in societal management.
e. Civilization 2.0: The ultimate goal of GTSA, aiming for enhanced societal functioning and problem-solving.

Manuel-Navarrete, David

Titles

  • Senior Global Futures Scientist, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory
  • Associate Professor, School of Sustainability, College of Global Futures
  • Affiliated Faculty, Center for Biodiversity Outcomes, Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation

Biography

David Manuel-Navarrete applies an existential perspective to study deliberate transformations in social-ecological and technological systems, such as cities or coastal communities, including the subjective dimension of such transformations. His research aims at enhancing societies’ capacity to purposely deliver structural changes that simultaneously reduce inequality and sustain the planet’s web of life. As a sustainability scholar, he focuses on promoting climate change adaptation, and tourism sustainability. His most recent research explores adaptation, resilience and transformation of water infrastructures in Mexico City, and the promotion of indigenous languages to advance sustainability in the Amazon.

Professor Manuel-Navarrete worked as a consultant for the United Nations, and as a researcher at King’s College London and the Free University of Berlin. He has conducted sustainability research and assessments in Argentina, Brazil, Central America, and Mexico. He teaches international development and sustainability and sustainability science.

Education

  • PhD, Geography, University of Waterloo, 2004
  • MS, Ecological Economics, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 2000
  • BA, Environnmental Sciences, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 1998

Expertise

Taken from https://sustainability-innovation.asu.edu/person/david-manuel-navarrete/

Lichtenberg, Jonas

Sociologist
Systemic Counselor
Research Fellow of Institut für Sozialpädagogische Forschung Mainz e.V.

Andreotti, Vanessa

In her work as Canada Research Chair, Dr. Vanessa Andreotti focuses on analyses of historical and systemic patterns of reproduction of inequalities and how these limit or enable possibilities for collective existence and global change (especially in educational contexts). Dr. Andreotti conceptualizes education as an expansion of frames of reference and fields of signification.

Hosang, Maik

MAIK HOSANG researches interdisciplinary relationships between people,
Nature and culture. He has a
Professorship for cultural philosophy, social and cultural change at the Zittau / Görlitz University of Applied Sciences. He
is co-creator of the interactive philosophy-experience world »Sophia im
Spiegel «and author of several books.

Relational Uprising

The inspiration for Relational Uprising was born from our 20 years of learning at the intersection of deep social justice organizing work and somatic healing and education.

Before launching as Relational Uprising, the core curriculum for the Relational Culture framework was incubated, developed and launched in collaboration with Mark Fairfield, Relational Gestalt scholar and social worker with published groundwork being laid since 2000 in group development, harm reduction and shared leadership, and founder of the Leadership Institute at the Relational Center, an innovative Los Angeles-based non-profit dedicated to building capacity for psychotherapists to shift culture toward one that values empathy, diversity, and interdependency, and that sponsored in 2012 our inaugural project called the Culture of Radical Engagement. Since then, we have had direct experience working with over 1,200 activist leaders from over 200 movement-building organizations and communities.

In the Fall of 2016, the Relational Uprising training project was launched in the east coast with the sponsorship of  The Watershed Center in Millerton New York, a social justice retreat center for changemakers, where we currently hold our foundational residential training series.

Lilley, Rachel

Rachel has worked for over 20 years in social and environmental change as Director of a social enterprise, trainer, consultant and communications expert. In recent years she has worked in Ceredigion locally on community engagement and domestic energy efficiency. She has developed and delivered consultancy and training interventions for Welsh Government, WWF, Ceredigion County Council, Ogilvy Mather amongst others. Her work and research interests are supporting effective and human centred change through developing the psychological capacity of policy and other change makers and leaders. This includes utilising the capacity and understanding of mindfulness and behavioural insights to support effective decision making and project/policy design.

Hope is a​n embrace of the unknown

We may be living through times of unprecedented change, but in uncertainty lies the power to influence the future. Now is not the time to despair, but to act […]

International Network of Engaged Buddhists

In 1989, the International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB) was established in Siam (Thailand) by Sulak Sivaraksa and a group of Buddhist and non-Buddhist thinkers and social activists. INEB operates as an autonomous organization under the Bangkok-based Sathirakoses-Nagapradeepa Foundation. Over the years the network has expanded to include members, both individuals and organizations, from more than 25 countries across Asia, Europe, North America and Australia. From this diversity, an understanding of socially engaged Buddhism has emerged which integrates the practice of Buddhism with social action for a healthy, just, and peaceful world.

Vision and Objectives

  1. Promotes understanding, cooperation, and networking among inter-Buddhist and inter-religious social action groups
  2. Acts as an information resource related to areas of social concern
  3. Facilitates conferences, education, and training based on Buddhist values and practices that support and strengthen socially active individuals and groups

Social Issues of Concern and Engagement

INEB’s philosophy and practice is based on compassion, social justice, non-violence, and co-existence as put forth by Gautama the Buddha. The core mission is to confront and end suffering using analysis and action guided by the Four Noble Truths.

Activities focus on the following areas:

  • General conferences
  • Peacebuilding and reconciliation
  • Human rights and social justice
  • Alternative education
  • Gender and womens’ empowerment
  • Buddhist economics
  • Alternative development
  • Environment and climate change
  • Reform and revival of Buddhist institutions
  • Youth and spiritual leadership development
  • Buddhist art
  • Inter-religious/faith dialogue and collaboration

Gallmann Memorial Foundation

We believe that to create impactful and far reaching change and to adapt to living sustainably with our planet we must address humanity’s disconnect from nature and the underlying imbalances and inequalities that have caused the problems we face.

White Awake

White Awake combats white supremacy by focusing on educational resources and spiritual practices designed to facilitate white people’s engagement in the creation of a just and sustainable society.

Our goal is the end of white supremacy. To this end White Awake supports people who’ve been socialized as “white” with the kind of intellectual and spiritual development necessary to:

  1. reject the toxic social conditioning that comes with membership in a dominant group and connect with life affirming cultural expressions
  2. see through the use of racism as a manipulative device that materially benefits a small number of powerful elites
  3. sustain our engagement in cross-racial coalitions to resist current abuses of power and create a truly equitable, life sustaining society.

White Awake emphasizes mindful awareness, spiritual practice, respect for individual experience and wisdom, and the reality that we are all learning. The country of origin of the work is the United States, and the materials in this site deal primarily with the historcal and current conditions of racism and colonization this country.

EcoDharma

The Eco-Dharma Centre is situated in a beautiful and wild part of the Catalan Pyrenees. We offer courses, events and retreats which support the realisation of our human potential and the development of an ecological consciousness honouring our mutual belonging within the web of life – drawing on the Buddhist Dharma and the emerging ecological paradigms of our time.

Our courses and retreats take place in a context of sustainable low-impact living, closely woven within the web of elemental nature. These meditation retreats, study seminars and training camps are intended to help people to empower themselves to make changes in themselves and the world consistent with a life-affirming vision.

We seek to develop practices which honour the inseparability of the transformation of the self and the world; to support the shift from a destructive industrial growth society to a life-affirming future; to contribute to the creation of a movement of renewal and resistance; to evolve spiritual practice where courageous compassion and a deepening realisation of our radical interconnectedness helps us to live in solidarity with life.

8 Shields

Creating Nature-Connected Communities

8 Shields is a global movement worldwide that utilizes a finely tuned, tried and true mentoring model that has proven to create healthy and vibrant natural leaders, and nature-based intergenerational mentoring communities around the world. Thank you for your support in helping to hand down a legacy of health, well-being, and harmony with the natural world and each other to future generations. Re-awaken those 8 attributes in people and in turn help heal the widespread disconnection and loss of culture worldwide.