The Evolutionary and Pluralistic Design Principles of the Social Systems in the Global Age -- Akira Tokuyasu, August 5, 2002

46th Annual Meeting of the International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS), Shanghai, P.R. China, August 2-6, 2002.

Monday, August 5, 2002, 2:25 p.m., Human Systems Inquiry Track

This digest was created in real-time during the meeting, based on the speaker's presentation(s) and comments from the audience. These should not be viewed as official transcripts of the meeting, but only as an interpretation by a single individual. Lapses, grammatical errors, and typing mistakes may not have been corrected. Questions about content should be directed to the originator. These notes have been contributed by David Ing (daviding@systemicbusiness.org) at the IBM Advanced Business Institute ( http://www.ibm.com/abi ).

Faculty of Social Sciences, Hosei University

In the global age, high diversity.

• Design not in the narrow sense, to control the risks through mechanisms at a global level.

Normally, use the word "society" at a national level.

• In the last decade, now speaking of globalization.
• World society as the final unit.

A matter of definition? It deals with the order of social integration.

• Two ways:
  • Stratification, through hierarchy and an integrative structure.
  • Functional differentiation (which goes together with globalization).
• Vertical and hierarchical differentiation is being eroded at the national level by globalization.
  • Some think that globalization is the triumph of the democratic system, by a superpower.

The age of pluralism

• Weakening integrative power of the nation state.

Intermediary units in the global age.

• Shift to heterarchical structures

Plurarity of meaning-value-spaces

• Could be economies, cultural, ethnicity
• Propose poly-contextual pluralism: some opportunity for resistance
• Should promote dialogue between intermediary units.

Questions

Some mechanisms to control the process?

• Can't be directly controlled.

Contrast with Stuart Umpleby's paper. Is there a characteristic way of looking that compares against the American and European views?

• Yes, studied Luhmann, influenced by General System Theory from Varela and Maturana.

Pluralism not all equal? Is there a hierarchy of better fit, or an alternative to all equal?

• There's always a power game.