scholarly journals Notes from the Editor

1970 ◽  
Vol 12 (1/2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Paetau
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
System Analysis ◽  
Social Ties ◽  
Complexity Analysis ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Policy Action ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Sustainable Technology

  The present issue of the JOURNAL OF SOCIOCYBERNETICS is the last edition under my responsibility. In January 2015 the quite recently elected board of the ISA-Research Committee 51 will take up its work and Fabio Giglietto, Professor at the Department of Communication and Human Studies of the University of Urbino “Carlo Bo” (http://www.uniurb.it) and research fellow of the Center for Sociocybernetics Studies (http://www.sociocybernetics.eu), will commence as the new journal editor. During the last four years Fabio Giglietto, already was a member of the editorial board of our Journal. I wish him and the new board continued success and all the best for the upcoming period. The current edition includes articles applying several theoretical aspects of complexity analysis on different empirical cases. In their article "Reflections on the Complexity of Ancient Social Heterarchies: Toward New Models of Social Self-Organization in Pre-Hispanic Colombia" Nathalie Mezza-Garcia, Tom Froese and Nelson Fernández face the limitations which hierarchical and centrally controlled systems have in their information processes with respect to manage large-scale crisis and challenges. With reference to historical examples in pre-Hispanic Colombia, specifically the cultures of the Zenú, the Muiscas and the Tayronas, the authors propose that creating and analyzing computer models of their heterarchically and decentralized processes of management could provide a broader perspective on the possibilities of self-organized political systems. In his article "The Paradox of Social Ties after the ICT Revolution: A Second-Order Observation" Saburo Akahori explores what kinds of distinctions are used when the change of social systems is observed. His analysis refers on the question of significance of social ties in Japan, which has repeatedly been emphasized in recent years. One example is the frequency of use of the Japanese word kizuna which means bond. It sounds odd because conventionally kizuna indicates intimate, continuous relationships, not temporary relationships. Even though the word kizuna means strong ties, now it also implies weak ties. Here the author asks for the reason why the strange usage of the word kizuna has become acceptable. Patricia E. Almaguer-Kalixto, José A. Amozurrutia, Chaime Marcuello Servós present in their paper "Policy Processes as Complex Systems: The case of Mesoamerican Sustainable Development Initiative" a research methodology for analyzing policy processes that are defined at the global level but implemented locally. The interrelations between these two levels pose great conceptual challenges in explaining the changes, transformations and continuations occurring in this complex process based on empirical information. Understanding the policy process as a complex system, the paper proposes analyzing macro, meso and micro levels as subsystems of the total process, identifying the interrelations between policy action, actors and discourses. The paper takes the example of the Mesoamerican Sustainable Development Initiative (MSDI) of the Puebla Panama Plan (PPP), a regional integration plan for a new ‘Mesoamerica’ that originally included the seven Central American countries and the southern states of Mexico. In her paper "Sustainable Technology Assessment and Sustainable Scenarios of Techno Social Phenomena" Michiko Amemiya-Ramírez describes sustainable technology as a technological subsystem with marginal or no negative impacts on other technological systems, as well as the environment, the society and the economy. To identify such technologies it is necessary to describe their behavior and their present and future interactions with those systems. Due to social dynamics, a complete assessment to identify sustainable technologies requires a hard systems analysis and a soft system analysis. A hard system analysis is useful to assess the interactions, behavior and characteristics of the technology quantitatively. A soft system analysis is convenient to describe other characteristics and interactions through qualitative and non measurable characteristics. For further issues of the JOURNAL OF SOCIOCYBERNETICS we invite scholars who have their background in the field of systems theory, sociocybernetics, information- and communication science and who apply this for studying various social phenomena regarding their complexity and dynamics, to submit articles for publication in the JOURNAL OF SOCIOCYBERNETICS. For submitting articles authors need to register with the journal prior to submitting. People who want to register have the option to register as a reader or as an author. Every reader or author can register by themselve using the journal's website. After clicking the register item they will be guided through the registration process. After registration they will be able to login by username and password and then authors may submit their papers. The system will immediately confirm the submission and will automatically trigger the review process. Authors will get an email with a URL that will enable them to track its progress through the editorial process once they are logged in. We recommend to review the "About the Journal” page for the journal's policies, as well as the "Author Guidelines".

scholarly journals Health inequality as a large-scale outcome of complex social systems: Lessons for action on the sustainable development goals

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Matheson
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Health Inequality ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Past Century ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Complex Social Systems

© 2020 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Action on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) needs to become real and impactful, taking a “whole systems” perspective on levers for systems change. This article reviews what we have learned over the past century about the large-scale outcome of health inequality, and what we know about the behaviour of complex social systems. This combined knowledge provides lessons on the nature of inequality and what effective action on our big goals, like the SDGs, might look like. It argues that economic theories and positivist social theories which have dominated the last 150 years have largely excluded the nature of human connections to each other, and the environment. This exclusion of intimacy has legitimatised arguments that only value-free economic processes matter for macro human systems, and only abstract measurement constitutes valuable social science. Theories of complex systems provide an alternative perspective. One where health inequality is viewed as emergent, and causes are systemic and compounding. Action therefore needs to be intensely local, with power relationships key to transformation. This requires conscious and difficult intervention on the intolerable accumulation of resources; improved reciprocity between social groups; and reversal of system flows, which at present ebb away from the local and those already disadvantaged.

scholarly journals Sustainable Technology Assessment and Sustainable Scenarios of Techno Social Phenomena

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (1/2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michiko Amemiya Ramírez
Keyword(s):  
System Dynamics ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
System Analysis ◽  
Growth Efficiency ◽  
Dynamics Modeling ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Sustainable Technology ◽  
Sustainable Technologies ◽  
Technological Assessment ◽  
Negative Impacts

Sustainable technology can be described as a technological subsystem with marginal or no negative impacts on other technological systems, as well as the environment, the society and the economy. To identify such technologies it is necessary to describe their behavior and their present and future interactions with those systems. Due to social dynamics, a complete assessment to identify sustainable technologies requires a hard systems analysis and a soft system analysis. A hard system analysis is useful to assess the interactions, behavior and characteristics of the technology quantitatively. A soft system analysis is convenient to describe other characteristics and interactions through qualitative and non measurable characteristics. System Dynamics is a useful resource to forecast the behavior of technology related systems for which the hard systems logic is the dominant paradigm. Key variables related to technological assessment subject to system dynamics modeling include population growth, efficiency, energy intensity, release of greenhouse effect gases, and the expansion of risk areas. The selection of indices and variables is determined according to the studied technology. Therefore, a detailed description of the technology is fundamental. In this paper, sustainable technology is briefly described, an example of systems dynamics to forecast quantitative qualities of socio-technological system and conclusions are presented.

Social exclusion in Ukraine: features and forms of manifestation in modern society

2020 ◽  
pp. 144-152
Author(s):  
Mariya Karpyak
Keyword(s):  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Social Ties ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Categorical Analysis ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Ukrainian Society

Modern socio-economic transformations and the development of ideas of universalization of individual rights and needs emphasize the urgency of overcoming the new forms of inequality and finding effective mechanisms for consolidation and integration of social systems to avoid negative social phenomena that threaten national security, preventing the exclusion of certain groups from public life, forming the stable social ties and interpersonal cooperation, which is an important condition for the successful development of the state and society as a whole. The changes taking place in Ukraine today are marked by the ambivalence of their impact: on the one hand, there are positive changes towards the necessary reforms, on the other – the aggravation of social tensions due to instability, bottlenecks or imperfections of the reform process itself, increasing income gaps and limiting the access of large sections of the population to resources, including basic social services, etc. Despite the significant number of scientific papers on the phenomenon of social exclusion, the issue of substantiation of the forms and features of social exclusion, as well as the dynamics of its spread in Ukrainian society remains insufficiently elaborated. Thus, the purpose of this article is to study the phenomenon of social exclusion in Ukrainian society. In the context of the study, the reasons underlying the formation of the phenomenon of social exclusion in Ukraine in the early stages of statehood are substantiated, the problems that determine its spread in modern Ukrainian society, and the consequences of the impact on society are highlighted. A categorical analysis of the phenomenon of social exclusion is carried out, in particular by forms of manifestation, criteria and factors, scale of distribution, levels of formation, and nature of social ties. Based on the analysis, the peculiarities of the manifestation of social exclusion in Ukraine at different stages of development of Ukrainian society are revealed.

scholarly journals Health Inequality as a Large-Scale Outcome of Complex Social Systems: Lessons for Action on the Sustainable Development Goals

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (8) ◽  
pp. 2684
Author(s):  
Anna Matheson
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Health Inequality ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Past Century ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Complex Social Systems

Action on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) needs to become real and impactful, taking a “whole systems” perspective on levers for systems change. This article reviews what we have learned over the past century about the large-scale outcome of health inequality, and what we know about the behaviour of complex social systems. This combined knowledge provides lessons on the nature of inequality and what effective action on our big goals, like the SDGs, might look like. It argues that economic theories and positivist social theories which have dominated the last 150 years have largely excluded the nature of human connections to each other, and the environment. This exclusion of intimacy has legitimatised arguments that only value-free economic processes matter for macro human systems, and only abstract measurement constitutes valuable social science. Theories of complex systems provide an alternative perspective. One where health inequality is viewed as emergent, and causes are systemic and compounding. Action therefore needs to be intensely local, with power relationships key to transformation. This requires conscious and difficult intervention on the intolerable accumulation of resources; improved reciprocity between social groups; and reversal of system flows, which at present ebb away from the local and those already disadvantaged.

scholarly journals Health inequality as a large-scale outcome of complex social systems: Lessons for action on the sustainable development goals

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Matheson
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Health Inequality ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Past Century ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Complex Social Systems

© 2020 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Action on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) needs to become real and impactful, taking a “whole systems” perspective on levers for systems change. This article reviews what we have learned over the past century about the large-scale outcome of health inequality, and what we know about the behaviour of complex social systems. This combined knowledge provides lessons on the nature of inequality and what effective action on our big goals, like the SDGs, might look like. It argues that economic theories and positivist social theories which have dominated the last 150 years have largely excluded the nature of human connections to each other, and the environment. This exclusion of intimacy has legitimatised arguments that only value-free economic processes matter for macro human systems, and only abstract measurement constitutes valuable social science. Theories of complex systems provide an alternative perspective. One where health inequality is viewed as emergent, and causes are systemic and compounding. Action therefore needs to be intensely local, with power relationships key to transformation. This requires conscious and difficult intervention on the intolerable accumulation of resources; improved reciprocity between social groups; and reversal of system flows, which at present ebb away from the local and those already disadvantaged.

scholarly journals Analyzing policy processes as complex systems: The case of Mesoamerican Sustainable Development Initiative.Analyzing policy processes as complex systems: Mesoamerican Sustainable Development Initiative.

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (1/2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Almaguer-Kalixto ◽  
José A. Amozurrutia ◽  
Chaime Marcuello Servós
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Complex Systems ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
Central American ◽  
Global Level ◽  
Policy Action ◽  
Southern States ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Total Process

This paper presents a research methodology for analyzing policy processes that are defined at the global level but implemented locally. The interrelations between these two levels pose great conceptual challenges in explaining the changes, transformations and continuations occurring in this complex process based on empirical information. Understanding the policy process as a complex system, this paper proposes analyzing macro, meso and micro levels as subsystems of the total process, identifying the interrelations between policy action, actors and discourses. The paper takes the example of the Mesoamerican Sustainable Development Initiative (MSDI) of the Puebla Panama Plan (PPP), a regional integration plan for a new ‘Mesoamerica’ that originally included the seven Central American countries and the southern states of Mexico.

Scientific-methodological approach to the substantiation of the rational seasonal scenario of using combine harvesters by large-scale agricultural producers

2020 ◽  
pp. 205-217
Author(s):  
V. Skibchyk ◽  
V. Dnes ◽  
R. Kudrynetskyi ◽  
O. Krypuch
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
System Analysis ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Production Unit ◽  
Agricultural Producers ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Rational Use ◽  
Road Map ◽  
Analysis And Synthesis ◽  
Combine Harvesters

Аnnotation Purpose. To increase the efficiency of technological processes of grain harvesting by large-scale agricultural producers due to the rational use of combine harvesters available on the farm. Methods. In the course of the research the methods of system analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, system-factor and system-event approaches, graphic method were used. Results. Characteristic events that occur during the harvesting of grain crops, both within a single production unit and the entire agricultural producer are identified. A method for predicting time intervals of use and downtime of combine harvesters of production units has been developed. The roadmap of substantiation the rational seasonal scenario of the use of grain harvesters of large-scale agricultural producers is developed, which allows estimating the efficiency of each of the scenarios of multivariate placement of grain harvesters on fields taking into account influence of natural production and agrometeorological factors on the efficiency of technological cultures. Conclusions 1. Known scientific and methodological approaches to optimization of machine used in agriculture do not take into account the risks of losses of crops due to late harvesting, as well as seasonal natural and agrometeorological conditions of each production unit of the farmer, which requires a new approach to the rational use of rational seasonal combines of large agricultural producers. 2. The developed new approach to the substantiation of the rational seasonal scenario of the use of combined harvesters of large-scale agricultural producers allows taking into account the costs of harvesting of grain and the cost of the lost crop because of the lateness of harvesting at optimum variants of attraction of additional free combine harvesters. provides more profit. 3. The practical application of the developed road map will allow large-scale agricultural producers to use combine harvesters more efficiently and reduce harvesting costs. Keywords: combine harvesters, use, production divisions, risk, seasonal scenario, large-scale agricultural producers.

Political Translation and the Sustainable Development Goals

2020 ◽  
pp. 169-188
Author(s):  
Chris G. Pope ◽  
Meng Ji ◽  
Xuemei Bai
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Political Process ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
The World ◽  
Development Goals

The chapter argues that whether or not the world is successful in attaining sustainability, political systems are in a process of epoch-defining change as a result of the unsustainable demands of our social systems. This chapter theorizes a framework for analyzing the political “translation” of sustainability norms within national polities. Translation, in this sense, denotes the political reinterpretation of sustainable development as well as the national capacities and contexts which impact how sustainability agendas can be instrumentalized. This requires an examination into the political architecture of a national polity, the norms that inform a political process, socioecological contexts, the main communicative channels involved in the dissemination of political discourse and other key structures and agencies, and the kinds of approaches toward sustainability that inform the political process. This framework aims to draw attention to the ways in which global economic, political, and social systems are adapting and transforming as a result of unsustainability and to further understanding of the effectiveness of globally diffused sustainability norms in directing that change.

The Role of Social Logistics for the National, Economic and Social Security

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (39) ◽  
pp. 54-69
Author(s):  
Vanya Banabakova
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Social Security ◽  
National Security ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
System Approach ◽  
Human Factor ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
National Economic

Logistics continuously expands its application areas. In modern conditions, there is a need to apply logistics in areas not related to its traditional applications such as military and business spheres, resulting in the identification of a third area with the name social logistics. Social logistics aims to introduce a social (human) factor into the systems and to apply logistic principles and methods in solving the problems of society. Social logistics can be defined as a set of actions that ensure the effective functioning of social systems (such as a set of social phenomena, processes and subjects), applying the principles of logistics. For the purposes of this paper, a number of scientific approaches and methods have been applied, such as system approach, comparative analysis, critical analysis, synthesis and others. Social logistics plays an important role in national security, including economic and social security. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of social logistics in enhancing national security, including economic and social security.

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