Cybernetics for the Social Sciences

Description

Bernard Scotts book explains the relevance of cybernetics for the social sciences. He provides a non\-technical account of the history of cybernetics and its core concepts, with examples of applications of cybernetics in psychology, sociology, and anthropology. Contents Cybernetics for the Social Sciences Abstract Keywords Prolegomena Part 1 About This Publication and a First Look at Cybernetics 1 The Aim 2 What Is Cybernetics? 3 How the Publication Is Structured Part 2 A Life in Cybernetics 1 Encountering Cybernetics 2 Becoming a Cybernetician 3 Growing Up 4 Concluding Comments Part 3 The Story of Cybernetics 1 Introduction – Beginnings 2 Later Years – Decline and Renewal 3 Cybernetic Explanation 4 Gordon Pask’s Conversation Theory Part 4 Some Key Concepts of Cybernetics Part 5 On Messages 1 Introduction 2 Communication as Coding 3 Communication as Conversation 4 Human–Machine Interaction 5 Some Current Developments 6 Concluding Comments Part 6 Cybernetics and the Integration of the Disciplines 1 Introduction 2 Cybernetic Epistemology 3 The First Order Study of Natural Systems 4 Approaches to the Study of Social Systems 5 Cybernetics and the Arts, Humanities, and Vocational Disciplines 6 Cybernetics and Philosophy Part 7 In Defence of Pure Cybernetics 1 The Problem 2 Explanatory Schemas in Cybernetics 3 Obscuring Cybernetics 4 Enriching Cybernetics 5 Cybernetics and the Communication Problem Part 8 Sociocybernetic Understandings of Consciousness 1 Introduction 2 Use of the Term ‘Consciousness’ 3 Reflexive Cosmogony and Process Metaphysics 4 Cybernetic Models of Learning in Conscious Systems 5 Generalising the Typist Model 6 Creating and Maintaining Healthy Communities Part 9 Reflections on the Sociocybernetics of Social Networks 1 Introduction 2 Network Science 3 What Is ‘Social’ about a Social Network? 4 The Forms That Social Networks May Take 5 What Is the Distinction between a ‘Social Network’ and a ‘Social System’? 6 A Brief Critique of ‘Connectivism’ and ‘Actor-Network Theory’ 7 Concluding Comments: The ‘Global Conversation’ Part 10 Some Sociocybernetic Understanding of Possible World Futures 1 Introduction 2 Being Holistic about Global Problems 3 First Order Problems 4 Second Order Problems 5 Looking for Solutions 6 Concluding Comments Part 11 Sociocybernetic Understandings of Culture 1 Introduction 2 Conceptions and Definitions of ‘Culture’ 3 Culture and Personality 4 Cultural Transmissions and Transformations 5 Opening up Inter-Cultural Conversations Part 12 Summing up and What Comes Next 1 Introduction 2 What Next? 3 Exhortations 4 Values, Attitudes, Ethics Acknowledgements References