ABSTRACT
Sociocybernetics can be defined as the application of concepts, methods, and ideas of the so-called new cybernetics or second-order cybernetics to the study of social and sociocultural systems: second-order cybernetics is certainly enriched by the unexpected results of social science studies in which concepts of second-order cybernetics are applied. The term "sociocybernetics" was chosen to refer to the interpenetration of general systems theory and the social sciences—not merely to the one-way traffic of applying concepts from general systems theory without further reflection to the social sciences. Van der Zouwen addresses a similar problematique, looking at the consequences of self-referentiality for research methodology in the social sciences. Anderson concentrates on political systems, and he stresses their intelligence rather than their self-referentiality. Robinson reports an interesting experiment designed to improve the effective organization of participatory democracy in a cooperative organization. Health care systems are viewed as autopoietic sociotechnical systems, located at the intersection of social interaction systems, economic systems, and natural systems.
