Of Ants and Men—the Role of Complexity in Social Change

The complexity of modern society leads to many unplanned social trends. Here we identify the four most common sources processes of unintended trends: brittleness of “divide and rule” strategies, failure of system models, changes in network connectivity and positive feedback. To illustrate the role t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEvolutionary and institutional economics review Vol. 6; no. 2; pp. 259 - 275
Main Authors Green, David G., Leishman, Tania G., Sadedin, Suzanne, Leishman, Gary D.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Tokyo Springer-Verlag 01.03.2010
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Economic theory
Economic Theory/Quantitative Economics/Mathematical Methods
Economics
Economics and Finance
History of Economic Thought/Methodology
Political Economy/Economic Systems
Social Policy
feedback
models
connectivity
divide and rule
A14
O17
social trends
networks
side effects of technology
P41
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Summary:The complexity of modern society leads to many unplanned social trends. Here we identify the four most common sources processes of unintended trends: brittleness of “divide and rule” strategies, failure of system models, changes in network connectivity and positive feedback. To illustrate the role these processes have played we examine three case studies involving the social side effects of new technologies: (1) the impact of labour-saving products on Australian family life during the late twentieth century; (2) the impact of advances in ICT on entertainment and social isolation; and (3) the impact of new Web based communities on patterns of social interaction.
ISSN:1349-4961
2188-2096
DOI:10.14441/eier.6.259