Sociocybernetic Paradoxes: Observation, Control, and Evolution of Self-Steering Systems.

Introduction - Felix Geyer and Johannes van der Zouwen PART ONE: EXPERIENCES WITH THE STEERING OF PARTICULAR SOCIAL SYSTEMS Actors, Models, and Limits to Societal Self-Steering - Thomas Baumgartner The Family - Lauren Langman A 'Sociocybernetic' Approach to Theory and Policy Mental Health Service Delivery Systems in the United States - Ronald W Manderscheid The Control of Interaction Processes in Survey Interviews - Johannes van der Zouwen, Wil Dijkstra and Joop van de Bovenkamp Improvement of (self-)Steering Through Support Systems - Jan H G Klabbers PART TWO: PLANNING, HIERARCHY AND COMPETENCE The Planning Paradox - Michael Masuch Notes on the Concept of Self-Steering - Arvid Aulin Preprocessing - James R Beniger and Clifford I Nass Neglected Component of Sociocybernetics Social Change and the Design of Inquiry - Gerard De Zeeuw PART THREE: THE WIDER CONTEXT: EVOLUTION, AUTOPOIESIS AND DIALOGUE Systems and Societies - Ervin Laszlo The Basic Cybernetics of Social Evolution The Autopoiesis of Social Systems - Niklas Luhmann The Third Position -- Beyond Artificial and Autopoietic Reduction - Stein Braten Epilogue - Johannes van der Zouwen and Felix Geyer