CULTURE
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 779 ▶ |
| Object type | Human sciences |
The set of values and norms proper to a social system.
These values and norms act as collective order parameters. They include beliefs (religious, aesthetic, ethical, philosophical), basic concepts, law systems, political ideologies, technical practice, dominant economic attitudes, etc…
The basic values and the resulting adaptive norms correspond to the autopoietic character of a given sociosystem, which must however adapt to internal and environmental change. It strongly polarizes nearly all the individuals in the system, through reciprocal behavioral constraints and, in turn, generates the behavior and attitudes needed to maintain its global coherence, efficiency and in some extreme cases secures its very survival.
When the values and norms are starting to crumble, the sociosystem generally finds itself in the middle of a terminal crisis and/or facing a critical transition toward other forms and ways.
Culture seems to have ethological roots in social mammals and birds, and even possibly biochemical ones as in insect societies, and amoeba.