© Igor PRISAC, 2009
Abstract: The article tries to emphasize a new approach to the social systems like that of political and economic ones. Because the social systems have a very complex nature, the article uses synergetic principles like the interaction of information sources in order to understand the dynamic of the social systems. Also, this article tries to present the most desirable dynamics of a social system. For example, the dynamic equilibrium in the understanding of the concept of information sources interaction giving some proposals as to what should be taken into consideration in order to have such kind of social dynamics.
(The article was first published in Russian in the international reviewed journal «Общество и экономика», Moscow, 2009, No 8-9, p. 187-198: http://elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=14873334)
1. Information sources and the structural essence of social systems
Classical theory of the systems confirms that the structure of every social system is formed from elements which interact and as a result outputs and feedbacks take place. In the case of social systems, the elements of the system may be the individuals, social groups, group of interests, political parties, economic agents, etc. Both the number and the composition of the social system elements, as well as their interactions, are so complex that almost every time it is extremely difficult to understand the real state of the social phenomena and to predict the social systems dynamics. In this case, coming out from the new approach of the systems, synergetics or the theory of interaction, the essence of the social systems functioning and dynamics could be analysed using the concepts of the information sources or information, that is a means of exchange and interaction within the system environment. Şileţchi and Lascu (1978, p. 17) sum up that every human activity: ‘… implies a succession of information processes. All of these processes aim to establish a certain kind of organization’.
The science of physical systems had more success than social science due to the introduction and application of such concepts as thermal energy, which gave the possibility to explain the dynamics of phenomenon in a more advanced form that is called thermodynamics (Пригожине & Стенгерс, 2003, p. 122-161). Also, a large contribution to the progress of physical science is quantum theory, introducing the notion of quantum in the scientific analyses which allowed a deeper understanding of this type of knowledge than that of social science.
Although, social systems involve subjective factors of the individual that are prevailed by selfishness, incoherence, instability, emotions, aspiration for knowledge, egoism, altruism, love (Zhang, 1991, p. 229), which complicate the analyses of the social phenomena, this phenomenon could be understood in a more profound way making a more ample study of the sources of information and their interaction dynamics. First of all, it is easier to establish the type of information source and the type of information that exist as a means of exchange and interaction in the society. Secondly, although the individuals or the social groups have a very complex nature of behaviour, these permanently will assimilate a kind of information that circulates within the society.
Thirdly, the notion of information source or the information itself is a more measurable term than the individual, social group or social system behaviour and their decisions. Permanently, either at the micro system or macro system level these social entities will be governed by a certain order or control parameter (Haken & Mikhailov, 1993, p. 7) that has its information source. Fourthly, with such profound knowledge of the information sources and the social information, a clearer view may be obtained; even we deal with the most complex system nature, that of individual and the society.
Fifthly, using the notion of information source it is simpler and more localized having the possibility to make a graphic representation of the system dynamics and to apply the fractal theory for social system dynamics.
In this work the term for information is social information, and as Ursul (cited in Цырдя, 1978, p. 11) says ‘… [social information] is a reflection of diversities’. In this respect the information sources are those that can reflect the diversity or a certain state of the things. A political system disposes or is formed from a complex variety of social information sources or flows. When the notion of source is talked about we mean something (Kнеазева, Крдюмов, 1992, p. 8 ) that has ‘… a punctual form or a localized source’. And such sources are taking place in every point of the system, or in other words, often these may be identified with the elements of the political or economic system. The exchange does not take place only through the border of the system that self-organizes, but in every point of such a system (Kнеазева & Крдюмов, 1992, p. 8). For example as in a city that has a “blood system”, an infrastructure (transport, communications, etc.), which provides a certain state of the city life at every point. In the synergetic understanding, the elements of the social system are in a continuous reflection of structures that are taking place in the political or economic system medium, and not its energy or matter.
Every social activity and phenomenon, both at the micro level and at the macro level, can be analysed (Barber, 1988, p.15) from the information interaction process, as well as through information sources dynamics. In post-modern time, even the notion of power is estimated as a dimension of the information, because the power relation (University of Cambridge, 1990, p. 11) involves the access to information. A country in which the population is informed about the strategic action and government reforms, has success in its development because this fact leads to fair, democratic institution promotion and will have the support of the international society. Every government will lose the trust of its population, where in fact its power resides, if it appears to be hiding something in order to meet its own interests.
The structure, from the point of view of the social system functionality, could be seen altogether as information sources that interact continuously in space and time. In its turn, this interaction of the social information could be appreciated as the exchange between this variety of information sources. This exchange or this information flow will be more intense toward the information sources (Lamberton, 1996, p. 6) that are more organized. This phenomenon reminds us about the material resistance and of the electric current circuit that is bigger in materials with a lower resistance because of a more organized molecular structure. Therefore, the information sources that are more organized are more powerful, or those which dispose a larger quantity of information have more potential to exchange it with another source of information. This kind of information, which in its dynamics could dominate the entire system interaction source, can graphically be represented with more pronounced and bigger dimensions.
2. The types of information sources and their interaction
A very important aspect for the social development and its dynamics resides in the diversity of the information types that are a means of exchange between these types and between all system structures. The reduction of information diversities and of information sources leads to the (Василкова, 1999, p.128) classical or perfect equilibrium. In such a society the uncertainty and entropy dominate, and the social progress is limited by this situation as well. A social system that lives in equilibrium (Haken, 2000, p.23) is not able to get information or to progress, being determined to self-organize through the way of reforms or even revolution in the shortest time possible. In the same time a negative aspect could have the diversity of information if the information sources are dispersed in their interaction, but this phenomenon will be discussed in the 3rd and 4th subtopics of this work.
Although these sources of the social systems are a reflection of social-human rationality and conscience, structured and organized in a certain form, such kinds of sources could have a variety of types depending from the type of social system formed from these information sources that interact. Under this aspect there are information sources of the political, economic, social, cultural, and legal-normative systems. Namely the way and configuration of the interaction of these types of information determine the dynamics of a social system. So, in the evolution process of history, the political system has more forms of development regarding interaction with other social systems, from the classical equilibrium, when the entropy reaches the highest level, until the transition and chaotic phase. Afterwards from the chaotic phase it gets a dynamic equilibrium that creates, in its turn, a social order. Such a fractal evolution of political system structures could be the transition from an autocratic system to a totalitarian. Then from a totalitarian system, the structures, as a result of self-organization, pass through a transition phase dominated by chaos. Namely in the phase of chaos, the system, depending on the (Бранский, 2000, p. 120) detector and social selector, could chose an autocratic, totalitarian or a democratic means of evolution, which is dominated by a dynamic equilibrium. In other words, an information source could reach the macro level, dominating the other information sources interaction through intensity and power. In such a way, the influence of those sources that dispose of an information structure and of a more developed communication, will be more pronounced at the micro level and, and after time, this structure or source may reach the macro level, dominating the whole system. In the Eastern European countries, it is desired that such a source will become a new political class, with a new mentality and new vision.
Regarding the national and regional economic systems, we can affirm that these principles of the social dynamics and the information sources interaction can indicate in a more profound way the functionality of these systems. Every information source from the economic system category will disappear or weaken if they are not opened permanently to other information sources, a fact that will reduce the entropy and the perfect equilibrium, which is an opposite state of the dynamics. In its turn, the economic system itself must function on the general principle of permanently diminishing this equilibrium or the entropy in the system and all the information sources must have the condition to be opened as much as possible to their environment. Such situations can take place both in the case of the totalitarian and isolated systems, and in those capitalist systems that reach a certain level of development. But because of obtaining an informational equilibrium between the market and costumer needs, this economic system arrives in stagnation and economic crisis. Examples of such capitalist states that reached a high level of development but are now in a stagnation phase include USA, Germany, and France, the most developed countries ever; they now have a very small economic growth, and their budget deficits produce unprecedented dimensions. That is why, at the moment something very natural and appropriate is happening to the nature of social systems. And in order to reduce this classic equilibrium and to create a dynamic equilibrium, the economy of these countries and their investments are oriented more towards the states where this equilibrium is not as large, and as a result the information interaction will be larger.
In order to straighten the economic situation in such a state of equilibrium, as a result of sufficiency of almost every social class and as a high social protection that makes the budget deficit become larger, there is a big need in radical reforms and a reduction of social founds. Also, the economy should be reoriented toward other information sources and toward another information interaction that could remove the country from this classical equilibrium. These reforms can lead, for a moment, to some very large social disturbances, but such kinds of actions are the only ones that can lead to economic growth for a longer period of time. The country, in such cases, must promote those information sources or, in other words, those economic agents that could contribute to the creation of disequilibrium and to the increase of the economic dynamics.
3. The dynamics of the information sources interaction
The analyses of the information sources interaction that was discussed above may prove to be of assistance in understanding more deeply the phenomenon of social system dynamics. In such a way, how this interaction or the information sources interaction would be, social systems pass through more phases of these dynamics. One of these phases could be named a dispersed configuration of information sources interaction among other types of sources . A political system that is in a transition is in a phase of dispersed political information sources among other social sources. That is to say they are not consolidated as in the case of a fully democratic system where there is a dynamic equilibrium in the interaction with the political or governmental information sources on one hand, and social-economic sources on the other. This disorder or dispersed information sources can take place immediately after a collapse of a totalitarian or authoritarian system where the political or governmental information sources were outspread in a consolidated form in all other social-economic sources. In such a system, the entropy reaches a maximum point as a result of isolation of other social information sources, and by the time of system self-organization, totalitarian political information sources are needed to downgrade in a chaotic form among all other social-human information sources. The Soviet Political System (when the communist ideology controlled the whole variety of all social information sources) serves as an example; at a given moment, the system failed as a result of closing all the information sources both at the micro level and at the macro level.
As a result of a natural self-organization, the information sources of the communist ideology were dispersed in all social systems. It means that this dominant source jellied in the past, was dispersed at the beginning of 1990 among other information sources that began to grow in influence as a result of an accelerated new flow of information. This accelerated entrance of new and varied information, as a result of the sudden opening of the soviet system, was able to discard immediately the communist ideology being limited at the periphery. But this reality was not as successful in the Eastern European countries, letting the communist mentality to be neither at the periphery nor to totally dominate their social systems, but to be dispersed in all the system. This fact did not allow accelerated development like in most Central European countries which succeeded in consolidating the dynamics regarding the flow of new information which could govern the new political systems. These systems are typical to market economies, as well as, opening both the micro and macro levels, which brought the communist ideology quickly to the periphery.
From the phase of the dispersed information sources configuration the system can select two options: the crystallization as a system dominated by the same information sources or the dynamic equilibrium system. In the case of the political systems that are dominated by the same information sources could be totalitarian or authoritarian systems, or in the case of an economic system as an example could serve protectionist systems or those that are oriented more to consumption than to export. In this case, such an interaction hyper-dominated by the same types of information sources leads to the domination of others, maintaining the whole system in a classical equilibrium. Such unique sources could be an ideology, a unique mentality or tradition which affects the interaction diversity that offers the system dynamics. For example, the political system of Belarus, by the time of obtaining independence and of communist ideology dissipation (a former dominant information source), chose again in 1994 a dictatorship with a collective economy. This reality took place because of the incapability to bring to the periphery the communist ideology and mentality and of the incapability to open to the types of information sources from a market economy system environment.
Another phase that the system could pass through, from a dispersed information interaction, is a dynamic equilibrium configuration. That is to say an information source will never dominate the whole configuration of the information sources in the system, even if there is an order parameter or a general principle that controls the interaction of the system elements. It means that information sources will not exchange information with the same information source, but will have the choice to make this exchange with more information sources. In such a way, even if an equilibrium exists or the information sources configuration is not dispersed, there will persist continuously a dynamics within the system with relative reduced entropy as a result of a larger choice of information exchange. Dynamic equilibrium system development is most desirable because it offers the system increased stability and development (Roşca, 2007, p. 9).
In its evolution, the social system could achieve again the dispersed information source phase as a result of self-organizing after the entropy growth and through the dissipative process (Ebeling, 1989, p. 23); this process destroys the old structures. In such a situation the system needs to pass through a chaotic phase of information sources interaction.
4. Dynamic Equilibrium regime within the social systems
Taking into consideration the above mentioned we can come to the conclusion that the phase (regime) or the most desirable type of dynamics for a political or economic system is that of dynamic equilibrium. For such a state the interaction is balanced because stability exists at macro-level, but this is also dynamic because changes within the system are taking place due to the varied information exchange at the micro-level. These changes take place only inside of the system and not at the macro level as whole, which maintains stability (University of Arizona, 1997). That is why only such a state can guarantee social progress and development creating stability at the system level, but in the same time, changes take place at the level of information sources or at the micro-level.
Therefore, until now, political systems from the Eastern European countries, being in such information sources degradation, are dispersed among all other social information sources; after they obtained independence, these states tried to consolidate the information source interaction through dynamic equilibrium creation. This was very difficult to obtain and more lengthy in comparison with other former socialist states because of slow information entropy decrease and of slow consolidation of the political and governmental information sources, allowing these sources to have a chaotic configuration among other information sources. The consolidation of political sources in dynamic equilibrium form can be conceived by understanding the law of entropy decrease, which can take place through maximum opening of the information sources to interaction and to social information exchange both at the micro level, the information sources level, and at the macro level, the system level.
Hereby, for the Eastern European countries, the cooperation and the opening to the civil society and international society is a needed absolute imperative. Also, the integration of these countries into the European structure could contribute substantially to the information sources consolidation of their political systems in a dynamic equilibrium. This opening to another informational environment accelerates the social information flux so that the system structures become more organized, and the entropy or the disorder decreases (Lamberton, 1996, p. 6).
Regarding the government mechanisms in a country both in the case of a political system and in the case of a economic system, it is necessary to take into consideration the principle of condition creation in which the information sources at micro level are in a continuous diverse interaction, so that more changes will take place at the micro level resulting in the creation of stability at the macro level (Василкова, 1999, p. 209). Such a system function can be called dynamic equilibrium when the information sources that form the system structure have a diversity of interactions as large as possible with different other information sources. And as much as this diversity of the interactions grows at the micro level the dynamics of social systems will grow strengthening the equilibrium, and increased stability will take place at the macro level or for the whole social system.
In order to have such state of the social system, the government must concentrate on such a social relations organization that the information circuit will flow as efficiently and quickly as possible (Stonier, 1990, p. 26). Then, coming out from the dynamic equilibrium concept, when a reform is made at the social system level, it must be first proven at the micro level, not immediately on the whole political or economic system. It could be very easily concluded that a certain state reform in micro conditions could be made to see what kind of consequences it would have on the state level or for the social system. And only after the reform was tested at the micro level, it could be applied at the macro level.
Also, the government mechanisms must permanently take into consideration the fact that in order to create stability at the system level, large changes must take place in the interaction between the system level, through case studies, researches and then through decision making.
Therefore, if the economic systems of many western countries are in a stagnate state, new changes should be made for the economic agents that represent the microelements of the economic systems, as well as creation of new chances in their interaction as information sources.
In the case of Eastern European political systems, in order to create a dynamic equilibrium it is necessary for the civil society and its elements that are the microelement of the political system, to be promoted at all social aspects and levels. In the case of an underdeveloped civil society that is not promoted by the state mechanisms, we may not speak about a dynamic equilibrium for a political system, a fact that must be taken into consideration by the Eastern European countries from west.
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