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SOCIOCRATIC DEMOCRACY


GUARANTEEING FREEDOM AND EQUALITY

Monday, September 11th, 2023
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MENU

 * About Sociocracy
   * What Is Sociocracy and Why Does Democracy Need it?
   * Origins of Sociocracy
   * First Implementation of Sociocracy
   * Policy Decisions
   * The Sociocratic Election Process, Peer to Peer Elections
   * Gerard Endenburg: The Sociocratic Circle-Organization Method
   * Sociocracy Today
   * Advocating Sociocracy
   * Resources on Sociocracy
 * To Read . . .
   * Sociocracy for One
   * “Sociocracy: Democracy as It Might Be” by Kees Boeke
   * Stories
     * The Green Amigos Try Sociocracy
 * Glossary
 * We the People 2
   * We the People: Consenting to a Deeper Democracy, 2nd edition
   * Nós o Povo: Consentindo a uma Democracia mais Profunda
   * Nosotros, el Pueblo: Acordando una democracia más profunda
   * 27-Block Chart in English, Portuguese, and Spanish
   * Errata
 * FAQ
 * Contact


TOPICS

 * Books Videos Websites
 * Collaborative Organizations
   * Businesses
   * Healthcare
   * Non-Profit
   * Schools
 * Getting it done
   * In Civic Life
   * In Home and Family
   * In Our Schools
   * In the Workplace
 * Glossary
 * History and Philosophy
   * Compare & Contrast
   * Decisions and Power
   * Holacracy
   * Leadership and Self-Organization
   * Sociocracy Practices
 * Learning More
 * Stories
 * Uncategorized


RECENT POSTS

 * Intentional Communities conference Nov 19
 * Sociocracy in a municipality
 * Hertzler Systems Inc – a case study
 * 2021 Annual International Sociocracy Conference
 * Cooperatives and sociocracy – and conference on Feb 18
 * Sociocracy Academy – Sociocracy For All
 * Permaculture and sociocracy – an online conference
 * Podcast on commoning and sociocracy


ORIGINS OF SOCIOCRACY


AN IDEA

The idea of a sociocracy began with French philosopher and sociologist Auguste
Comte. Sociology was a new science, the study of people in social groups. The
root word for both sociology and sociocracy is the Latin, socius, which means a
friend, an ally. People who know each other and are members of the same group or
society.

The suffix -ology means “the study of” as in archeology, psychology, etc. The
suffix –ocracy refers to a particular form of governance. Thus a sociocracy
refers to governance by people who know each other, friends or allies.

While many people associate anything beginning with “socio” as socialism, what
they share is only the root word referring to friends and allies. Socialism is
an economic theory in which all means of production, distribution, and exchange
are owned or managed in common. This is in opposition to Capitalism, an economic
system based on private ownership and control of production, distribution,
and exchange.

Sociocracy is not an economic theory but a method of governing organizations,
regardless of the economic system in which they exist. Just as sociocracy has
many features that would strengthen democracy, it is equally effective in a
capitalist economy. Sociocracy is a system of organization and governance that
can be applied in any kind of economic system.


WHY A SOCIOCRACY?

In the mid-nineteenth century following almost a century of political
revolutions in which monarchies and aristocracies were overturned or stripped of
power, Comte was searching for a rational basis for government. He had developed
a philosophy called Positivism in which knowledge is based on what is known of
the natural world — on what could be proven and not what a monarch or the church
decreed. The scientific method was developing as the appropriate source of
knowledge and Comte believed governments should also be guided by the scientific
method. Governance on the basis of inherited rights, personal wealth,  religious
dictates, and military power had all proven corruptible and not in the interests
of all the people.

Comte believed that a society governed by social scientists could use the
scientific method to decide the best social and economic policies, those that
would serve all the people, not just some of the people.


LIMITATIONS OF AN IDEAL

Sociology remained an ideal, however, partly because Comte was a philosopher, a
theorist. He didn’t form or lead organizations. Implementation would need the
rhetorical skills of a political critic and an educator. The next person to
advocate widely for a sociocracy was American sociologist Lester Frank Ward who
worked for the federal government until he retired. He then taught at Brown
University.

At the turn of the twentieth century, both the hopeful ideas of the nineteenth
century—science and democracy—were losing their promise of curring social ills.
Science could be used for the good of society or to control and destroy it.
Democracy was becoming beholden to political parties and their endless focus on
winning the majority. The needs of society as a whole had not become the focus
of the democratic government.


FRANK WARD, INDIVIDUALIST

Frank Ward was a self-made man attending university at night while working as a
government clerk. He became the head of the department of paleontology and the
president of both the American sociological society and the international
sociological association. His ideal was the independent self-organizing
individual. Sociocracy represented a government that would allow strong
individuals to lead a society guided by sociologists. He wrote extensively on
the subject and the idea of a sociocracy began to appear frequently in journals
and newspapers, not just in philosophical treatises. The reactions were not all
positive. It was still an idea, all speculation and no one had a vision of how
it could be implemented.

The first application of sociocracy came in the Netherlands in a residential
school community founded by Dutch pacifist and educator Kees Boeke and English
Quaker Beatrice Cadbury Boeke during WW II.

Next: First Implementation


PLEASE JOIN THE EMAIL DISCUSSION GROUP

The sociocracy email discussion list was started in 2002. The list language is
English, but members speak many languages if you have translation questions. We
discuss anything related to sociocracy, democracy, and collaborative governance.

To subscribe send a blank email to sociocracy+subscribe@groups.io


PLEASE CHOOSE YOUR LANGUAGE:

Arabic Chinese (Simplified) Danish Dutch English French German Hindi Italian
Japanese Korean Portuguese Russian Spanish Turkish
English


BOOKS




 

A practical handbook on sociocracy with more than 200 diagrams and examples of
sociocratic processes. Spanish and Portuguese translations.

Where to find a copy (including bulk orders)


WHAT YOU WILL FIND HERE

This site is a resource on sociocracy and democracy and the ways they support
each other. It examines the principles and practices and the ways in which
together they could better achieve their objectives. How would things get done
in a sociocratic democracy?


SUBJECTS

 * Books Videos Websites
 * Collaborative Organizations
   * Businesses
   * Healthcare
   * Non-Profit
   * Schools
 * Getting it done
   * In Civic Life
   * In Home and Family
   * In Our Schools
   * In the Workplace
 * Glossary
 * History and Philosophy
   * Compare & Contrast
   * Decisions and Power
   * Holacracy
   * Leadership and Self-Organization
   * Sociocracy Practices
 * Learning More
 * Stories
 * Uncategorized


RECENT ENTRIES

 * Intentional Communities conference Nov 19
 * Sociocracy in a municipality
 * Hertzler Systems Inc – a case study
 * 2021 Annual International Sociocracy Conference
 * Cooperatives and sociocracy – and conference on Feb 18


META

 * Log in
 * Entries feed
 * Comments feed
 * WordPress.org


ABOUT

New: Sharon Villines built and developed this page and all of its original
content.

The site is now maintained by Sociocracy For All



 * Top categories: History and Philosophy / Decisions and Power / In Civic Life
   / In the Workplace / Books Videos Websites / Leadership and Self-Organization
   / Collaborative Organizations / Getting it done / In Home and Family / In Our
   Schools
 * Top tags: Consent Consensus / cohousing / Gerard Endenburg / Kees Boeke /
   democracy / holacracy / policy decisions / John Buck / objections / Theory &
   Practice

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