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On the Entropy of Social Systems: A Revision of the Concepts of Entropy and Energy in the Social Context[Note 1. 1 And would also imply the existence of a ...]
Author(s) -
Mavrofides Thomas,
Kameas Achilleas,
Papageorgiou Dimitris,
Los Antonios
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
systems research and behavioral science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1099-1743
pISSN - 1092-7026
DOI - 10.1002/sres.1084
Subject(s) - social entropy , entropy (arrow of time) , social system , epistemology , sociology , computer science , mathematical economics , mathematics , artificial intelligence , social science , social relation , social philosophy , physics , philosophy , thermodynamics , social inertia
The main problem that systems theory tries to solve is the problem of complexity. The notion of complexity is very often correlated to variables such as entropy and energy, organization and disorganization and others that eventually converge to the common ground of comprehensibility or incomprehensibility. In this paper, we try to shed light on the notions of entropy and energy as they should be conceived in the theoretical framework of social sciences. We analyse the different meanings of entropy, dealing with the social systems as if they were information management systems (following Niklas Luhmann), and we also present an initial approach, as to the meaning of energy for those systems, bringing Pierre Bourdieu's theory of symbolic capital into a Luhmannian context. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.