Cultural Agency Theory

Cultural Agency Theory (CAT) is a cybernetic living systems theory that models complex social adaptive systems including individuals, groups, and nations. It is a recent paradigm that arises from a conceptual basis delivered by Eric Schwarz that, because it was devoid of application, has had little following or recognition. It was picked up by Yolles in the mid 1990s, and applied to human knowledge related contexts.

What is CAT?

What CAT is can be represented by what it does and how it has been used:

• What it does is to uniquely model human activity systems. How it has been used is illustrated by the new approach it has contributed in organisation theory through the concept of normative personality, which is able to explain in a new way and uniquely anticipate organisational behaviour within defined contexts. It adopts a multidisciplinary approach, with examples of application in politics, in social psychology, economics and management. It is related to, but distinct from, the paradigm of management cybernetics that has enabled an important diagnostic management tool called the Viable Systems Model to develop.
• How it has been used. CAT provides a way to explore organizations as well as their relationships with others in defined contexts through its generic metatheory approach. It is also useful for finding and explaining generic social pathologies or problems of "social ill-health" that might otherwise go unnoticed. Thus, CAT gives analysts the ability to study complex human activity systems and anticipate the likely appearance of problematic issues.

History and foundations

While CAT is a cybernetic theory of complex adaptive systems, it is a different paradigm from that of Complex Adaptive Systems(CAS). It has been influenced by two theoretical constructs in its development: Schwarz and Beer. When its modelling approach does not involve culture, it adopts the name of Autonomous Agency Theory (AAT).

Yolles set Schwarz’ cybernetic living systems model within a knowledge context, therefore providing the basis for a more socially oriented theory: the CAT. It can also be demonstrated to be consistent with the development of current management theory using contingency theory.

Dissipative Systems

Schwarzian theory begins with the idea of dissipative systems. While all isolated systems conserve energy, in non-isolated systems, one can distinguish between conservative systems (in which the kinetic energy is conserved) and dissipative systems (where the total kinetic and potential energy is conserved, but where part of the energy is changed in form and lost). If dissipated systems are far from equilibrium they "try" to recover equilibrium so quickly that they form dissipative structures to accelerate the process. Dissipative systems can create structured spots where entropy locally decreases and so negentropy locally increases to generate order and organisation. Dissipative systems involve far-from-equilibrium process that are inherently dynamically unstable, though they survive through the creation of order that is beyond the thresholds of instability.

Schwarzian Living Systems

Schwarz's living system model is a summary of much of the knowledge of complex adaptive systems, but succinctly compressed as a graphical generic metamodel. It is this capacity of compression that establishes it as a new theoretical structure that is beyond the concept of autopoiesis/self-production proposed by Humberto Maturana, through the concept of autogenesis, and while it has been used in a related way considered by others, Schwarz firmly integrated it with relevant theory in complexity in a way not previously done. The outcome illustrates how a complex and adaptive viable system is able to survive - maintaining an autonomous durable existence within the confines of its own constraints. The nature of viable systems is that they should have at least potential independence in their processes of regulation, organisation, production, and cognition. The generic model provides a holistic relationship between the attributes that explains the nature of viable systems and how they survive. It addresses the emergence and possible evolution of organisations towards complexity and autonomy intended to refer to any domain of system (e.g., biological, social, or cognitive).

Systems in general, but also human activity systems, are able to survive (in other words they become viable) when they develop:

• (a) patterns of self-organisation that lead to self-organisation through morphogenesis and complexity;
• (b) patterns for long term evolution towards autonomy;
• (c) patterns that lead to the functioning of viable systems.

Figure 1: Explanation of the nature of a Viable Living System, adapted from Schwarz (1994)

This theory was intended to embrace the dynamics of dissipative systems using three planes.

• Plane of energy.
• Plane of information.
• Plane of totality.

Each of the three planes (illustrated in Figure 1) is an independent ontological domain, interactively connected through networks of processes, and it shows the basic ontological structure of the viable system. Connected with this is an evolutionary spiral of self-organisation, shown in Figure 2. Here, there are 4 phases or modes that a viable system can pass through. Mode 3 occurs with one of three possible outcomes (trifurcation): system death when viability is lost; more of the same; and metamorphosis when the viable system survives because it changes form.

The dynamic process that viable living systems have, as they move from stability to instability and back again, is explained in Table 1, referring to aspects of both Figures 1 and 2.

Attribute	Movement toward evolution
A1. Stability	The system starts in a non-isolated condition, with some degree of stability.
A2. Tropic Drift	Dissipative processes increase and the system is in danger of losing any robustness that it has. In complex systems the tropic drift enables potentials to be actualised. The drift takes the system away from its stable position and gives rise to tensions between the system and its parts and/or between the system and its environment.
A3. ALEA (crisis)	The tensions, following the tropic drift that moved the system away from its stable domain, lead the system to a non-linear condition of structural criticality. If the system loses robustness, fluctuations are amplified.
A4. Metamorphosis	Morphogenic change is induced through amplification. This occurs through differentiation. While the steps 103 above occur in the event plane, here more relational processes appear in the system through positive and negative feedback, and integration.
A5. Omeostasis	This slows down the morphogenesis of attribute A4, through the appearance of new integrative functional negative feedback loops. However, an unsuccessful result may produce regression, chaos, or destruction.
A6. Information drift and complexification	The above attributes can be iterated, increasing the complexity of the system. This is represented in the logical plane.
A7. Appearance of self-production cycles	When complexity reaches a very high level, a new kind of super-circularity can emerge: autopoiesis. This operates at the logical level of the system reinforcing the network of production.
A8. Autopoiesis	Complexification can continue in a safer way than in attribute A6. This is because there is an additional super-logical relation between the events that represent the system and its logical organisation. When this has happened, the system has increased its autonomy from the homeostatic attributes A5 and A6, to self-production.
A9. Self-reference	Increase in autonomy and development of individual identity occurs with self-reference in the logical plane. In attribute A5 and A6, the system could compensate for the unexpected variations in the environment through multiple homeostatic loops (attributes 5 and 6). In attribute A7 and A8 the ability to develop an increase in autonomy and complexification occurs. Here it also develops the ability to self-identify and dialogue with itself about matters that include its environment.
A10. Self-referential drift	This represents an intensification of self-reference. This is accompanied by an increase in the qualitative and quantitative dialogue between the system and its image within the system. This increases autonomy, and elevates the level of consciousness in a living system. It therefore solidifies individual identity.
A11. Autogenesis	This represents the self-production of the rules of production. It occurs in the existential plane. It defines the state of full autonomy, and is closed operationally. It defines being.

Table 1: Metamodel for the Dynamics of Self-organisation

Figure 2: The Dynamics of systems as they move from stability to instability and back

Developing Agency from Schwarz

Elaborating on Schwarz' core model of the living system, agencies are seen to have a general structure, composed of a substructure and a superstructure. The substructure defines an agency generically as a living system giving it properties of anticipation through its generic attributes (e.g., autopoiesis and authoegenesis). These constitute (first and second orders of) networks of processes through which behaviour can be anticipated under given contexts. The superstructure is constructed through context related propositional theory that populates the substructure. Thus, if an agency is modelled to have formative traits (see trait theory), then these constitute part of its superstructure that determines the types of contextual behaviour possible so long as its substructure is in good health.

Agency substructure has various dynamic properties including autonomy and a potential for viability and adaptability. Superstructure can be created for specific agency contexts give appropriate theory. Where this arises from socio-cognitive theory, superstructural theory may include: collective identity, cognition, emotion, personality; purpose and intention; and self-reference, self-awareness and self-reflection. Agencies also interact in an environment with others attributes, including other agencies. The substructural autonomous agency model is shown in Figure 3. For autopoiesis to be a core element of a living system it requires three ontological attributes. His holistic plane that constitutes "the whole" becomes the existential/cognitive system here. His potential plane of relations becomes a noumenal/organising system, and the physical plane of objects becomes the phenomenal/operative system. The terms existential, noumenal and phenomenal have the following rationale for these terms is as follows:

• The term existential is so called because it maintains an existential pattern of thematic relevance to constituents of phenomenal experience that constitute an essence of agency self.
• The term noumenal comes from the concept of the noumenon, arising from Kant's positivist idea that it is an absolute statement of the nature of a phenomenal effect, however, it has taken on a constructivist meaning here.
• The term phenomenal is so called because it maintains phenomenal patterns that structure relevance (connected with action, the meaning of which is determined by context) and that constitutes an origin for experience. It represents structures that constrain and facilitate behaviours.

From the CAT perspective, each system in Figure 3 is constituted as an autonomous set of characteristics (e.g., believing, thinking and doing) but as systems they also have purpose, functionality and epistemic content. The modelling of these systems is determined by superstructure that is context and proposition dependent. These systems are distinguished through the boundaries that, through the knowledge that defines them, offer passive controls for the membership of a living system.

Figure 4: Living System, formulated as a set of ontologically independent but interconnected substructural subsystems

Developing Agency from Piaget

Figure 5: The Basic Substructural Schema for CAT

Cultural Agency Theory has been also related to the work of Piaget on learning in children, resulting in the recognition that autopoiesis can be referred to as operative intelligence, and autogenesis as figurative intelligence. An example of the revised model on the CAT perspective is given in Figure 5.

Linking Figures 4 and 5, the existential/cognitive system becomes the cultural system. This acts as an attractor for the agency as a whole, providing opportunity constraint for the acquisition of properties in its noumenal/organising system (which in the CAT context becomes a personality system) and operative system. This attraction ceases with cultural instability, when the cultural agency becomes instrumental. Another feature is driven by possibilities of recursion allowing modelling flexibility, illustrated for instance by in a plural cultural agency (like an organisation) having a normative personality.

Higher Orders of Autonomous Agency

Stafford Beer's Viable Systems Model is a well-known diagnostic model that comes out of his Management Cybernetics paradigm. Related to this is the idea of first order and second order cybernetics. Cybernetics is concerned with feedforward and feedback processes, and first order cybernetics is concerned with this relationship between the system and its environment. Second order cybernetics is concerned with the relationship between the system and its internal metasystem (that some refer to as "the observer" of the system). Von Foerster has referred to second order cybernetics as the "cybernetics of cybernetics." CAT is a different paradigm from Management Cybernetics. Extending the principles of autonomous agency theory (AAT), a generic model has been formulated for the generation of higher cybernetic orders as shown in Figure 5, developed using the concepts of recursion and incursion as proposed by Dubois.

Figure 5: Recursive generator for an nth order generic model through the generation of (n+1) higher order generic constructs in an implied autopoietic (self-producing) and autogenetic (self-creating) hierarchy.

The model is reflective, for instance, of processes of knowledge creation for community learning and Symbolic Convergence Theory. This nth order theory of cybernetics links with "the cybernetics of cybernetics" by assigning to its second order cybernetic concept inferences that may arise from any higher order cybernetics that may exist, if unperceived. The network of processes in this general representation of higher cybernetic orders is expressed in terms of orders of autopoiesis, so that for instance autogenesis may be seen as a second order of autopoiesis. With the value of n=2, Figure 5 reduces to cultural agency (Figure 4) if R (3) is taken as a cultural system, when R (2) is taken as personality system, and R (1) is taken as the operative system. Using a recursion of agency set within the noumenal system, a referent system may be seen as a locality of an order of consciousness in any living system. This of course requires that n > 1 to exclude operations in isolation which have no cognitive dimensionality. When n increases meaningfully in relation to some agency context, higher orders of agency may develop. This can be used to explain paradigm shifts.

References

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