Sociocracy

Sociocracy is a system of governance using consent decision making and an organizational structure based on cybernetic principles (a system with closed feedback mechanisms). Modern sociocracy was developed by Gerard Endenburg as a method for use in governing an electrical engineering company, and is applicable to any organization. Sociocracy has been advocated as a management system that distributes leadership and power throughout the organization. It is currently used by public, private, non-profit, and community organizations and associations. Sociocratic governance and management is taught in college and university courses in business, political science, history, and sociology.

The word sociocracy is derived from the Latin and Greek words socius (companion) and kratein (to govern). It is English for the word sociocratie, coined in 1851 by Auguste Comte, a French positivist philosopher (who also derived the word sociology from social physics) and later used by the U.S. sociologist Lester Frank Ward in a paper he wrote for the Penn Monthly in 1881 and later still by Dutch educator and peace activist Kees Boeke, who applied the concept to education. In a wider sense, sociocracy means the rule by the "socios," people who have a social relationship with each other – as opposed to democracy: rule by the "demos," the general mass of people.

Ward later expanded this concept in his books Dynamic Sociology (1883) and The Psychic Factors of Civilization (1892). Ward was very influential in his time and had a worldwide reputation as a groundbreaking sociologist. He believed that a highly educated public was essential if a country was to be governed effectively, and he foresaw a time when the emotional and partisan nature of contemporary politics would yield to a much more effective, dispassionate and scientifically-based discussion of issues and problems. Democracy would thus eventually evolve into a more advanced form of government, sociocracy.

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