Society as an organism.


If a society is a quasi-biological organism, what are its needs? We do not know. We cannot talk to this organism as we do to individuals when we try to ascertain their needs. But to a certain extent we can guess the needs of a society. If it is like ask organism at all, 'it' strives to survive and to maintain its integrity. We may even suppose that it tries to grow, to learn by experience, to develop, and to become more complex, since we can observe these things happening to social organisms fairly consistently. The entity on which the life of the greater organism can be said to depend is its organization, the totality of the functional relations among its parts.

The monopoly of communication channels (which is effected by keeping the channels "empty" or "clogged") enables social organizations based on undelegated power to maintain themselves. A power in an organization which does not stem from the explicit consent of its members and therefore performs no function in serving the needs of the members may be termed an undelegated power. Such a power may, however, serve the needs of the organization, at least temporarily, by enabling the organization to maintain itself. . . . The characteristic thing about delegated power is that its range is limited to specific areas of activity and usually to specific times. . . . A society in which the principle social values consist in keeping the free flow of information through its channels has been called an "open society." Society can be called an open society only if its structure is such that it continues to remain open, that is, undelegated power cannot be consolidated within it."

The only general principle of an operational social philosophy is that it is operational. Like operational knowledge, it is guided by the analysis of experience. Based on operational ethics, it is guided by freedom of choice, knowledge of consequences, and self-insight. (2, pp. 139-150)


This page was last updated on July 29, 1996, by Dr. Umpleby.