Preface

This book is about social collectives, their behaviors, structures, processes, cultures, their ability to manifest and manage information and knowledge, and their capacity to communicate meaningfully. It is therefore a book on the theory of social knowledge. Some of the theory is evidenced, while some is postulated and therefore contributes to a research agenda. Overall my approach will hopefully provide a convincing frame of reference through which to examine social communities and their sociality, behavior, properties and attributes of coherence. Its conceptual base sits on that of my earlier cybernetically oriented book on Management Systems, published in 1999. As such it also adopts a cybernetic perspective through its exploration of viable complex systems.