Social Structure

A social structure is the pattern of feedback loops that cause the dynamic behavior of interest in a social system. In our work the term is nearly synonymous with the word structure. The difference is that structure applies to any type of system, such as the entire universe, while social structure applies only to social systems.

If a problem solver working on a complex social system problem is unable to see the key social structures causing the problem, they will be unable to solve the problem, except by brute force combined with trial and error. This however will take so long, and cost so much, that such approaches are considered to be ridiculously wasteful in science and business.

But not in environmentalism, where as of May 2006 I have yet to encounter any published analysis that goes into the real social structure of the global environmental sustainability problem, such as identification of structures like the Dueling Loops. This has been a bit of a surprise. But the explanation seems to be that because environmentalism has been married to the process of Classic Activism ever since it was born, there is no perceived need to perform an analysis of the system's social structure. After all, classic activists have four simple steps that will solve all problems. And if they don't, well, all you have to do is try again or try harder, or both.