Sustainable technology in social entropy theory [Kenneth Bailey, ISSS 1998 Plenary Session, July 22/98]

These notes are a rough transcription, prepared as each individual presenter and/or commentator spoke at the ISSS 1998 conference. Gaps and errors have likely occurred. For more accurate citations, please consult the original presenters. These notes have been contributed to the ISSS by David Ing, of the IBM Advanced Business Institute (sabi@systemicbusiness.org).

Kenneth Bailey, Department of Sociology, UCLA

• [handout cites two books: Social Entropy Theory (SUNY Press, 1990), Sociology and the New Systems Theory (SUNY Press, 1994)]

• Some people may have idea of social engineering, where people are manipulated.
• Social theory means norms, social emphasis.
• Neglect of technology in social theory, which is getting worse.
• Introductory sociology textbook on culture, but little on material culture which includes technology.
• Sociologists, as a new (20th century) practice, have had a fear of including environmental factors, which would lead to reductionism.
• Some even reject cybernetics, as founded in thermostats.
• Sociologists may not be quantitative, and then are focused on more qualitative humanistic measures
• Little work was focused on human ecology, which is in decline, extending to social systems theory.
• Trend may continue, and even get worse, as sociology continues to fragment.

• Need a macrosociological systems theory which can include living and non-living systems (as organizations).
• Centers on acronym of PILOTS or PISTOL
1. Population
2. Information
3. Level of living
4. Organization
5. Technology
6. Spatial area
• Six important measures used by all people
• Had wanted to find a way to create a list of macrosociological variables, which are prevalent anywhere in the world.
• Decided not to do a factor analysis of existing literature.
• Started with a concrete model (a la James Miller)
• Population in a bounded (spatial) area.
• Paradigm problem: this is usually called environment, but in systems theory, want to call environment outside the bounded area -- thus called space.
• To see how society works, it uses energy to adapt to its spatial environment, which results in the other four area: technology, level of organizational elements, and organization.
• Level of living emerges as a dependent variable, but doesn't always have to be; it can sometimes be independent.
• Older model with the POET model by Duncan and Schnore.
• Didn't start from the POET model, although knew about it.
• Most people don't talk about the whole society
• Macrosociologists sometimes focus on one factor, e.g. Malthus on population.
• If society is successful, entropy can be controlled.
• If not successful, e.g. population out of control, then the society could diminish.
• North Korea is an interesting case, where population is in decline because of starvation: society is so closed, that food doesn't come in.
• The six of PILOTS are not variables, but components or factors or sectors.
• T for U.S. in 1998 is medical tools, agriculture, etc. ...
• Sometimes people focus on L = f(P, I, O, T, S), but today, we're focused on T = f(P, I, L, O, S)
• This can be used as a comparative framework to compare different societies at the same point in time (e.g. North vs. South Korea), or the same society at different points in time (e.g. Korean peninsula in 1940 as a Japanese colony, vs. North Korea today).
• This framework also applies to subsystems, e.g. states, counties and cities
• Could look at companies, e.g. bureaucratic form, cash

• Have written a lot defining technology.
• Technology as the sum total as all tools -- all implements used to do work, where work requires energy to reduces entropy in the system
• From garden tools to computer.
• Energy not explicitly included in the PILOTS framework today, but it's used in a broader sense than most (e.g. more than electrical power).
• Required societal energy is either available within the system, or can be imported within the system (e.g. Korean pilot had to save jet fuel in a bottle for 6 months so that he could defect)

• Today, technology has come to mean information and IT, but early sociology models didn't include information processing (e.g. Duncan and Schnore)
• Makes a distinction between immutable variables (macrosociological properties of the whole) and mutable (distributional) properties.
• Recognizes in U.S. that immutable would be the sum of all technology would be sum of all tools of all types in society; mutable would be the number of people in the technological category, i.e. those who work with software or are software-licensed.
• Example of confusion: Knowledge of a computer programmer: is this a technology or information variable?

• Sustainable is a buzzword from ecology, but definition is not clear.
• Will define in terms of the 6 equations.
• Must have a technological society (a functional requisite for the society to survive), so it must be sustained.
• To be sustainable, must not deplete resources too quickly.
• Should use energy sources.
• If the energy source can not be sustained, some alternative sources can be found.
• Sustainable PILOTS: sustainable population, sustainable information ...
• Thus technology shouldn't be considered as sustainable without looking at the other 5 components
• As systems theorists, shouldn't study sustainable technology is isolation, should look in terms of the other 5 components.
• Not like disciplinary thinkers, who focus on one component.
• First, need to presume a sustainable energy level, then T = F(P, I, L, O, S) means that all of the other components must be sustainable.