In the following document you will learn why a new managment science will lead to the death of sociology and why this is good for sociologists who want to study and change societies.

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The Death of Sociology! A New Opportunity for Sociologists?

Sometimes life makes us take a winding detour. For me, the following years 1976, 1989, 2002, 2005, 2007 and 2020 are important milestones. Each in their own way, these milestones led me to develop Citizens & Societies  which is an innovative initiative whose objective is to coordinate citizen actions so that we can build better societies together.

If the path was so long, it’s because before I could start coordinating actions, I had to understand what a society is and develop a theoretical model of what a “good” society is. I also had to understand what a citizen is and identify the archetype of the “good” citizen. Without these understandings, it would have been impossible to reach this destination.

To answer these questions, I naturally turned to sociology, which is the science that studies societies. I have consulted hundreds of books and articles in addition to tapping into the knowledge of many sociologists and sociolophiles through countless exchanges in sociological discussion forums. Unfortunately, despite my extensive reading and discussion, I have not found answers.

It was then that I realized that sociology did not master its subject of study. Incidentally, I’m not the only one to say it since sociologists Frisby and Derek in their book “Society” came to the same conclusion:

“To the question of what is sociology?, the usual, sociologists’ answer—still—remains ‘the study of society.’ Yet the paradox, is that for most of the twentieth century, sociology has in fact not been this at all. ‘Society’ has proved too grand an abstraction by far for modern sociological tastes.[1] ”

Faced with the lack of a clear, clean and precise definition of what a society is, I began to wonder about its usefulness. Indeed:

• • How can a science that studies societies be useful if it does not even have a clear, clean and precise definition of what a society is?
  • How can a science that studies societies be useful if it does not even offer a theoretical model that would help us develop better societies?
  • Finally, how can a science that does not meet the needs of its users; politicians, policy-makers, leaders, civil servants, etc., continue to exist?
    • Would biology exist if it did not meet the needs of doctors and other health specialists?
      • For example, phrenology no longer exists, as studying skull bumps was of no use in helping psychologists understand their patient.

This lack of sociological knowledge is, in my opinion, the root of the ingenuity void that Thomas Homer Dixon identified in his book, “The Ingenuity Gap”. The political scientist made the following observation:

“Progress in the social sciences is especially slow, for reasons we don’t yet fully understand; but we desperately need better social scientific knowledge to build the sophisticated institutions today’s world demands.^[2]”

The question that we need to ask is: “why do we have a sociological ingenuity vacuum when we have invested hundreds of billions of dollars[3] in this area?”

There is only one reason for this void despite this huge investment; sociology is just not the right science for studying societies. (Besides, for some, sociology is not a science[4] and for others, sociology is just a discipline like history.[5])

This implies that all sociologists who want to study and change societies, do not have access to the right scientific lenses to study and change them.

Thus, since sociology is not the right science to study societies, it will never be able to meet our needs. The only logical conclusion is that sociology will suffer a long and gradual decline.

A Decline or a Free-Fall?

However, the decline of sociology could be faster.

Indeed, if it were only for the fact that sociology is not the right science to study society, the decline could extend over several decades, since we have no other alternative.

However, if a new alternative emerges, the decline could accelerate, as politicians, scientists, administrators, and civil servants would seek to try another avenue rather than continue with a science that does not meet their needs.

If in addition this alternative succeeded in offering theoretical models, guidelines, scientific laws and methodologies that met the needs of citizens, including as politicians, scientists, administrators, civil servants, etc., then the decline would turn into a free-fall.

We now have access to a new social science which offers an alternative to sociology. This new alternative is a management science[6] which I called SOCIETALogy.

If a management science can replace sociology, it is because societies are in fact organizations. This is the hypothesis I made 15 years ago and which I was able to confirm by answering the following questions: If societies are organizations, to whom do they belong? What are their goals? What resources are they using? Etc.

Gradually, as I answered these questions, I identified laws and guidelines which I used to design methodologies and theoretical models.

In the end, I had access to a science specifically designed to study societies as organizations and citizenship as a profession.

This new science finally offers sociologists not only the opportunity to study societies, but also to know how to build better societies. This opportunity is also available to scientists in other social sciences, and citizens interested in the development of better societies.

SOCIETALogical  Models

SOCIETALogy allows us to better understand societies and the role that citizens play in them. However, the most important contribution from this management science is its scientific models.

Indeed, while it is important to understand societies, it is even more important to be able to compare them to a theoretical model in order to guide our actions. However, we have never had access to scientific models before and I think it is this lack of models that explains why there is a void of sociological ingenuity.

Having access to two scientific models that scientifically define what a successful society is and what a competent citizen is, are important social innovations.

A Performing Society[7]

Societalogically speaking, a performing society is a balanced society, that is to say a society where the vast majority of individual, group and collective actions facilitate the:

• • • • • development as well as the social and societal integration of citizens,
        • functioning and development of collectivities, and
        • functioning and development of governments.

When a society uses these guidelines, it achieves a balance in how resources are used to meet both the individual and social needs of citizens as well as the needs of the collectivity while reducing the level of social and societal tension, friction and conflict and increasing the quality of life for all citizens.

Of course, when we achieve this equilibrium, there will still be conflicts, both between citizens and towards the collectivity, but they are then peripheral. This means that they are more due to our social nature than to the way we manage our societies.

A Competent Citizen

Societalogically speaking, the archetype of a good citizen is a competent citizen, that is to say citizens are competent when  they:

1. 1. 1. gained the knowledge
      2. developed the skills (know-how)
      3. attitude (interpersonal skills),

that will enable them to be personally, socially and socially competent. This means that citizens have the tools that facilitate:

1. 1. 1. their personal development: psychological, physical, intellectual, economic development, etc., so that they can be a better person for themselves.
      2. their social integration, so that they can have better relations with others and thus reduce social conflicts.
      3. their societal integration, so that they can participate actively and positively in the functioning and development of the societies in which he lives and better understand the role of governments.

When citizens are competent, they are able to prevent, solve and manage problems on their own which decreases the amount of collective resources that the government must invest in solving preventable problems and thereby increases their quality of life.

This allows the government to be faster to solve problems that can’t be prevented or be better at managing them if they can’t solve them.

Thus, the more competent citizens are, the better the societies in which they live.

SOCIETALogical Strategies

SOCIETALogy offers two strategies. The first one is focused on methodology while the second focuses on models.

Methodology-Driven Strategy

The methodology-driven strategy makes it possible to study and evaluate all societies, present and past, regardless of their size or where they are located in our global village.

The methodology can be used to study all aspects of a society from politics to economics, from the social to the organizational, from education to religion, etc.

This strategy is effective in assessing the strengths and weaknesses of citizens, governments and societies.

The Model-Driven Strategy

The modeling strategy is a strategy focused on the future. It uses the goals and objectives of societalogical models of what a good society is, a balanced society, and what a good citizen is, a competent citizen, to guide our individual, group and collective actions.

This strategy is effective in engaging citizens and facilitating change. Its effectiveness is among other things increased because its goals and objectives are politically, philosophically and religiously neutral. Indeed, the means and actions are evaluated on the basis of their compatibility with the development of a balanced society and not according to their ideological origins.

SOCIETALogical Approach

SOCIETALogy offers a panoply of tools to study and evaluate our societies as well as to guide our actions. We can use two approaches to reach equilibrium: ascending and descending.

Ascending

Create a movement where citizens learn to become competent and use their knowledge and skills to make their societies more performing.

Descending

In this approach, our elected fellow citizens can modify the various governmental programs so that they reduce the level of social and societal tensions, frictions and conflicts as well as help citizens become more competent.

Of course, both approaches can be used simultaneously.

SOCIETALogical Tools

Given the managerial nature of SOCIETALogy, it is possible to develop different assessment tools, here are three: the Return societal on investment, the Citizen Quotient and the Citizen Footprint.

Return on societal investment

To assess the impact of individual, group and collective actions, it is possible to calculate the “Return on societal investment.” (RSI)

Using the theoretical model of a performing society, i.e. a balanced society, the RSI allows several actions to be compared with each other and to identify which has a better return on investment for the society according to the impact they have on:

• • • • • development as well as the social and societal integration of citizens,
        • functioning and development of the collectivity, and
        • functioning and development of governments.

The Return on societal investment tool can be used formally, using predefined scales, or informally, as a rule of thumb.

The Citizen Quotient

In order to be competent, one must have acquired knowledge. The Citizen Quotient (CQ) is a questionnaire. It allows citizens to assess their knowledge according to the 3 domains of competence related to citizenship, namely the knowledge associated with their:

1. 1. 1. Personal development,
      2. Social integration,
      3. Societal integration.

The Citizen Footprint.

In order to be competent, you must also have developed skills. The Citizen Footprint (CF) is a questionnaire that allows citizens to assess their impacts on the resources of the collectivity.

As citizens, we can have a positive or negative impact on the society depending on our societal contribution and our societal consumption. When these are positive, our citizen footprint is positive and we help make our societies better.

By adding the score of the two questionnaires, citizens can compare themselves to the archetype of the model citizen.

SOCIETALogical Ethics

Ethics is not a philosophical field anymore, it is a management science.

Indeed the fact that we now possess a model:

• • • of what  a “good” society is, a balanced society, 
    • of what a “good” citizen is, a competent citizen,
    • to evaluate our actions: the Return on Societal Investment tool.

We are now able to distance ourselves from what is “good” or what is “bad”, “right” or “wrong”  and evaluate our behaviours based on the impact they have on ourselves, on our fellow citizens, our governments and our societies.

This ethical science can then be used to adapt our constitutions, as well as our laws, our regulations our programs, etc., which will reduce the level of social and societal conflicts, as well as increase our quality of life.

There Can Only Be One Science that Studies Society

The sociologists Frisby and Sayer concluded in their book “Society”:

“Sociology can apparently get by perfectly well without society.” Indeed a more than plausible case can be made for saying that sociological knowledge as progressed to the extent that the discipline has a t last liberated itself from the fruitless speculation on society as such—however conceived—and turned its attention to the empirical study of real instances of human sociation.[8] “

Since the concept of “society” has turned out to be far too grand an abstraction for the scientific lenses used by sociology, sociology therefore no longer studies societies, but the socius.

SOCIETALogy is therefore the only alternative we have for studying societies. This is why in the medium or long term SOCIETALogy will replace sociology.

The Citizens & Societies Approach

Citizens & Societies uses both strategies to meet the different needs of citizens whether they are politicians, scientists, administrators, civil servants, etc.

For more information visit Citizens & Societies’ website.

You will find information on how we use these strategies with:

1. 1. The first community of practice of citizens in the world. 

1. 1. 1. This initiative will interest all citizens interested in building balanced societies together.

The community uses the model-driven strategy to identify best practices to use and the bottom-up approach to see to their implementation.

1. 2. Our expert consulting services

1. 1. 1. Our services will be of interest to all those who are looking for new scientific methodologies or new scientific models designed specifically to study both citizens and societies.

This is important since societies are only the results of our individual, group and collective actions. If you are interested, please contact us.

1. 3. Our training and conferences.
      
      
      1. These services will be of interest to all those who want to better understand SOCIETALogy or even certain specific elements such as:
         
         
         1. How to increase civic ethics,
         2. How to get citizens to respect and defend the freedom of others.
         3. Understand the creation and use of social constructs to facilitate the development of balanced societies.
            
            If you are interested, please contact us.

•  

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us:  Info@CitizensAndSocieties.org.

Thanks for your support

Denis Pageau
SOCIETALogist and
founder of Citizens & Societies

1-844-568-6793
Info@CitizensAndSocieties.org   
www.CitizensAndSocieties.org

________________

[1] Frisby D., and Sayer, D. “Society,” Tavistock Books, July 1^, 1986, ISBN 0-85312-852-9, p. 121.

[2] Homer-Dixon, T., “The Ingenuity Gap, Can We Solve the Problems of the Future,” Vintage Canada, Edition 2001, ISBN 0-676-97296-9 page 3.

[3] This figure is naturally a rather rudimentary estimate of the costs incurred in developing and maintaining this science in our global village for 125 years, that is, since it has existed. The estimate takes into account the costs of training sociologists, the cost of research, publications, conferences, etc., as well as costs associated with management.

[4] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jtsb.12208

[5] https://journals.openedition.org/sociologies/4097

[6] Management sciences are social sciences.

[7] The use of the terms “performing” and “competent” instead of the adjective “good” is an important advantage. Indeed, the terms “performing” and “competent” take us away from the moral, religious and philosophical implications associated with the word “good” and force us to focus on the end result.

[8] Frisby D., and Sayer, D. “Society,” Tavistock Books, July 1^, 1986, ISBN 0-85312-852-9, p. 122.