FELIX GEYER headed the methodology section of SISWO,(Institute for the Social Sciences), and has been retired since 1998. He is an honorary fellow of the World Organization of General Systems and Cybernetics and serves on the editorial board of the journal Kybernetes. Geyer was also executive secretary and member of the Executive Committee of the International Sociological Association, He has published extensively in the fields of alienation theory and General Systems Theory/sociocybernetics.JOHANNES VAN DER ZOUWEN is a professor in the Social Research Methodology department at Free University, The Netherlands. He is an honorary fellow of the World Organization of General Systems and Cybernetics and a member of the editorial board of its official journal Kybernetes. He has edited or coedited five books and published numerous articles and book chapters.

• PrefaceIntroduction to the Main Themes in Sociocybernetics Felix Geyer and Johannes van der ZouwenGrowing Social and ComplexitySociophysics and Sociocybernetics:An Essay on the Natural Roots and Limits of Political Control Paris ArnopoulosMind and Brain: A Dynamic System Model Walter BuckleyManagement by Complexity:Redundancy and Variety in Organizations Heinrich AhlemeyerThe Emergence of Societal Information Robert ArtigianiOn the Interpretation of Social Subsystems: A Contemporary Reconstruction of Parsons and Luhman Michael RempelAutopoiesisInformation, Meaning and Communication: An Autopoietic Approach John MingersAre Firms Autopoietic Systems? Lucio BiggieroThe Autopoiesis of Social Systems: An Aristotelian Interpretation Colin DougallAutopoiesis and Governmance: Societal Steering and Control in Democratic Societies John H. LittleObservation of Social SystemsImplications of Autopoiesis and Cognitive Mapping for a Methodology of Comparative Cross-Cultural Research Bernd Hornung and Charo HornungSocial Differentiation as the Unfolding of Dimensions of Social Systems Jürgen Klüver and Jörn SchmidtThe Dynamics of Educational Expansion: A Simulation Model Cor van Dijkum, Niek Lam, and Harry B.G. GanzeboomTowards a Methodology for the Empirical Testing of Complex Social Cybernetic Models Johannes van der Zouwen and Cor van Dijkum

FELIX GEYER headed the methodology section of SISWO,(Institute for the Social Sciences), and has been retired since 1998. He is an honorary fellow of the World Organization of General Systems and Cybernetics and serves on the editorial board of the journal Kybernetes. Geyer was also executive secretary and member of the Executive Committee of the International Sociological Association, He has published extensively in the fields of alienation theory and General Systems Theory/sociocybernetics.JOHANNES VAN DER ZOUWEN is a professor in the Social Research Methodology department at Free University, The Netherlands. He is an honorary fellow of the World Organization of General Systems and Cybernetics and a member of the editorial board of its official journal Kybernetes. He has edited or coedited five books and published numerous articles and book chapters.

• PrefaceIntroduction to the Main Themes in Sociocybernetics Felix Geyer and Johannes van der ZouwenGrowing Social and ComplexitySociophysics and Sociocybernetics:An Essay on the Natural Roots and Limits of Political Control Paris ArnopoulosMind and Brain: A Dynamic System Model Walter BuckleyManagement by Complexity:Redundancy and Variety in Organizations Heinrich AhlemeyerThe Emergence of Societal Information Robert ArtigianiOn the Interpretation of Social Subsystems: A Contemporary Reconstruction of Parsons and Luhman Michael RempelAutopoiesisInformation, Meaning and Communication: An Autopoietic Approach John MingersAre Firms Autopoietic Systems? Lucio BiggieroThe Autopoiesis of Social Systems: An Aristotelian Interpretation Colin DougallAutopoiesis and Governmance: Societal Steering and Control in Democratic Societies John H. LittleObservation of Social SystemsImplications of Autopoiesis and Cognitive Mapping for a Methodology of Comparative Cross-Cultural Research Bernd Hornung and Charo HornungSocial Differentiation as the Unfolding of Dimensions of Social Systems Jürgen Klüver and Jörn SchmidtThe Dynamics of Educational Expansion: A Simulation Model Cor van Dijkum, Niek Lam, and Harry B.G. GanzeboomTowards a Methodology for the Empirical Testing of Complex Social Cybernetic Models Johannes van der Zouwen and Cor van Dijkum

FELIX GEYER headed the methodology section of SISWO,(Institute for the Social Sciences), and has been retired since 1998. He is an honorary fellow of the World Organization of General Systems and Cybernetics and serves on the editorial board of the journal Kybernetes. Geyer was also executive secretary and member of the Executive Committee of the International Sociological Association, He has published extensively in the fields of alienation theory and General Systems Theory/sociocybernetics.JOHANNES VAN DER ZOUWEN is a professor in the Social Research Methodology department at Free University, The Netherlands. He is an honorary fellow of the World Organization of General Systems and Cybernetics and a member of the editorial board of its official journal Kybernetes. He has edited or coedited five books and published numerous articles and book chapters.

• PrefaceIntroduction to the Main Themes in Sociocybernetics Felix Geyer and Johannes van der ZouwenGrowing Social and ComplexitySociophysics and Sociocybernetics:An Essay on the Natural Roots and Limits of Political Control Paris ArnopoulosMind and Brain: A Dynamic System Model Walter BuckleyManagement by Complexity:Redundancy and Variety in Organizations Heinrich AhlemeyerThe Emergence of Societal Information Robert ArtigianiOn the Interpretation of Social Subsystems: A Contemporary Reconstruction of Parsons and Luhman Michael RempelAutopoiesisInformation, Meaning and Communication: An Autopoietic Approach John MingersAre Firms Autopoietic Systems? Lucio BiggieroThe Autopoiesis of Social Systems: An Aristotelian Interpretation Colin DougallAutopoiesis and Governmance: Societal Steering and Control in Democratic Societies John H. LittleObservation of Social SystemsImplications of Autopoiesis and Cognitive Mapping for a Methodology of Comparative Cross-Cultural Research Bernd Hornung and Charo HornungSocial Differentiation as the Unfolding of Dimensions of Social Systems Jürgen Klüver and Jörn SchmidtThe Dynamics of Educational Expansion: A Simulation Model Cor van Dijkum, Niek Lam, and Harry B.G. GanzeboomTowards a Methodology for the Empirical Testing of Complex Social Cybernetic Models Johannes van der Zouwen and Cor van Dijkum