Definition
Self-organization has become a conceptual term throughout scientific disciplines. It is a central concept for describing and explaining system-inherent order processes in animate and inanimate life and in the whole field of human interaction. Haken’s (2006, p. 11) general understanding is “that a system is self-organizing if it acquires a spatial, temporal, or functional structure without specific interference from outside.” Similarly, Probst (1992, p. 2255) defines self-organization as “processes that develop themselves within a system, and from this ‘self’ allow order to develop, improve, or persist” (translated by the author). Emphasizing the aspect of development, Imada (2008, p. 1) sees self-organization as “a generic term which means the characteristics of systems to change their structure by themselves (…) relying entirely on its own mechanisms.” Self-organization has also become a more or less self-evident category when discussing the further development of the...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Anheier, H. K. (2007). Reflections on the concept and measurement of global civil society. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 18, 1–15.
Anheier, H. K. (2013). Entwicklungen der internationalen Zivilgesellschaft. In R. Simsa, M. Meyer, & C. Badelt (Eds.), Handbuch der Nonprofit-Organisation. Strukturen und Management (pp. 77–88). Stuttgart: Schäffer-Poeschel.
Anheier, H. K., & Krlev, G. (2015). Governance and management of hybrid organizations. Guest editors’ introduction. International Studies of Management & Organization, 45(3), 193–206.
Anheier, H. K., & Themudo, N. (2002). Organisational forms of global civil society: Implications of going global. In M. Glasius, M. Kaldor, & H. Anheier (Eds.), Global civil society (pp. 191–216). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Badelt, C. (1980). Sozioökonomie der Selbstorganisation. Beispiele zur Bürgerselbsthilfe und ihre wirtschaftliche Bedeutung. Frankfurt am Main/New York: Campus.
Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. F. (2003). Self-regulatory perspectives on personality. In T. Millon & M. J. Lerner (Eds.), Handbook of psychology. Personality and social psychology (Vol. 5, pp. 185–208). Hoboken: Wiley.
Clark, J. D., & Themudo, N. S. (2006). Linking the web and the street: Internet-based “dotcauses” and the “anti-globalization” movement. World Development, 34(1), 50–74.
Dale, R., Fusaroli, R., Duran, N. D., & Richardson, D. C. (2013). The self-organization of human interaction. Psychology of Learning and Motivation, 59, 43–95.
Eigen, M. (1971). Self-organization of matter and the evolution of biological macromolecules. Die Naturwissenschaften, 58, 465–523.
Frankl, V. (1992). Man’s search for meaning. An introduction to logotherapy. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Fuchs, C. (2006). The self-organization of social movements. Systemic Practice and Action Research, 19(1), 101–137.
Glansdorff, P., & Prigogine, I. (1971). Thermodynamic theory of structure, stability and fluctuations. London/New York: Wiley.
Haken, H. (1976). Synergetics. In An introduction, nonequilibrium phase transitions and self-organization in physics, chemistry and biology. Berlin: Springer.
Haken, H. (2006). Information and self-organization. A macroscopic approach to complex systems (3rd enlarged ed.). Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer.
Haken, H., & Schiepek, G. (2010). Synergetik in der Psychologie. Selbstorganisation verstehen und gestalten (2., korr. Aufl.). Göttingen: Hogrefe.
Hejl, P. M. (1984). Towards a theory of social systems: Self-organization and self-maintenance, self-reference and syn-reference. In H. Ulrich & G. J. B. Probst (Eds.), Self-organization and management of social systems, insights, promises, doubts, and questions (p. 60). Berlin: Springer.
Helbing, D. (2012). Social self-organization. Agent-based simulations and experiments to study emergent social behavior. Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer.
Imada, T. (2008). Self-organization and society. Tokyo: Springer.
Kelso, J. A. S. (2001). Self-organizing dynamical systems. In N. J. Smelser & P. B. Baltes (Eds.), International encyclopedia of the social & behavioral sciences (pp. 13844–13850). Oxford: Elsevier.
Leggewie, C., & Welzer, H. (2013). Das Ende der Welt, wie wir sie kannten. Klima, Zukunft und die Chancen der Demokratie (2. Aufl.). Frankfurt am Main: S. Fischer.
Luhmann, N. (1984). Soziale Systeme. Grundriß einer allgemeinen Theorie. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
Maturana, H. R., & Varela, F. J. (1980). Autopoiesis and cognition. The realization of living. Dordrecht: Reidel (originally published in Chile, 1972).
Pörksen, B. (2018). Die große Gereiztheit. Wege aus der kollektiven Erregung (2. Aufl.). München: Carl Hanser.
Probst, G. J. B. (1992). Selbstorganisation. In E. Frese (Ed.), Handwörterbuch der Organisation (3rd ed., pp. 2255–2269). Stuttgart: Poeschel.
Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling alone. The collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Riedl, R. (1978). Order in living organisms. A systems analysis of evolution. Chichester: Wiley (first 1975: Die Ordnung des Lebendigen. Systembedingungen der Evolution. Hamburg/Berlin).
Simsa, R., Rameder, P., Aghamanoukjan, A., & Totter, M. (2019). Spontaneous volunteering in social crises: Self-organization and coordination. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 48(2S), 103S–122S.
Stewart, J. E. (2017). The self-organizing society: A grower’s guide. SSRN Electronic Journal, January 2015.
Troitzsch, K. G. (1991). A comparison of some models of processes of self-organization. In W. Ebeling, M. Peschel, & W. Weidlich (Eds.), Models of self-organization in complex systems (pp. 106–116). Berlin: Akademie.
von Bertalanffy, L. (1968). General system theory. Foundation, development, application. New York: Braziller (first 1945: Zu einer allgemeinen Systemlehre. Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie, 18).
von Foerster, H., & Zopf, G. (Eds.). (1962). Principles of self-organization. Oxford: Pergamon.
von Hayek, F. (1942/1944). Scientism and the study of society. Part I, II, III. Economia, 9(35), 267–291; 10(37), 34–63; 11(41), 27–39.
Wiener, N. (1948). Cybernetics. Or control and communication in the animal and the machine. New York/Paris: Wiley/Hermann.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Jung, R.H. (2020). Self-Organization. In: List, R., Anheier, H., Toepler, S. (eds) International Encyclopedia of Civil Society. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99675-2_87-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99675-2_87-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-99675-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-99675-2
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Social SciencesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences