Chaos Theory: Key Concepts

In undertaking some amount of reading on complexity and chaos theory, specifically related to social science and social work, it became apparent very early on that there is no unifying theory and that chaos and complexity studies is largely a developing field.

Nonetheless the conceptual framework provided Ramaligam et al (2008) in their working paper exploring the implications of complexity science to humanitarian and development efforts appears to include almost all of the concepts I have read elsewhere and make the most sense. They identify three main sets of complexity science concepts. However, I slightly adapt the framework by including a key concept of self similarity, relevant to social work, within third set that was identified by Hudson (1999).

The key combined key concepts slightly adapted from Ramaligam (2008) therefore are as follows:

Complexity and Systems: The concepts identified relate to the features of systems which can be described as complex.

1. A key starting point is that complex systems are characterised by interconnected and interdependent elements and dimensions.
2. Feedback processes shape how change happens within a complex system, where positive feedback never settles the system into completely predictable patterns.
3. Emergence describes how a complex system emerges, often unpredictably and based on simple rules, from the interactions between the parts to form a whole that is different to the sum of the parts.

Complexity and Change: Concepts related to the phenomena in which complexity manifests itself within systems.

1. Within complex systems, relationships between dimensions are frequently nonlinear, i.e. when change happens, it is frequently disproportionate and unpredictable.
2. Sensitivity to initial conditions highlights how small differences in the initial state of a system can lead to massive differences later; butterfly effects and bifurcations are two ways in which complex systems can change drastically over time.
3. Phase space helps to build a picture of the dimensions of a system, and how they change over time. This enables understanding of how systems move and evolve over time.
4. The edge of chaos describe the transition point between order and chaos within a complex system and one of the most important conditions for creativity and effective problem solving.

Complexity and Agency: Concepts related to the notion of adaptive agents and how behavours are manifested in complex systems.

1. Adaptive agents react to the system and to each other, leading to a number of phenomena.
2. Self similarity involves structures within systems that repeat basic features on several different levels of observations.
3. Self-organisation characterises a particular form of emergent property that can occur in complex adaptive systems.
4. Co-evolution describes how, within a system of adaptive agents, co-evolution occurs, such that the overall system and the agents within it evolve together, or co-evolve, over time.

Before I explore the implications of these concepts in more detail to the work I do in the next few posts I will describe how these concepts have been explored in various other fields, including social work.