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| soci:sociocracy [2025/12/17 04:30] – created - external edit 127.0.0.1 | soci:sociocracy [2026/03/12 19:44] (current) – [Related topics] asimong |
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| Sociocracy gives a flavour of what a truly decentralised society could be like, where people can govern themselves locally instead of having government imposed from above. | Sociocracy gives a flavour of what a truly decentralised society could be like, where people can govern themselves locally instead of having government imposed from above. |
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| ### Potential downsides | ### Potential downsides |
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| <caption> | <caption> |
| _The _Ujamaa_ system in Tanzania was based on an idea very similar to sociocracy, in that groups of 10 families sent a delegate to the village committee, which sent a delegate to the district committee, and so on. The initial idea was to continue up to the national level, although it didn’t work out that way. [More here](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/posts/review-ralph-ibbotts-book-ujamaa-hidden-story-tanzanias-socialist-villages-lied-tanzania)._ | _The_ Ujamaa _system in Tanzania was based on an idea very similar to sociocracy, in that groups of 10 families sent a delegate to the village committee, which sent a delegate to the district committee, and so on. The initial idea was to continue up to the national level, although it didn’t work out that way. [More here](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/posts/review-ralph-ibbotts-book-ujamaa-hidden-story-tanzanias-socialist-villages-lied-tanzania)._ |
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| </caption> | </caption> |
| </figure> | </figure> |
| </WRAP> | </WRAP> |
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| ### Holacracy | ### Holacracy |
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| The best know of these is [holacracy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holacracy), which is used a lot in for-profit organisations. A much-simplified explanation of the difference is that holacracy places more emphasis on roles than circles. So in sociocracy, decisions are more collective, whereas in holacracy, authority can ‘cluster’ in roles occupied by individuals (although this can happen sometimes in sociocracy too). So it could be said to be more individualistic, with certain individuals having more authority; it’s also been described as being stricter in the decision-making, in that there’s a fixed pattern for explaining objections, whereas in sociocracy you can explain your objections any way you like. | The best know of these is [Holacracy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holacracy), which is used a lot in for-profit organisations. A much-simplified explanation of the difference is that Holacracy places more emphasis on roles than circles. So in sociocracy, decisions are more collective, whereas in Holacracy, authority can ‘cluster’ in roles occupied by individuals (although this can happen sometimes in sociocracy too). So it could be said to be more individualistic, with certain individuals having more authority; it’s also been described as being stricter in the decision-making, in that there’s a fixed pattern for explaining objections, whereas in sociocracy you can explain your objections any way you like. |
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| ## Further resources | ## Further resources |
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| | - [SociocracyForAll](https://www.sociocracyforall.org/) - sociocracy resource: information, training, consultancy |
| | - [Co-operatives UK](https://www.uk.coop/resources/sociocracy-co-operative-organisations) - sociocracy in co-operative organisations |
| | - [Sociocracy: democracy as it might be](http://worldteacher.faithweb.com/sociocracy.htm) - 1945 article by Kees Boeke |
| | - [Brief introduction to sociocracy](https://medium.com/@Harri_Kaloudis/a-brief-introduction-to-sociocracy-a0770f220937) |
| | - [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociocracy) |
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| | ## Related topics |
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| | - [[intc:Intentional communities]] |
| | - [[demo:democracy|The democracy problem]] |
| | - [[hcoo:Housing co-operatives]] |
| | - [[coop:Co-operatives]] |
| | - [[comg:Commoning]] |
| | - [[comy:Community]] |
| | - [[coho:Cohousing]] |
| | - [[pers:Personal development]] |
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