Sociocracy
Also known as: Dynamic Governance
Consent-based governance through linked circles of decision-making.
Sociocracy is a governance method that uses consent-based decision-making (decisions are made when no participant has a 'paramount and reasoned objection') within a structure of nested, double-linked circles. The intellectual lineage runs through Auguste Comte's nineteenth-century coining of the term, Kees Boeke's mid-twentieth-century application at his school in Bilthoven, Netherlands, and Gerard Endenburg's substantial extension into the Sociocratic Circle Organization Method (SCM) in the 1970s, which integrated cybernetic principles. The contemporary Sociocracy 3.0 (S3), released in 2015 by James Priest and Bernhard Bockelbrink as Creative-Commons-licensed patterns, decomposes sociocracy into modular practices that can be adopted incrementally. Holacracy is a closely related but more rigidly codified descendant. Sociocracy is widely used in cooperatives, intentional communities, non-profits, and a growing number of businesses seeking participatory governance.
Core components
- Consent-based decision-making (paramount and reasoned objection)
- Double-linked nested circles
- Roles elected within circles
- Aim, domain, and accountabilities for each circle
- S3 modular pattern library
- Cybernetic feedback loops (Endenburg)
- Distinction from majority rule and consensus
Primary use case
Governance in cooperatives, intentional communities, non-profits, and increasingly businesses; alternative to top-down hierarchy and to pure consensus; foundation for Holacracy and other self-management systems; participatory governance in mission-driven organizations.
Common criticisms
- Steep learning curve and substantial cultural-shift requirement
- can become rigid in its own way despite informality compared to Holacracy
- consent-based decision-making can be exploited by individuals willing to repeatedly object
- works less well in adversarial cultures or with disengaged participants
- requires substantial trust that may not exist initially
- outcomes depend heavily on facilitation quality
- less commercially supported than Holacracy, leading to varied implementation quality.
Lineage
- Parent of
- Holacracy
- Siblings
- Holacracy