Understanding Corruption and Sociopathology

M.I. Yolles, A SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL BASIS OF CORRUPTION AND SOCIOPATHOLOGY, 2009

Journal of Change Management, Vol. 22, No. 6, pp, 692-727, 2009

35 Pages Posted: 12 May 2010

See all articles by Maurice Yolles

Maurice Yolles

John Moores University - Centre for the Creation of Coherent Change and Knowledge (C4K)

Date Written: 2009

Abstract

Purpose: The paper is interested in exploring the social psychological basis of pathologies, from which result neuroses and behaviours like corruption and sociopathic behaviour. It takes the perspective that social collectives have normative minds and can be explored in terms of their social psychological processes.

Design/methodology/approach: Knowledge Cybernetics will be used to show how pathologies can develop from the interconnection between such noumenal attributes as ideology and ethics.

Findings: Social entities have similar psychological pathologies to individual ones. Piaget’s notions of how the mind operates can be applied to corporate personality, and their inability to create and coordinate different perspectives can be seen as an organisational pathology.

Research limitations/implications: The paper is a theoretical construct that explores corruption and sociopathology at a deep conceptual level. It requires elaboration through case examples to provide pragmatic meaning.

Practical implications: The capacity to create a methodology that is able to explore the existence and development of pathologies.

What is original/value of paper: This is the first approach of this type using cybernetics to explore at a high conceptual focus the development of pathologies like corruption and sociopathic behaviour.

Keywords: managerial cybernetics, viable system model, knowledge cybernetics, social viable systems model, viability, operative intelligence, pathology

Suggested Citation

Yolles, Maurice, Understanding Corruption and Sociopathology (2009). M.I. Yolles, A SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL BASIS OF CORRUPTION AND SOCIOPATHOLOGY, 2009, Journal of Change Management, Vol. 22, No. 6, pp, 692-727, 2009, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1604690

Maurice Yolles (Contact Author)

John Moores University - Centre for the Creation of Coherent Change and Knowledge (C4K) ( email )

Liverpool John Moores University
Liverpool
United Kingdom

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