BCSSS

International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics

2nd Edition, as published by Charles François 2004 Presented by the Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science Vienna for public access.

About

The International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics was first edited and published by the system scientist Charles François in 1997. The online version that is provided here was based on the 2nd edition in 2004. It was uploaded and gifted to the center by ASC president Michael Lissack in 2019; the BCSSS purchased the rights for the re-publication of this volume in 200?. In 2018, the original editor expressed his wish to pass on the stewardship over the maintenance and further development of the encyclopedia to the Bertalanffy Center. In the future, the BCSSS seeks to further develop the encyclopedia by open collaboration within the systems sciences. Until the center has found and been able to implement an adequate technical solution for this, the static website is made accessible for the benefit of public scholarship and education.

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PROXEMICS 1)4)

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"Man's use of space as an aspect of his culture" (E.H. HALL, 1977, p. 248)

This notion includes "conversational distance, planning and use of interior spaces, town layout and the like"(Ibid)

HALL's concept is rooted in what he calls the "intrusion distance" which is related to the physical and psychological reaction of an individual who feels discomfort, anger or anxiety when his/her "personal space" is invaded.

This is somehow the opposite of critical proximity (see hereafter). It seems however that, in human beings also, critical proximity may produce a sudden change of behavior, transforming them upon a critical threshold from individuals into elements in a crowd.

According to HALL, members of distinct cultures have slightly different ways to perceive critical proximity.

An intriguing point is the possibility that the strong social compression that results from the planetary population explosion during the 20 C. could lead either to unbearable psychological stress among people or contrarywise to the general acceptancee and tolerance of a reduced intrusion space.

The historical consequences for the whole of mankind could, in both cases, be impressive.

N. ORT gives another interesting definition of proxemics: "The semiotic aspect of territory in non-verbal communication" (2001, p.153). This clearly implies that proxemics has its roots in animal behavior.

Categories

  • 1) General information
  • 2) Methodology or model
  • 3) Epistemology, ontology and semantics
  • 4) Human sciences
  • 5) Discipline oriented

Publisher

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science(2020).

To cite this page, please use the following information:

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science (2020). Title of the entry. In Charles François (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics (2). Retrieved from www.systemspedia.org/[full/url]

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