Frequently Asked Questions
1 – What is a Difference Between a Society and a City, a State or a Country
Cities, states and countries are all delimited by frontiers, thus they all refer to a specific territory.
The same is true for societies. The difference lies in the fact that societies are the results of all actions occurring inside this territory be they individual, group or collective, while cities, states and countries are only partially the results of these actions, since they can only control some of these actions.
2 – What is SOCIETALogy?
SOCIETALogy is a new management science that helps us study the last organizational layer that governs our actions: societies.
With this new management science, there are now four types of management science. There is a management science for organizations that are:
1 – For profit, the notion of profit is very important.
2 – Not-for-profit, the notion of altruism is very important.
3 – Governmental, the notion of neutrality is very important.
4 – Societal, the notion of equilibrium is very important.
More specifically, SOCIETALogy studies the relationships between the individual, group and collective actions of citizens and the available societal resources present on a given territory (natural, human, abstract and transformed natural resources).
Please view this presentation for more information.
3 – Where does the word SOCIETALogy come from?
The term SOCIETALogy is a new word (what the English language calls a neologism.)
SOCIETALogy links together the words SOCIETAL and LOGY
SOCIETAL, from Old French societe, ‘company of people’; from Classical Latin societas, ‘association’; from Classical Latin socius, ‘associate, member’.
LOGY, Greek origin logo-, ‘study’, and the French affix -ie, ‘the fact of’.
Hence, SOCIETALogy studies how this “company of people” organizes to be able to live together. It thus studies societies as organizations.
3.1 – Why is “societal” capitalized in SOCIETALogy?
There are several major reasons. This allows us to:
– put emphasis on the societal aspect of our living together.
– distinguish ourselves from sociology
– distinguish us from scientology, a religion that has bad press. (This is the initial reason)1.
1- Although SOCIETALogy and Scientology are two different words, their phonological (5 syllables), morphological (same suffix: logy), orthographic (the presence of the letters “s”, “c”, “i”, ‘e”, and ‘t”, even if they are not in the same order) and sound similarities (they start with the sound / s /), create in the brain of a person who has already heard the word Scientology and associated a negative connotation to it, an alert.
Fortunately, this confusion disappears after a certain time when the person learns to differentiate between the science that studies societies and the religion takes itself for a science.
4 – How does SOCIETALogy differ from sociology and public administration sciences?
When thinking about societies there are two sciences that come to mind: sociology and the public administration management science.
How is SOCIETALogy different from sociology?
SOCIETALogy is a management science. It studies how a society, be it local, provincial, state or country, uses its societal resources to prevent, solve or manage the level of social tensions, frictions and conflicts. By identifying best practices SOCIETALogy helps citizens optimize the use of their societal resources.
What is the Difference Between SOCIETALogy and Public Administration Management Science?
SOCIETALogy is about how society is managed. Thus SOCIETALogy studies everything that influences the equilibrium of a society. This includes governments and public administrations. Hence SOCIETALogy can provide guidelines on how these should work and how much resources citizens should invest in these tools, but not on how to micro-manage them.
5 – How is SOCIETALogy useful?
SOCIETALogy is the only management science that studies how the individual, group or collective actions that occur in a given territory affect, positively or negatively, the four societal resources.
SOCIETALogy assesses how this societal dynamic affects the level of social and societal tensions, frictions and conflicts within a society.
Not only can SOCIETALogy assess the quality of a society, but SOCIETALogy also assesses the level of competence of the citizens living inside its boundaries and proposes adjustments so that society, whether local, provincial or national, becomes a balanced society.
6 – What is a Balanced Society?
A balanced society is a society where the societal dynamic primarily facilitates :
• our development and our societal integration
• the development and societal integration of our fellow citizens
• the development and the functioning of our governments
• the development and the functioning of our collectivities.
While creating or maintaining an environment
where we are free to develop as we wish (Freedom) and where, when appropriate, we restrain our actions so that are fellow citizens can develop the way they wish. (Liberty)
When this is achieved, we reach equilibrium. There will still be social tensions, frictions and conflicts, but they will be peripheral and caused because we are social beings, not because we live in societies.
7 – What is a Societal Dynamic?
A societal dynamic is the continual effect that is produced by the interactions and counter-interactions between the
– four societal resources present in a collectivity and
– the individual, group and collective actions performed by citizens,
which in turn affects the societal resources.
This societal dynamic is at the heart of each of our societies.
Given that this societal dynamic is the result of all the actions of citizens, in order to achieve equilibrium, citizens must possess the competences that enable them to act in such a way that their actions are compatible with the development of a balanced society.
8 – What is a Citizen?
Since SOCIETALogy studies societies as organizations, SOCIETALogy studies citizens as co-owners of the societies in which they live. Citizenship is therefore a form of profession.
Ideally, since citizens are co-owners of their city and country, as well as their province, state, region or department, all citizens, including politicians, public administrators and civic leaders, should have the necessary competences to enable them to play their role as co-owners. As such, citizens should have the following skills:
1 – personal – towards oneself
2 – social – towards others
3 – societal – towards society
9 – What is the Societal Change Continuum™?
The Societal Change Continuum is a comprehensive change management process that includes a
1 – science, which helps support decisions by identifying best practices,
2 – community of practice for citizens which helps citizens identify which practice would be a best practice in a given situation,
3 – local societal planning council which helps implement best practices by advocating the changes to politicians, public administrators and other civic leaders.
10 – Difference Between SOCIETALogy and the SOCIETALogy Institute
SOCIETALogy is a body of knowledge that we call a science. 
The science was developed by Denis Pageau.
The logo consists of four tiles, each tile represents one of the four societal resources. (Natural, Human, Abstract and Transformed.)
The SOCIETALogy Institute is an organization that uses SOCIETALogy to study, evaluate and give directions so that all citizens, including politicians, public administrators, and civic leaders can participate in the development or maintenance of the societal equilibrium.
The logo represents a magnifying glass placed above the four tiles that represent the societal resources. This logo depicts very well the activity of the Institute which consists of studying the four resources of societies.
The circle and the base, also represent a society, or our global village, as it rests in equilibrium on the base, thus representing the common goal to all societies, namely to achieve a balance in the way a society uses its societal resources to respond to the citizens individual and collective needs2.
This second interpretation is also very representative of the Institute’s work since the Institute aims to identify the best individual, group and collective practices that are compatible with the achievement of this objective.
2 – That leaders can turn away from this objective, does not diminish the veracity of this statement.
You want to know more?
We give individualized training sessions either face to face or online. This will interest politicians, public administrators, and civic leaders. Contact us for more details.
You need to better understand and facilitate the development of your local society or your national society?
We can evaluate the global societal dynamic of your city or your country, or just the economic, social, educational, religious or environmental element of your society. From this evaluation we can propose a 25-year strategic plan. Contact us for more details.
You need a solution to solve a crisis?
Creating a shared common goal is the best way to solve a crisis. Starting from the common underlying societal objective the Institute can help you solve any societal crisis. Contact us for more details.
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Societally Yours
The Institute team