Modeling societal transition: introducing a scheme that could serve as a reference-point within the transition-community

Collective endeavors require a joint vision; something that people can use as a reference point or guideline that enables them to coordinate their individual activities. There is no doubt that the transition towards a sustainable global culture is a collective endeavor; one that involves people worldwide in lastingly reorganizing their life-style; people from different countries, people of different origins, age and professions. But how do all these people coordinate their activities? Do they bear anything in mind that helps them go into the same direction thus promoting their efforts by reciprocal reinforcement? Do they share a joint understanding ofthe endeavorthey are globally engaged in? From the point of view of the presenter’s scientific work (Frank, 2011, 2012, 2013) such a shared understanding has to take three different parameters of change into account: a psychological-conceptual one, an institutional one, a technical one. Under the circumstance of radical cultural change and reorganization these three parameters form a system of reciprocally interlinked “actuators” or change factors. The psychological-conceptual parameter thereby refers to the cultural paradigm, the worldview that underlies the mindset of the people. The institutional parameter refers to the organizational means by which people coordinate their activities in accordance with their worldview. The technical parameter refers to the technical means of a culture that shape daily life and express and reconfirm the dominating cultural paradigm. By using these three parameters as interacting coordinates the presenter outlines a holistic transition model that could serve as a reference-point and guideline within the transition-community; one that is still missing to date.