The Atlas of Social Complexity. Chapter 24: The Challenges of Applying Complexity

The first major content theme in The Atlas of Social Complexity is Cognition, Emotion and Consciousness. This first theme includes six chapters, which I have so far blogged on. Chapter 6 addresses autopoiesis. Chapter 7 turns to the role of bacteria in human consciousness. Chapter 8 explores how the immune system, just like bacteria and cells, is cognitive – and the implications this has for our wider brain-based consciousness. Chapter 9 explores a complexity framing of brain-based cognition, emotion and consciousness. Chapter 10 explores the complex multilevel dynamics of the Self. Chapter 11 is about human-machine intelligence.

 

The second major content theme in The Atlas of Social Complexity is The Dynamics of Human Psychology. So far for this theme, I’ve given a basic overview, found here. I then moved on to the first theme, Human psychology as dynamical system (Chapter 13). From there I reviewed Chapter 14: Psychopathology of mental disorders ; Chapter 15: Healing and the therapeutic process; and Chapter 16: Mindfulness, imagination, and creativity.

 

The third major theme is living in social systems (Chapter 17). The first chapter in this section is Complex social psychology (Chapter 18). From there we move on to Collective behaviour, social movements and mass psychology (Chapter 19). Next is Configurational Social Science (Chapter 20). From there we move to the Complexities of Place (Chapter 21); followed by Socio-technical Life (Chapter 22). Chapter 23 turned to the theme of Governance, Politics and Technocracy.

 

The focus of the current post is CHAPTER 24: THE CHALLENGE OF APPLYING COMPLEXITY

 

OVERVIEW OF CHAPTER

One development clearly visible on the map of thecomplexity sciences is that most of the recent advances in the study social complexity can be found in applications to real world issues, ranging from urban planning in derelict neighbourhoods to social work with disadvantaged groups. 

 

Why? 

 

It is in practical, every-day situations where complexity is felt most pressingly. There are no straightforward answers to complex issues such as poverty, inequality, climate change or conflict resolution. It is also the space where ideas are put to true tests. Things may work in the highly stylized conceptual environments of the complexity sciences, but the real proof is in the confrontation with real social life. Survival in the face of those complex situations is a good indicator for the robustness of an idea.

 

Enter the study of social complexity.

 

Any survey of living in social systems would be incomplete without talking about the challenges of applying the complexity sciences and the study of social complexity to issues of policy and practice. Note our phrasing here. The current policy and practice literature in the complexity sciences is rather clear: there is an urgent need to apply a complex systems approach to public policy planning, implementation and evaluation.[1] What is less clear, as we saw in chapters 21 through 23 of our tour, is how to do this effectively.[2]  Research and practice have shown mixed results, due to a series of challenges. A short list includes: a strong tendency to model or describe public policy issues in complex systems terms instead of interrogating the development, implementation and evaluation of systems-level interventions; policy makers and practitioners and funding organisations being biased toward simple, individual-level, short-term solutions (sometimes based on clinical trials); academics being tone deaf about the roadblocks to applying complexity to public policy and practice; the need to focus more on stakeholder engagement; an overemphasis on computational models; and a confusion about or obfuscation of complexity terminology.

 

 

Fortunately, there are hard-won practical solutions to these challenges that researchers and practitioners have identified: some focus on what appears effective (system-level interventions grounded in co-production); others on what is needed next (e.g., switching from complex interventions to interventions in complex systems). What we found fascinating is that many of the solutions found in the literature were echoed by the practitioners and policy experts we interviewed for this book. All of which gave the focus for the current chapter: we sought to combine the current literature and interviews to have a very practical discussions about the challenges of applying complexity.

 

Here are some of our key points:

• Conventional approaches fail to grasp the interdependent, uncertain nature of these challenges, making complexity a necessary alternative. However, translating complexity theory into practice requires more than applying models—it demands a cognitive shift.
•  Practitioners experience complexity as a conceptual liberation, breaking from hierarchical, reductionist thinking. Yet, theory-to-practice translation is fraught with obstacles: bureaucratic resistance, political agendas, and time constraints.
•  Complexity’s greatest strength lies in its heuristic power—providing metaphors, analogies, and guiding principles (e.g., self-organization, emergence) that reframe problems rather than dictate solutions.
•  Some concepts, like resilience and coevolution, thrive in practice, while others, like attractor basins, remain too abstract. Yet, the field struggles with key omissions—power, agency, and accountability. Without engaging these forces, complexity risks irrelevance.
•  Ultimately, the study of social complexity does not provide solutions but opens new epistemological spaces. It shifts perception, helping practitioners unlearn rigid assumptions and reimagine possibilities. The challenge is not just modeling complexity but embedding it into lived realities, ensuring its insights resonate beyond academia.
  

 

---

[1] Pete Barbrook-Johnson et al., ‘Policy Evaluation for a Complex World: Practical Methods and Reflections from the UK Centre for the Evaluation of Complexity across the Nexus’, Evaluation (SAGE Publications Sage UK: London, England, 2021). Junus M. van der Wal et al., ‘Advancing Urban Mental Health Research: From Complexity Science to Actionable Targets for Intervention’, The Lancet Psychiatry 8, no. 11 (2021): 991–1000.

[2] Barbrook-Johnson et al., ‘Policy Evaluation for a Complex World’.