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The Information Chain Theory of Cooperation

Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, Edwardsville, U.S.A.

The Information Chain Theory of Cooperation is a new theory based on a new paradigm making use of many concepts from classical and contemporary social theorists. The dependent variable of the theory is the degree of wealth and freedom versus poverty and death found in human groups. This variable is explained by the scale of cooperation a group is able to achieve and maintain. The scale of cooperation, in turn, depends upon six independent variables; symbols, centrality, codification, technology, motivation, and population. Comparative international data are used to test these relationships.

The paradigm upon which the theory is based identifies the two problems of large scale cooperation as 1) reducing the rate of information entropy, or disintegration, as messages are passed from person to person to person and 2) reducing the volume, or quantity, of in formation that must be communicated among people as the scale of cooperation enlarges. Each independent variable of the information chain theory affects the scale of cooperation through its effects on these two problems.

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