Sociocracy as practiced by the G/wi

Sociocracy is a rediscovery of something our ancestors have practiced for tens of thousands of years. Nomadic hunter-gatherer band societies practice it, and have likely been practicing it, since prehistoric times. Here is an example from Politics and history in band societies, edited by Eleanor Leacock and Richard Lee, pages 32 and 34:

“Activity in the [G/wi] band is goal-directed. … Consensus is reached by a process of examination of the various proffered courses of action and rejection of all but one of them. It is a process of attrition of alternatives other than the one to which there remains no significant opposition. That one, then, is the one which is adopted. The fact that it is the band as a whole which decides (i.e. that each adult and near-adult member has the opportunity to participate in the process) is both necessary and sufficient to legitimize what is decided and to make the decision binding on all who are concerned with, and affected by, it.”

“This does not mean that consensus is arrived at by a mere sorting process which always identifies a single course of action among the proffered alternatives as being the correct one. If this were so then consensus would, indeed, be synonymous with unanimity. That it is not is because consensus is reached when there remains no significant opposition to the particular proposal.”

“‘Significant opposition’ … is the dissent of one or more band members to whom the proposal is not acceptable, who feel themselves unable to ‘live with it’ and who are not prepared to concede the decision.”

Related posts:
Sociocracy requires a new mindset
Scrum vs. Sociocracy
Sociocratic principles can be implemented in many ways
Sociocracy is a method, and still it isn’t
Implementing sociocracy without sociocracy
Sociocracy as practiced by the G/wi
Policies vs. agreements
Scaling sociocracy is all about the context
Unspoken sociocratic principles
Cultural dimensions of sociocracy
A prerequisite for sociocracy is a socios
Holacracy vs. sociocracy
The phenomenology of sociocracy
Are Holacracy and sociocracy Teal?
The big misconception in sociocracy
Is Sociocracy an empty method?

Related posts in Swedish:
Holakrati, holokrati och sociokrati
Hur införa sociokrati i en organisation (del 1)?
Hur införa sociokrati i en organisation (del 2)?
Sociokrati är som permakultur, fast för människor
Sociokrati är som en skogsträdgård
Kurs i kväkarnas beslutsmetod, som sociokrati bygger på
En historisk tillbakablick på kväkarnas beslutsmetod
Sociokratibok: Idag publiceras boken
Några tankar om sociokrati
Min gästblogg på #skolvåren: Att organisera oss rätt