Sociological Agential Semioverse Repository

This specification defines what an Agential Semioverse Repository looks like when its content domain is sociology. It extends the general ASR’s type vocabulary and typed relations with content types and relations specific to sociological knowledge.

The general ASR defines types like term, concept, and text that describe what a page is for, but not what makes it valid within a particular domain. Sociological content has structural requirements that differ from both mathematical and philosophical content: a term that names a governance mechanism without specifying what it governs or what conditions produce it is incomplete, while a school page that presents a tradition without documenting its critiques is one-sided. Sociology deals in mechanisms, conditions, and positions — its validity depends on making those visible.

Validity principle: structural legibility

Sociology is governed by structural legibility. Content is valid when the mechanisms, conditions, and positions it describes are made visible enough that a reader can trace how they operate. A term that names a phenomenon must specify the conditions under which it appears. A school that advances a framework must identify what that framework cannot explain. A concept that describes a mechanism must show what it produces and what sustains it.

The dependency graph is a directed network. Terms define vocabulary. Concepts describe how terms relate as mechanisms. Schools organize terms and concepts into theoretical traditions. Curricula teach the relationships through structured sequences. The graph can contain productive tensions (two schools contesting the same phenomenon) but not circular definitions (a term defined only by reference to itself).

Machine verification is partially possible: frontmatter completeness and relation consistency can be checked, but the adequacy of a sociological explanation cannot be automated.

Content types

term

A vocabulary entry defining a concept used in sociological analysis. Terms are the atomic units of the sociological vocabulary — they name phenomena, mechanisms, positions, or conditions.

• MUST have defines: with the canonical term name.
• MUST include a definition in the body (opening sentence or paragraph).
• SHOULD have cites: crediting who introduced or developed the term.
• SHOULD specify what conditions produce or sustain what the term names.
• MAY specify school: linking to the theoretical tradition that uses it.
• MAY specify extends: for terms that refine or build on prior terms.

type: term
defines:
  - "Californication"
cites:
  - "emsenn"
school: /sociology/schools/cybernetic-postliberalism/index.md

concept

A synthetic page explaining how multiple terms relate as a mechanism or system. Concepts are more structural than terms — they show how things work together, not just what individual things are.

• MUST have defines: with the concept name.
• MUST describe what the mechanism produces or sustains.
• SHOULD have integrates: listing the terms it assembles.
• SHOULD have cites: for sources informing the analysis.
• MAY specify produces: for what the mechanism generates.
• MAY specify sustains: for what conditions the mechanism maintains.

type: concept
defines:
  - "Modulative governance"
integrates:
  - /sociology/schools/cybernetic-postliberalism/terms/recursive-governance.md
  - /sociology/schools/cybernetic-postliberalism/terms/californication.md
produces:
  - /sociology/schools/cybernetic-postliberalism/terms/neurotic-platformal-intellectual.md
cites:
  - "emsenn"

school

A theoretical tradition or named analytical framework. Schools organize terms, concepts, and methods into a coherent approach to sociological questions.

• MUST describe the tradition’s core claims or commitments.
• MUST include a section on critiques or limitations.
• SHOULD have cites: for key texts and thinkers.
• SHOULD list the terms it defines (via links, not defines:).
• MAY specify extends: for traditions it builds on.
• MAY specify contests: for traditions it disputes.

type: school
cites:
  - "Stafford Beer"
  - "Patrick Deneen"
  - "Lauren Berlant"
extends:
  - /information/topics/cybernetics/index.md
  - /philosophy/terms/governmentality.md

lesson

A curriculum module that teaches sociological concepts through structured sequence. Lessons are pedagogical: they are organized to develop understanding, not just to present information.

• MUST have requires: listing prerequisite pages (lessons or terms).
• MUST have teaches: listing concepts the lesson develops.
• MUST include at least one concrete case or example in the body.
• SHOULD include self-check questions (as structured <details> blocks or linked question pages).
• MAY specify uses-concepts: listing concept pages the lesson draws on.

type: lesson
requires:
  - /sociology/schools/cybernetic-postliberalism/curricula/overview.md
teaches:
  - "Recursive governance"
  - "Cybernetic feedback in governance"
uses-concepts:
  - /sociology/schools/cybernetic-postliberalism/concepts/modulative-governance.md

text

An essay, paper, or analysis. Texts advance arguments, develop case studies, or synthesize research.

• MUST state a thesis or analytical question in the opening paragraphs.
• SHOULD have cites: for sources.
• SHOULD have authors: crediting who wrote it.
• MAY specify supports: linking to claims or schools it argues for.
• MAY specify contests: linking to positions it argues against.

type: text
cites:
  - "Ruth Wilson Gilmore"
  - "Golden Gulag"
authors:
  - emsenn

Relation vocabulary

These typed relations extend the general ASR’s semantic frontmatter relation set.

The general ASR relations (defines, cites, teaches, requires, extends, part-of, questions, addresses) remain available and are not redefined here.

Structural graph

school ──defines──► term ◄──defines── concept
  │                  │                   │
  │                  │              integrates
  │            emerges-under             │
  │                  │                   ▼
  ├───produces───► concept ◄──sustains── term
  │                  │
  │             produces
  │                  │
  │                  ▼
  └──contests──► school/text

Terms define vocabulary. Concepts show how terms relate as mechanisms. Schools organize terms and concepts into traditions. The emerges-under and produces relations trace how phenomena arise from conditions and generate further effects — this is the domain’s characteristic structure.

What sociological validity is not

This spec does not evaluate whether a sociological analysis is correct. It tracks whether the structural elements are present: does the term say what produces it? Does the concept say what it integrates? Does the school acknowledge its limits? The infrastructure makes gaps visible; filling them is the work of the discipline.

Formal artifacts

• Ontology — OWL classes and properties for sociological content types
• SHACL Shapes — validation shapes for sociological relations

Lean correspondence

Sociology sits between mathematics and philosophy in formalizability. Its graph structure (directed network, no circular definitions, but productive tensions allowed) is formalizable; its content adequacy is not.

What this domain’s axioms look like formally. The theory for term requires defines: (MUST) and recommends cites: and school: (SHOULD). The theory for concept requires defines: (MUST) and recommends integrates: (SHOULD). The characteristic relations (produces, sustains, emerges-under) trace causal mechanisms — these are directed edges in a non-acyclic graph where productive tensions (two schools contesting the same phenomenon) are structural, not errors.

What satisfaction means beyond field presence. The current Python approximation checks whether defines: exists on terms and concepts. Full satisfaction would verify that the definition actually specifies the conditions under which the phenomenon appears — this requires evaluating body text against the “structural legibility” validity principle.

Current satisfaction data. 176 typed pages checked, 158 satisfied (89.8%), 18 errors, 171 warnings. Errors are MUST violations (missing defines: on index pages mistyped as term/concept). Warnings are SHOULD gaps (missing cites: on most pages).

Lean target. Formalize the sociological graph as a directed network with a constraint: no circular definitions (the defines predicate must be acyclic) but the contests and emerges-under predicates may form cycles. The Lean proof would verify that the axiom structure preserves this distinction — that the type theories for term and concept prevent definitional circularity while the theories for school and text permit productive tension.