An organizing principle is a core assumption from which everything else by proximity can derive a classification or a value. It is like a central reference point that allows all other objects to be located, often used in a conceptual framework. Having an organizing principle might help one simplify and get a handle on a particularly complicated domain or phenomenon. On the other hand, it might create a deceptive prism that colors one's judgment.

Examples

* In a

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in ec ...

article,

James Steinberg James Braidy Steinberg (born May 7, 1953) is an American academic and political advisor, and former United States Deputy Secretary of State. He has served as the dean of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns H ...

describes how

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or el ...

has become the organizing principle of U.S. national security. * The idea of the

Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...

is based on the organizing principle that the Sun is located at a central point, and all planets revolve around it. * Most modern

cities A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

are based on the organizing principle of the

Grid plan In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid. Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, frequent intersections and orthogona ...

in order to better manage transportation and addressing. * Most religions can be described by social scientists as built around an organizing principle that allows for the sustainable or improvable

recursion Recursion (adjective: ''recursive'') occurs when a thing is defined in terms of itself or of its type. Recursion is used in a variety of disciplines ranging from linguistics to logic. The most common application of recursion is in mathemati ...

of a unique population. * Organizations can be constructed around a set of organizing principles, such as concepts, priorities, or goals. For example, an organization may intend to be innovative, international, quality and agile. * The central organising principle of the

Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( cy, Llywodraeth Cymru) is the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of ministers and Minister (government), deputy ministers, and also of a Counsel General for Wales, counsel general. Minist ...

sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...

. * Legitimation code theory is an explanatory framework in the

sociology of knowledge The sociology of knowledge is the study of the relationship between human thought and the social context within which it arises, and the effects that prevailing ideas have on societies. It is not a specialized area of sociology. Instead, it dea ...

and education that seeks to understand different social fields of practices in terms of their organizing principles, which determines the basis of success and failure. *The organizing principle of the aphorism "

as above, so below "As above, so below" is a popular modern paraphrase of the second verse of the '' Emerald Tablet'' (a compact and cryptic Hermetic text first attested in a late eighth or early ninth century Arabic source), as it appears in its most widely divul ...

" is based on man's primordial sense of up and down and that this sense is a result of the symmetries in nature. *

Theism Theism is broadly defined as the belief in the existence of a supreme being or deities. In common parlance, or when contrasted with ''deism'', the term often describes the classical conception of God that is found in monotheism (also referred to ...

holds that there is a cause for things that are evidently effects or passive to a force or action and that this involves a vital force that produces effects that demonstrate design and concordance.

References

Principles Strategy Concepts {{sociology-stub

Examples

See also

References