Complicated
Term
Complicated
Idea level
Concept
Definition
Complicated describes machine-like objects made up of separate parts whose operations are linear, decomposable, and controllable—such as a toaster. Yuen Yuen Ang identifies the treatment of societies (including socio-economic development) as complicated as a classification error, because societies are inherently complex systems with mutually adaptive elements, producing outcomes that may be influenced, but not controlled.
Sources
First conceptual formalization:
Ang, Yuen Yuen. “Adaptive Political Economy: Toward a New Paradigm.” World Politics (2024).
Earlier articulation with empirical demonstration:
Ang, Yuen Yuen. How China Escaped the Poverty Trap (2016), Introduction (pp. 9–11) and Chapter 2 (pp. 48–52).
Genealogy
[Paradigm] Industrial–Colonial Paradigm
→ [Pillar] Mechanical thinking (treating societies as machines)
→ [Concept] Complicated
→ [Application: Development] Development as linear process: “growth first” or “good governance first”
→ [Application] Control-oriented policy design (or its false opposite: giving up control)
Contrasted with
[Paradigm] AIM (Adaptive, Inclusive, Moral Political Economy)
→ [Pillar] Adaptive Political Economy (APE)
→ [Concept] Complex
→ [Application: Development] Development as co-evolutionary process, starting with repurposing what you have
→ [Application] Directed improvisation
Quote
“The terms ‘complicated’ and ‘complex’ are often conflated in daily language, but in fact they describe two completely different worlds. In a complicated world, collectives are made up of many separate parts that do not interact and change with one another, of which a toaster is a good example. A toaster is a machine made up of many separate parts. Press a button, and it will produce a predictable action: toasted bread pops up… Much of our analyses have proceeded as if social worlds are complicated… Yet in fact, social worlds are not complicated—they are almost always complex.” (p. 10)
— Ang, How China Escaped the Poverty Trap (2016)
“These quotes [thinking in machine mode] illustrate a habitual conceptual error in political economy: living, complex, adaptive social systems are routinely treated as machine-like objects. This approach misperceives the defining, nonmechanical characteristics of social systems and applies overly reductionist methods to studying and managing them. Put differently, it is a basic classification error, akin to treating liquids as solids, or more colorfully put, mistaking trees (complex, adaptive) for toasters (complicated, mechanical). Yet adherents of the mechanical worldview are often proud: they think that by treating trees as toasters, they simplify and control a messy world. In reality, as James Scott reminds us, treating nature as industrial objects has spawned a range of problems in real life, from ecological degradation to new diseases.”
— Ang, Adaptive Political Economy (2024)
Concept Constellation
Across Ang’s work, Complicated consistently co-appears with the following concepts and analytic themes:
Contrast: Complex
Mechanical Thinking (treating societies as mechanical objects)
Chicken-and-Egg Fallacy of Development (“growth first” vs. “good governance first”)
Over-reductionist methods / control-oriented policy design / linear causal analysis
Ontology: classification error