Complicated

Term

Complicated

Idea level

☐ Concept

Definition

Complicated describes machine-like objects made up of many separate parts whose operations are linear, decomposable, and controllable—such as a toaster. Yuen Yuen Ang identifies the treatment of societies (including social processes and problems) as complicated as a classification error, because societies are inherently complex systems with many interacting parts that adapt to one another and to their environment.

Sources

First formal articulation (conceptual formalization):

• Ang, Y.Y. “Adaptive Political Economy: Toward a New Paradigm.” World Politics (2024).

Earlier articulation:

• Ang, Y.Y. How China Escaped the Poverty Trap (2016), Introduction (pp. 9–11) and Chapter 2 (pp. 48–52).

Applied clarification:

• Ang, Y.Y. “Three Fallacies of Embracing Complexity.” UNDP Development Futures Series (2018).

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.

+ Ang, How China Escaped the Poverty Trap (2016), pp. 10

This approach [mechanical thinking]… is a basic classification error, akin to treating liquids as solids, or more colorfully put, mistaking trees (complex, adaptive) for toasters (complicated, mechanical).

+ Ang, Adaptive Political Economy (2024)

Concept Constellation

Across Ang’s work, Complicated consistently co-appears with the following concepts and analytic themes:

• Industrial–colonial paradigm

• Mechanical thinking (treating societies as machines)

• Linear causality

• Reductionism

• Control-oriented policy design

• False sequencing debates (“growth first” vs. “good governance first”)