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Society is not just the product of its individual members; it is also the product of its constituent groups. The aggregate relations among individuals and groups, among individuals within groups, and among groups forms a network of astonishing complexity.

— Clay Shirky Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations (2008)

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More quotes by Clay Shirky

When we change the way we communicate, we change society.

Shirky (2008)

We use the word "organization" to mean both the state of being organized and the groups that do the organizing... We use one word for both because, at a certain scale, we haven't been able to get organization without organizations; the former seems to imply the latter.

Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations (2008)

The typical organization is hierarchical, with workers answering to a manager, and that manager answering to a still-higher manager, and so on. The value of such hierarchies is obvious-it vastly simplifies communication among the employees. New employees need only one connection, to their boss, to get started. That's much simpler than trying to have everyone talk to everyone.

Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations (2008)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Clay Shirky (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.