Publish at April 07 2021 Updated June 04 2025
Jon Husband coined the neologism "wirearchy" in 1999, and I'll be using the French version "connectarchie" whenever possible. Even if the English "wire" doesn't have the same meaning as the French "connecter".
For Jon Husband"Wirearchy is a two-way flow of power and authority whose foundations are knowledge, trust, credibility and a focus on producing results."
It's a meta-concept like patriarchy, monarchy, hierarchy that describes forms of influence. In the technocratic era, if the weight of positions creates status and hierarchies, connectarchy is collaboration around opportunities, made possible by social networks.
Hierarchy is usually defined as "a social organization establishing relationships of subordination and graduated degrees of power, status and responsibility".
The etymology of hierarchy comes from the Greek
Let's take a closer look at the meaning of "archi". Archi is a Greek root that tells us about the way things are arranged. The archpriest is the one who watches over others. The archangel is the one who, more than any other angel, disseminates knowledge. He is the link between God and the angels. Hierarchy organizes power and establishes orders of priority between elements, whereas connectarchy establishes horizontal and vertical links and disseminates power and trust between people.
With the Internet, there is rapid communication, and a stronger transition at present.
Connectarchy imposes itself invisibly and silently, as everyone works with computers, with information, transforming it and circulating it, giving it priority or not.
Connectarchy is an organizational principle that emerges spontaneously from the production, retrieval, classification and processing of information by everyone connected to the Internet. If employees or learners are blocked by traditional hierarchies (to take an initiative, to go on training courses, to travel, etc.), they will find ways to express themselves and online spaces to innovate, undertake or learn in their own way. They overcome the resistance they face.
Alongside traditional hierarchies, connectarchies are taking hold, influencing orientations and decisions. Information circulates so fast that it is difficult to conceal or deceive (cf. The naked corporation).
Everyone needs to be involved in decision-making, because there's a crisis of meaning: "Why do we do what we do" is a growing question. Electronic life has amplified this crisis of meaning. Electronic life begins with the electronic alarm clock, the smart fridge, the day is a continuous connection.
It's becoming more and more widespread; all day long, we move in the electronic world, the car is packed with sensors and programs, not to mention the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence.
Generations born before the invention of the Internet are gradually disappearing, and will eventually become a minority. There were 4.8 billion people on the planet in 1985, and 7.8 billion today. So there are 3 billion people born with the potential of the Internet and connectarchies.
Hierarchies, be they religious, political, trade-union, associative or educational, remain in place to guarantee continuity and the transmission of what already exists. Their leaders and agents benefit from the stability and legibility of the world. The information under their control ensures the status quo and controlled individual and collective trajectories.
The swarming of data, the dispersion of communication channels and the creativity of coalition formats enable new links to be established. New legitimacies linked to the animation of communication nodes, crossroads of platforms or linkages short-circuit spaces that were previously closed.
By connecting, all institutions are traversed by multiple influences that they neither know nor can contain. Walls don't stop cell phone waves or Wi-Fi. Boundaries that were once well-established are becoming porous. Relationships under controlled processes are likely to be enriched by data hitherto underestimated. Orders of priority are contested, and proximities between the top and bottom of pyramids are continually reassessed.
The connectarchies that emerge can become manipulative, allying themselves with existing hierarchies or rebelling against them. Whatever they do - probably all 3 options - they force us to re-evaluate the quality of information, sources and stakes, because by imposing themselves as a new "trusted third party", they grant themselves a legitimacy that transforms everyone's understanding of their context.
Sources
Social Now Jon Husband https://socialnow.org/speaker/jon-husband/
Husband, Jon. "What is wirearchy." Retrieved January 26 (2008): 2009.
Blog Claude Super https://claudesuper.com/tag/jon-husband/#:~:text=Jon%20Husband%2C%20un%20techno%20%E2%80%93%20anthropologue,terme%20de%20wirearchie%20en%201999%20*.
Hierarchy versus connectarchy https://www.duperrin.com/2008/05/05/hierarchie-vs-connectarchie/
Advantages and constraints of a wirearchy approach https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/atouts-et-contraintes-dune-approche-valorisant-la-wirearchy-super/
Matthieu Laferrière Intelligent organization and the future of work https://mathieulaferriere.com/organisation-intelligente-et-futur-du-travail/
Wikipedia - World population https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_mondiale
CNRTL hierarchy https://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/hi%C3%A9rarchie
Don Tapscott -The naked corporation - https://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/0743246519
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