Social threefolding

Social threefolding is a social theory based on the premise that, if three main spheres of society – the political, economic, and cultural are organized relatively independent of one another, they check, balance, and correct one another and thus lead to greater social health and progress.

Each of three human faculties of thinking, feeling and acting can be related to the societal spheres based on an universal value:

• the free thinking for the cultural life: the field of education, art, science and religion where the freedom is there for each individual to develop and unfold so as to contribute by enriching and developing society as a whole
• the feeling of equality for the other in the legal-political sphere: the relationship between human beings as equals with human rights independent from any societal status, economic power or other.
• the value of solidarity in the economic life, as the transformation of natural resources and labour into products and services that meet human needs, and whereby the needs of the other are covered by my work, just as my needs are covered by the work of the others.

With autonomously organized spheres, social threefolding aims to foster: freedom (in cultural life), equality and democracy (in political life) and cooperation (in economic life).

Aspects

• rejection of ideology, as a restriction imposing on what lives in people
• link of the three social spheres with French Revolution and 'Liberty, Equality, Fraternity'
• separation between state and cultural life, between the economy and cultural life, between state and the economy
• comparison with other social systems
  • Theocracy - cultural impulse (eg religion) dominates economy and politics
  • State socialism / communism - political agendas dominate culture and economic life
  • capitalism - economic interests dominate the cultural and political spheres

Lecture coverage and references

Coverage overview

• 1917 - first proposed the 'threefoldment of the social organism'
• 1919 - asked by colleagues to lead a public campaign for threefold social ideas
• 1922 - series of lectures on economics from threefoldment perspective

Reference extracts

1919-GA023

original title: 'Die Kernpunkte der sozialen Frage' became 'The Threefold Social Order'

1919-GA193

Inner Aspect of the Social Question

1919-02-04-GA193

1919-02-11-GA193

1919-03-09-GA193

1920-02-15-GA196

The different talents of the French, German, and Anglo-American nations already indicate the direction of a kind of threefolding that should be developed: the judicial-political talent of the French, the inclination to cultural life of the Germans and the talent for the economic life of the Anglo Americans.

1920-06-09-GA337

On Propaganda of the Threefold Social Order

203-03

294-14

328-02

329-01

330-03

340-09

Related pages

• Anthroposophical application areas
• Moral ideals

References and further reading

• Guenther Wachsmuth: 'Threefold Social Order' (1920)
• Roman Boos (1889-1952) - see profile in DE
  • Die Dreigliederung des sozialen Organismus und der Staat (1921)
  • Die Dreigliederungs-Idee, das Goetheanum und das Dreigliederungs-Ideal im Lebensgang Rudolf Steiners und im Schicksal der Welt (1929)
• George Adams: 'The threefold structure of the world' (ca 1953)
• Lex Bos (1925-2005) - see profile in DE
  • Eine Metamorphose des Dreigliedrungsimpulses aus den Holländischen sozialen Verhältnissen (1964)
  • Sociale driegeleding : een leidraad voor vernieuwend ondernemen? (1984)
• Paul Coroze: 'Rudolf Steiner et la Tripartition Sociale' (1968)
• Lex Bos, Dieter Brüll, Arnold Henny
  • Maatschappijstructuren in beweging : speelruimte voor, met, door driegeleding (1973)
  • De drieledige maatschappijstructuur (1974)
  • Te-recht of on-terecht : her-, ver-, ont-kenningen van sociale driegeleding' (1976)
  • Leven met afhankelijkheden : driegeleding als levenspraktijk (1978)
• Hans Erhard Lauer: 'Die Entwicklungsstufen der menschlichen Gesellschaft : ein Beitrag zum Verständnis der Idee der sozialen Dreigliederung' (1973)
• Hans Kühn: 'Dreigliederungs-Zeit : Rudolf Steiners Kampf für die Gesellschaftsordnung der Zukunft' (1978)
• Stefan Leber: 'Selbstverwirklichung - Mündigkeit - Sozialität : eine Einführung in die Dreigliederung des sozialen Organismus' (1978)
• Wolfgang Latrille: 'Assoziative Wirtschaft - ein Weg zur sozialen Neugestaltung : die pragmatische Aspekte der sozialen Dreigliederung' (1985)
• T.P. Loosjes: 'Driegeleding van het sociale organisme : een inleiding' (1985)
• Peter Schilinski: 'Wat is sociale driegeleding?' (1994 in NL, based on articles 1982-88 in 'Jedermensch') Christof Lindenau
  • Die Keimkräfte der sozialen Dreigliederung und ihre Pflege (1983), also in NL 1988 as 'Ontmoeting en samenwerking : de kiemkracht van de sociale driegeleding'
  • 'Soziale Dreigliederung : Der Weg zu einer lernenden Gesellschaft : ein Entwurf zum anthroposophischen Sozialimpuls' (1989)
• Dieter Brüll (1922-1996) - see profile in DE
  • Der anthroposophische Sozialimpuls - ein Versuch seiner Erfassung (1984), also in NL 1985 as 'De sociale impuls van de antroposofie'
  • De drieledige maatschappijstructuur : Arts en driegeleding (1991)
  • Waldorfschule und Dreigliederung - der peinliche Auftrag : vom Risiko, eine anthroposophische Institution zu sein (1992); also in NL 2001 as 'Vrije School en sociale driegeleding : De pijnlijke opdracht : Over het risico een antroposofische institutie te zijn'
  • Landbouw, economie en sociale driegeleding (1998)
  • The Mysteries of Social Encounters: The Anthropsophical Social Impulse (2002)

• Walter Kühne: 'Die Stuttgarter Verhältnisse und Rudolf Steiners Impuls der sozialen Dreigliederung' (1989)
• Albert Schmelzer: 'The Threefolding Movement, 1919, A History: Rudolf Steiner's Campaign for a Self-Governing, Self-Managing, Self-Educating Society' (2017 in EN, original in DE 1991 as 'Die Dreigliederungsbewegung 1919. Rudolf Steiners Einsatz für den Selbstverwaltungsimpuls')
• Nicanor Perlas: 'Shaping Globalization: Civil Society, Cultural Power and Threefolding' (2003) (also in DE as 'Die Globalisierung gestalten : Zivilgesellschaft, Kulturkraft und Dreigliederung')
• Sylvain Coiplet: 'Die soziale Dreigliederung oder - Wie werden Einrichtungen menschlich? (2003)
• Peter Tradowsky: 'Die Dreigliederung als die Christus gemässe Gestalt des sozialen Organismus und die Widersachermächte' (2007)
• Edward Udell: 'A Curious Conversation about Social Threefolding' (2013)
• John Hogervorst: 'Sociale driegeleding Wat, hoe en waarom' (2018)
• Richard Masters: 'Rudolf Steiner and Social Reform: Threefolding and Other Proposals' (2022)
• Valentin Wember 'Dreigliederung' (2022)
• John Mugge: 'Threefold Steps Out: Essays Inspired by Rudolf Steiner's Threefold Social Organism' (2023)

Internet

• Institut für soziale Dreigliederung:
  • www.dreigliederung.de
  • www.threefolding.org
• Dornach Goetheanum: social.goetheanum.ch/en/fields-of-work/threefolding
• GlobeNet3 or GN3 - Global Network for Social Threefolding: www.globenet3.org

Introductory articles

• https://www.rudolfsteinerweb.com/Threefold_Social_Order.php/Rudolf_Steiner_and_Art.php
• https://www.threefolding.net/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf/EN/Christoph_Strawe_The_Threefolding_Movement_of_1917-1922.pdf