Spiral Dynamics is a model of human development that posits a discrete and linear series of "stages of development" that individuals, organizations, and societies progress through, within dynamic and non-linear processes. It lacks mainstream academic validity or support, although it has been applied in management consulting and some academic literature. It was initially developed by psychologist Don Edward Beck and communications lecturer Christopher Cowan based on memetic theory and the emergent cyclical theory of Clare W. Graves. A later collaboration between Beck and American writer Ken Wilber produced Spiral Dynamics Integral (SDi). Several variations of Spiral Dynamics presently exist, with some drawing upon Wilber's integral theory.
History In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Union College psychology professor Clare W. Graves published a series of articles which described what he referred to as an "emergent cyclical theory" of developmental psychology and human development. Spiral Dynamics emerged as a result of a collaboration between University of North Texas (UNT) professor Don Beck, communications lecturer Christopher Cowan, and Graves. Beck and Graves first met in person in 1975, and was joined by Cowan shortly after in developing Graves's emergent cyclical theory, working closely with Graves until his death in 1986. In 1979, Beck and Cowan founded the consulting company National Values Center, Inc. (NVC). By 1981, both Beck and Cowan had resigned from UNT to work with Graves. During the 1980s and 1990s, Beck made over 60 trips to South Africa applying Graves's emergent cyclical theory in various projects. This experience, along with others Beck and Cowan had applying the theory in North America, motivated the development of Spiral Dynamics. Beck and Cowan first published their original extension of Graves's theory in the 1996 book Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership, and Change (Exploring the New Science of Memetics). At around the same time, new-age author Ken Wilber published Sex, Ecology, Spirituality (1995), which expounded and drew heavily upon Graves's work. Beck and Cowan introduced a color-coding for the eight value systems identified by Graves, and predicted a ninth value system. Additionally, Beck and Cowan integrated ideas from the field of memetics, identifying memetic attractors for each of Graves's levels. These attractors, which they called "VMemes", are said to bind memes into cohesive packages which structure the worldviews of both individuals and societies. In 1998, Cowan and Natasha Todorovic formed their own consulting company, NVC Consulting (NVCC). In the same year, Cowan filed for the service mark of "Spiral Dynamics" service mark, which was registered to NVC. Beck was against the nature of Spiral Dynamics as a service mark, and by 1999, the pair had ceased collaborating, in part due to Cowan's opposition to Wilber's theory, which he regarded as overtly spiritual and unrelated to Graves's original theory. That same year, Wilber published The Collected Works of Ken Wilber, Vol. 4: Integral Psychology, which contained the first Spiral Dynamics reference in literature at the time. Following the split of NVC, Cowan and Wilber began to expound upon two different conceptions of Spiral Dynamics. Wilber's theory increasingly incorporated elements of spirituality, religion and original concepts drawn from his integral theory. In the early 2000s, Beck and Wilber launched the Integral Institute and the Spiral Dynamics Integral (SDi) brand. Beck also founded the Center for Human Emergence. By 2005, however, Beck and Wilber had fallen out due to disagreements on Wilber's changes to SDi. The following year, Wilber published Integral Spirituality, which incorporated chakras into SDi theory. In 2009, NVC was dissolved as business entity, and the original SD service mark (officially registered to NVC) was canceled. The next year, Cowan and Todorovic re-filed for the SD service mark and trademark, which was registered to NVCC. By 2010, the three theories of Spiral Dynamics comprised Cowan and Todorovic's trademarked "SPIRAL DYNAMICS®", which purported to be fundamentally the same as Graves's emergent cyclical theory; Don Beck advocating SDi with a community of practice around various chapters of his Centers for Human Emergence; and Ken Wilber subordinating SDi to his similarly but-not-identically colored AQAL altitudes, with a greater focus on spirituality.
Timeline
Theories Spiral Dynamics describes how value systems and worldviews emerge from the interaction of social and historical conditions and mental processes. While the value systems occur in a particular order, the purpose of development within Spiral Dynamics is to align value systems with the relevant life conditions rather than reach a set end goal. Under the theory, groups and cultures structure their societies around corresponding set of values, with each new value stage developed as a response to solving existing problems. Changes between states that occur incrementally are described as "first-order changes", whilst changes that emerge from a sudden breakthrough are known as "second-order changes". The emphasis on life conditions as essential to the progression through value systems is unusual among similar theories, and leads to the view that no level is inherently positive or negative, but rather is a response to the local environment.
Beck and Cowan's original theory
Cowan and Todorovic's "Spiral Dynamics" In 2008, Cowan and Todorovic published an article on Spiral Dynamics in the peer-reviewed journal Strategy & Leadership, edited and published Graves's unfinished manuscript, and generally took the position that the distinction between Spiral Dynamics and Graves's ECLET is primarily one of terminology. Holding this view, they opposed interpretations seen as "heterodox." Cowan and Todorovic's view of Spiral Dynamics stands in opposition to that of Ken Wilber. Wilber biographer Frank Visser describes Cowan as a "strong" critic of Wilber and his integral theory, particularly the concept of a "Mean Green Meme." Todorovic produced a paper arguing that research refutes the existence of the "Mean Green Meme" as Beck and particularly Wilber described it.
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