Context:

The concept of self-organization plays a major role in contemporary complexity science. Yet, the current framework for the study of self-organization is only able to capture some of the nuances of complex social self-organizing phenomena.

Method:

This article addresses some of the problematic elements in the study of social self-organization. For this purpose, it focuses on pattern formation, a feature of self-organizing phenomena that is common across definitions. The analysis is carried out through three main questions: where can we find these patterns, what are these patterns and how can we study these patterns.

Results:

The discussion shows that there is a high level of specificity in social self-organized phenomena that is not adequately addressed by the current complexity framework. It argues that some elements are neglected by this framework because they are relatively exclusive to social science; others, due to the relative novelty of the studies on social complexity

Conclusions:

It is suggested that interdisciplinary collaboration between social scientists, complexity scientists and engineers is needed, in order to overcome traditional disciplinary limitations in the study of social self-organized phenomena.

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