About the TCCR

LEARN ABOUT THE COGNOSYSTEMIC THEORY

General Definition of the TCCR

The Cognosystemic Theory of Human Psychosocial Relational Construction (TCCR) constitutes a unified theoretical framework, conceived as a metatheory designed to coherently and consistently explain how individuals and collectives construct, negotiate, and transform their psychosocial reality through intersubjective narrative processes. It is based on the premise that such reality is not an objective or pre-existing entity, but is configured through the creation and exchange of meanings in interaction networks that span multiple ecosystemic levels of society.

The “Cognosystem” constitutes the central concept and must be approached rigorously from a theoretical standpoint. According to the TCCR, the construction of psychosocial reality is mediated by sociocultural mega-structures of meaning called Cognosystems, understood as interconnected and mutually dependent webs—a kind of mesh—of multiple ecosystemic human narrative systems.

A Cognosystem is therefore defined as a higher-level ecosystemic narrative suprasystem, that is, the total set of narrative systems of meaning present in a given society. In other words, the TCCR holds that each society is socioculturally structured by a Cognosystem as a suprasystem of human signification, which configures its particular “reality,” along with the social structures and institutions that comprise it.

However, a Cognosystem is not a static psychosocial architecture; rather, it corresponds to a global structure that integrates and interconnects multiple narrative systems operating at the micro, meso, exo, and macro levels. Within this suprasystem, meanings circulate, are negotiated, adapted, and transformed constantly under the influence of historical, cultural, linguistic, and power factors.

IMPORTANT: It is essential to emphasize that a “Cognosystem” must never be conceptually associated with the isolated inner world of a single individual, as doing so constitutes a conceptual error. A Cognosystem must always be associated with a specific society. However, the individuals who belong to that society are inevitably affected by the Cognosystem and, in turn, contribute—more or less, depending on the case—to the configuration of that sociocultural Cognosystem.

In this context, TCCR positions the Cognosystemic Narrative System (SNC; Spanish: Sistema Narrativo Cognosistémico) as the fundamental and operational analytic unit that composes the fabric of the Cognosystem. It is defined as an organized configuration of meanings that transforms human experience into narratives endowed with intentionality and function, always operating within the sociocultural frameworks of a specific society. Unlike the Cognosystem, which constitutes the global megastructure, the SNC corresponds to delimited fabrics of meaning—whether personal, familial, group-based, or organizational—that structure how reality is perceived, evaluated, and justified in situated contexts. In essence, it is the dynamic instrument through which social actors (individual or collective) construct identity and negotiate their position within the interconnected network of meanings that constitutes society.

To fulfill this structuring role, every SNC is articulated through an internal architecture composed of the eight basic components of a Cognosystemic Narrative System (SNC): (1) Experience, (2) Perceptions and emotions, (3) Context, (4) Propositional core, (5) Evaluative body, (6) Epistemic attitude, (7) Narrative purpose, and (8) Narrative function. This structure ensures that a narrative system is not a mere accumulation of anecdotes, but rather a complex mechanism in which lived events are affectively filtered, situated within a historical–cultural context, formalized into core beliefs, and oriented toward practical ends that produce real effects in the coordination of relationships and decisions. In this way, the SNC functions as the gear through which psychosocial reality is processed and projected, linking the subjective or intersubjective dimension with the macro-structures of the Cognosystem.

Within this logic, TCCR innovatively proposes a systemic–relational ontology that conceives the human being, in essence, as a social and relational being whose development, identity, and well-being are deeply rooted in the networks of ties that constitute psychosocial reality. It also advances an epistemology grounded in cognosystemic analysis of human reality, understood as the convergence of the cognitive and the systemic to explain how individuals construct their world through interconnected narratives across different ecosystemic levels. Finally, it proposes the development of an ecosystemic professional intervention methodology for Social Work, aimed at addressing psychosocial problems in an integral manner by organically articulating the micro, meso, and macro dimensions of intervention, while promoting relational transformation alongside social justice.

In this way, TCCR presents itself as a direct response to the theoretical gaps and fragmentations that have historically marked Social Work, with the aim of providing the discipline with its own coherent and autonomous conceptual framework. Along these lines, it seeks to initiate the consolidation of Social Work as the social and human science of relationality, proposing a rigorous and up-to-date ontological, epistemological, and methodological approach. Ultimately, the framework is intended to deepen practitioners’ capacity for understanding and strengthen their tools for intervening in psychosocial reality from a critical, integrative, and transformative perspective.

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Author

SW. Jalin Simunovic Menares

The author of this innovative paradigm is a Chilean social worker with over 15 years of experience in systemic psychosocial intervention, specializing in children and adolescents, families, and organizations. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Social Work and a Master's in Family Law and Family Intervention, with diplomas and specializations in systemic therapy, public management and policy, and organizational development.

Currently, he works in the public service of his country, Chile, in the People Management and Development area of JUNJI. Throughout his professional career, he has led child protection programs (PRM, OPD, and DAM-Arica) in his locality, with extensive experience in specialized psychosocial diagnosis and intervention processes in critical contexts for Family Courts and the Public Prosecutor's Office.

As a university lecturer, he has trained professionals and technicians in Social Work, as well as facilitators and intervention agents in various educational and community contexts. His work combines social research, theoretical innovation, and organizational leadership, consolidating him as a reference in the integration of critical thinking with professional practice.

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Foundational Book of the TCCR

“Cognosystemic Theory of Human Psychosocial Relational Construction TCCR: A unified theoretical proposal for Social Work”
By Jalin Simunovic | Social Ius Ediciones (2025)

A Voice of Its Own for Social Work

What happens when Social Work decides to speak with its own voice and stop borrowing the alphabet of other disciplines? A work like Cognosystemic Theory of Human Psychosocial Relational Construction (TCCR) is born, a book that gathers, orders, and elevates decades of scattered debates to offer an integrative metatheory at the service of social intervention and research.

With rigorous yet accessible writing, Simunovic proposes a map to understand how we construct meanings in relation—from the intimate to the collective—and how that web of meanings can be transformed to open paths to well-being, justice, and fulfillment.

What will you find in the pages of this work?

• The guiding idea of the "Cognosystem": the great mega-network of interconnected narratives that constitutes a society, and that regulates the construction and circulation of meaning within it.

• Narrative as a system: elements, functions, and life cycle of narrative systems (emergence, development, maturity, decline/transformation, and renewal).

• Dynamics of cognosystemic change: Beta (stability), Alpha (crisis), and Delta (reorganization) phases to understand and guide processes of psychosocial transformation.

• Narrative hierarchies and power: how hegemonic narratives arise, how they are contested, and what mechanisms allow for their displacement.

• The cognosystemic meme: the vehicles of meaning that disseminate, consolidate, or erode narratives at different ecosystemic levels.

• A proposed classification of narrative systems: from the intrapersonal and interpersonal to the organizational and sociocultural.

• Applicable theorization methodology (abduction, deduction, and induction) that connects theory and practice without losing its ethical north.

Why does it matter for the profession?

Because the TCCR responds to a historical deficiency: Social Work has excelled in intervention, but has often relied on external theories to explain itself. This work changes the script and offers its own coherent and operational framework that:

• Integrates micro, meso, and macro into a single lens.

• Translates philosophy and social sciences into the realm of concrete decisions.

• Recognizes relational interdependence as the ontology of the social.

• Provides language and tools to diagnose, intervene, and evaluate narrative changes with a sense of social justice.

Who is this book for?

• Social Work professionals in clinical, community, educational, and public policy settings.

• Teachers and researchers seeking a metatheory with explanatory power and applicability.

• Students who want a navigational chart to traverse complexity without oversimplifying it.

• Interdisciplinary teams that require a common language to intervene in dynamic realities.

• The general public interested in learning about this explanatory paradigm of human psychosocial phenomena.

Reading (and practical use) tips

• Read it with a pencil in hand: the book invites you to map narratives, detect frictions between layers, and name the memes acting in your context.

• Take it from paper to practice: use the Beta–Alpha–Delta phases to plan interventions, anticipate resistance, and measure progress.

• Add it to your toolbox: the TCCR does not replace what you already do well; it orders, integrates, and enhances it.

Five key ideas that will make you underline (though there are many more)

1. The Cognosystem as a suprasystem that gives psychosocial (ecosystemic) coherence to society and, at the same time, allows for evolution in both the individual and collective spheres of people.
2. Emotions as catalysts for narrative change (not mere companions).
3. Narrative power is contested; understanding its mechanisms opens possibilities for action.
4. "Memes" are key to disseminating, mutating, or halting meanings.
5. Narrative plasticity: every narrative can be transformed if we understand its structure and its links.

Style and tone

Academic rigor, yes; but with clear prose that converses with professional experience. The text alternates between philosophical-sociological foundations, systemic-relational tools, and practical guidance, without losing the warmth of someone who knows the terrain.

Book details

• Title: Cognosystemic Theory of Human Psychosocial Relational Construction TCCR: A unified theoretical proposal for Social Work.

• Author: Jalin Simunovic.

• Publisher: Social Ius Ediciones.

• Year: 2025.

• Location: Arica, Chile.

Available in physical format (international shipping). Ideal for marking, dog-earing pages, and returning to your notes again and again.

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GENERAL THREE-DIMENSIONAL PROPOSAL OF THE TCCR FOR SOCIAL WORK (SUMMARY)

The Cognosystemic Theory of Human Psychosocial Relational Construction (TCCR) advances a unified framework for Social Work organized around three complementary dimensions: a relational ontology, a cognosystemic epistemology, and an ecosystemic–narrative intervention methodology. 

Its aim is to provide a conceptually consistent and operationally applicable formulation for understanding and intervening in human psychosocial reality.

Below is a summarized description of each of these elements proposed by the TCCR:

1. ONTOLOGY: Relational/Systemic Approach for Social Work

TCCR holds that the human reality of professional concern is inherently relational and psychosocial. The psychosocial is understood as the dynamic intersection between subjectivity (lived experience, meaning, agency) and intersubjectivity (shared meanings, ties, norms, institutions), always situated within historical and cultural conditions.

On this basis, Social Work is delimited by its focus on psychosocial relational structuring: how relational configurations are formed, mediated, and transformed, and how these processes shape well-being, integration, dignity, participation, and access to rights. Analysis is oriented toward identifying relational patterns, linkages across levels (micro–macro), and the dynamics of continuity and change over time.

2. EPISTEMOLOGY: Cognosystemic Analysis of Human Reality

TCCR argues that knowing psychosocial reality requires a cognosystemic analysis that integrates:

• cognitive–narrative meaning-making (how meanings, identities, expectations, and normative criteria are constructed), and

• systemic relational organization (how those meanings are sustained, contested, or transformed through networks of interaction and institutional arrangements).

Knowledge is conceived as situated and intersubjective: it emerges from experience and social interaction and therefore demands standards of coherence, interpretive traceability, and corroboration with evidence from the case and its context.

As an analytic unit, TCCR proposes the Cognosystem: a sociohistorical web of interconnected meanings composed of Cognosystemic Narrative System (SNC; Spanish: Sistema Narrativo Cognosistémico) operating across multiple ecosystemic levels and along life-course trajectories. Within this framework, professional reflexivity is an epistemic requirement: making assumptions and categories explicit, recognizing one’s standpoint, attending to interpretive effects, and incorporating voices that have been historically marginalized.

3. METHODOLOGY: Ecosystemic-Narrative Professional Intervention

Consistent with its ontology and epistemology, TCCR proposes an intervention methodology aimed at transforming relational patterns and narrative matrices of meaning in a multi-level and contextually informed manner.

Intervention is organized as a work cycle:

A. Cognosystemic problem delimitation

• Define the issue as a psychosocial configuration: what is being experienced, how it is being made meaningful, how it is relationally organized, and where it is sustained across levels (micro, meso, exo, macro) and over time.

B. Change hypothesis and intervention design

• Formulate relational–narrative change hypotheses and select priority levels.

• Establish verifiable objectives, actions, responsibilities, timelines, and indicators.

C. Implementation, monitoring, and evaluation

• Document processes and adjust strategies based on evidence and contextual shifts.

• Assess change across integrated domains: relationships, narratives/positionings, structural conditions (barriers and resources), and psychosocial outcomes.

The overarching aim is to support sustainable transformations oriented toward social justice and empowerment, understood as a situated expansion of agency, rights, and participation—avoiding individualizing reductions where structural constraints are decisive.

In sum

TCCR offers a three-dimensional architecture that integrates:

• a relational ontology that delimits the psychosocial object of Social Work,

• a cognosystemic epistemology that explains how meanings are constructed and change through interaction, and

• an ecosystemic–narrative methodology that links analysis, action, and evaluation through explicit traceability.

This framework seeks to strengthen internal coherence in the field and to enable multi-level interventions with explicit standards of quality, reflexivity, and evaluability.

CURRENT SOCIAL WORK VS. THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL PROPOSAL OF THE TCCR

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