Podcast TCCR #013 - The Life Cycle of narrative systems

This episode introduces a groundbreaking and original theoretical proposal within the "Cognosystemic Theory of Human Psychosocial Relational Construction" (TCCR): narrative systems are not fixed or abstract entities—they are living structures that go through a life cycle, much like biological organisms. This perspective offers a powerful way to understand how the narratives that shape psychosocial reality emerge, consolidate, dominate, and eventually transform or fade away.

What Is the Narrative Life Cycle?

Drawing inspiration from the biological sciences, the TCCR applies the concept of a life cycle to narrative analysis. Narratives are thus understood as dynamic systems that are born, grow, stabilize, and may eventually enter into crisis or change. This temporal and evolutionary lens allows for the study not only of a narrative’s content but also of its trajectory, resilience, and potential for transformation.

The Four Phases of the Narrative Life Cycle

This episode outlines the stages that every narrative system within the Cognosystem passes through:

1. Emergence:

- The narrative arises from a concrete experience.

- It is fragile, not widely shared, and lacks structuring power.

2. Development:

- The narrative is reinforced, repeated, and transmitted.

- It begins to shape identity, relationships, and social practices.

3. Maturity:

- The narrative becomes central and dominant within the Cognosystem.

- It organizes peripheral narratives and reproduces memetically.

- It is highly resistant to change.

4. Decline or Transformation:

- The narrative enters crisis due to internal contradictions or tension with alternative stories.

- It may fade, mutate, or be re-signified.

5. Renewal:

- The narrative evolves or disappears, giving rise to another.

What Drives a Narrative from One Phase to Another?

This episode explains how both internal and external factors influence the transition between phases:

- Intersystemic narrative frictions within the Cognosystem.

- The emergence of new cognosystemic memes.

- Significant social, cultural, or historical changes.

- Professional interventions, especially in contexts of crisis or vulnerability.

Practical Applications in Social Work

Understanding the narrative life cycle enables practitioners to:

- Identify the current phase of a personal, family, institutional, or community narrative.

- Assess its stability, fragility, or transformative potential.

- Intervene strategically to deconstruct oppressive narratives, strengthen protective ones, or support narrative transitions in processes of personal or social change.

An Ethical and Political Tool

Narrative intervention means engaging with the systems of meaning that sustain everyday life. The episode highlights that every narrative can be either emancipatory or oppressive, and that its life cycle offers a guide for supporting cultural, personal, or collective change in a critical and committed way.

The episode concludes with a key affirmation: Narrative systems are alive.

Reading their life cycles allows Social Work to understand and transform reality through a deeply human, ethical, and situated lens.

Listen and discover how narratives are born, grow, change—and change us.

Click here to purchase the book on Amazon Books.