In Sociocracy, what is the difference between clarifying questions and quick reactions?

Clarifying questions are only questions about a piece of information. For example, if someone has an idea or a proposal and we don’t quite understand what they mean because it’s not expressed well or because we lack information to understand it – then we ask a clarifying question so we understand the proposal’s intention.

A reaction is an opinion or observation about the piece of information. For example, we might dislike the idea for different reasons, or we might dislike the way something is worded, or we might have a different idea we’d like to consider. Reactions are about our own thinking and feeling in relation to the idea.

For more information, check out our handbook Many Voices One Song section 5.5.2