Topic
Social system
About: Social system is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2974 publications have been published within this topic receiving 92395 citations.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
More filters
TL;DR: In this paper, a synthesis of recent developments in social theory and systems thinking within a critical systems framework is presented, where the focus is on constitutive processes or ways in which participants contribute through their expectations and interactions to maintaining and changing social systems of which they form part.
Abstract: This paper explores the possibilities for a synthesis of recent developments in social theory and systems thinking within a critical systems framework. This approach is neither behavioural nor interpretive but an alternative synthesis from a critical stance. The paper is a defence of systems thinking against charges of scientism and an attempt to extend the approach to encompass interpretive perspectives. The focus is on constitutive processes or ways in which participants contribute through their expectations and interactions to maintaining and changing the social systems of which they form part. Systems thinking applied to social life can be a methodology without positivist preconceptions and can be used to explore the interlocking of objective and subjective dimensions of the social world. It is argued that traditions of systems dynamics have been neglected in social theory and provide a potentially fruitful approach to the analysis of conflict and change. A critical systems approach can be us...
12 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the moral implications of Niklas Luhmann's social systems theory are analyzed from a systems-theoretic perspective. But the authors do not consider the case of the least advantaged groups, but rather include a broad range of social costs and damaging effects on society and nature.
Abstract: The present paper builds on the Rawlsian critique of utilitarianism in order to identify the moral implications of Niklas Luhmann’s social systems theory. While Luhmann aptly discerned the pervasive problems of the precarious system–environment relations throughout the modern society, he took moral communication to be person-centered and thus ill-equipped to deal with these problems. At the same time, the Rawlsian possibility of sacrificing fundamental liberties for the sake of economic gains not only exemplifies the Luhmannian precariousness of the relations of the economic system to its societal environment, but also shows this precariousness to be a moral problem. Thus, from the systems-theoretic perspective, the Rawlsian idea of justice denotes the moral dimension of the capacity of the societal environment to carry the economic system. More generally, the proposed complementarity between Rawls and Luhmann allows to see the precariousness of system–environment relations, for any type of social system, as a moral problem. Two implications follow. First, the morally problematic manifestations of the precarious system–environment relations are not limited to the Rawlsian case of the discrimination of the least advantaged groups but rather include a broad range of social costs and damaging effects of business on society and nature. Second, and related, the proposed systems-theoretic perspective explicates the moral value of sustainability of the economic as well as other social systems in their environment, societal and ecological alike.
12 citations
12 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore two central processes that are basic to any social system's sur vival adaptability and copability: adaptability is the ability of a social system to sense and understand its internal and external environments and to take action to achieve a fit or balance between the two.
Abstract: This paper explores two central processes that are basic to any social system's sur vival-adaptability and copability. Adaptability refers to a social system's ability to sense and understand its internal and external environments and to take action to achieve a fit or balance between the two. Adaptability leads to greater relevancy of a system. Copability (cope-ability) is a social system's ability to conserve its identity, deal with internal disharmonies, and internally overcome change-in duced problems. They are not totally independent of one another and are com plementary. Emery and Trist's typology of environments is used to construct an appropriate model of behavior for system survival. Implications of these concepts and their contingent characteristics with other organizational variables are dis cussed. The author stresses that as the environment becomes more turbulent it be comes increasingly important that social-system practitioners (managers, organization development consultants, therapists) as...
12 citations
01 Jan 1982
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss some of the points of contact between concepts of justice and existing theory and data concerning conformity to group norms, one of the traditional areas of research in social psychology.
Abstract: Publisher Summary Concepts, such as justice and injustice, lend themselves easily to a discussion at the abstract theoretical and philosophical level without appearing to require recourse to the world of mundane data. Yet, these concepts certainly should not remain isolated from relevant areas of empirical inquiry in psychology. This chapter discusses some of the points of contact between concepts of justice and existing theory and data concerning conformity to group norms, one of the traditional areas of research in social psychology. Conformity to social norms can determine the nature of one's response to injustice, including the appropriateness of potential ways of reducing it. Reactions to injustice carry the serious potential danger of disrupting the social system if left entirely to the individual's discretion—or to collective action unchecked by societal norms. Thus, social norms govern such behavior in most cases.
11 citations