Systems theory is the interdisciplinary study of systems; cohesive conglomerations of interrelated and interdependent parts—natural or man-made. Every system is delineated by its spatial and temporal boundaries, surrounded and influenced by its environment, described by its structure and purpose or nature and expressed in its functioning. In terms of its effects, a system can be more than the sum of its parts if it expresses @synergy or emergent behavior. Changing one part of the system usually affects other parts and the whole system, with predictable patterns of behavior. For systems that are self-learning and self-adapting, the positive growth and adaptation depend upon how well the system is adjusted with its environment. Some systems function mainly to support other systems by aiding in the maintenance of the other system to prevent failure. The goal of systems theory is systematically discovering a system's dynamics, constraints, conditions and elucidating principles (purpose, measure, methods, tools, etc.) that can be discerned and applied to systems at every level of nesting, and in every field for achieving optimized equifinality. [1] Social systems are systems of communication, and society is the mostencompassing social system.
The interior of the system is thus a zone of reduced complexity: Communicationwithin a system operates by selecting only a limited amount of all informationavailable outside.
If a system fails to maintain that identity, it ceases to exist as a system anddissolves back into the environment it emerged from.
Social systems are operationally closed in that while they use and rely onresources from their environment, those resources do not become part of thesystems' operation.
Systems must continually construct themselves and their perspective of realitythrough processing the distinction between system and environment, and self-reproduce themselves as the product of their own elements.
Modern society is defined as a world system consisting of the sum total of allcommunication happening at once , and individual function systems aredescribed as social subsystems which have "Outdifferentiated" from the socialsystem and achieved their own operational closure and autopoiesis.
Each system works strictly according to its very own code and can observeother systems only by applying its code to their operations.
References
- Systems Theory, wikipedia.org
Tags
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