EXPLANATION, PREDICTION AND PROBLEM‐SOLVING IN SOCIAL SYSTEMS: A SOCIAL CYBERNETIC ANALYSIS OF ETHNIC TENSIONS IN NATIONAL SOCIETIES (Part 1) Available to Purchase

This paper describes the interrelated nature of explanation, prediction and problem‐solving in social systems. Cybernetic analysis of social phenomena provides a unifying framework in this context. The analytic framework is briefly considered with reference to the problem of ethnic tensions in national societies. The first part of the paper discusses the conceptual apparatus of analysis and develops an integrated multi‐feedback loop model of the complex social phenomenon of ethnic tensions.