CURRENT SOCIAL PROBLEMS ANALYSED BY CONTROL AND SYSTEMS THEORY: (Part A. The Theory of Interdependence)

At the Silver Anniversary meeting of the General Systems Research Society in 1979 several speakers showed acute disappointment at the lack of progress within recent years in the matter of practical application of Systems Theory and Cybernetics. Research was gradually floundering to a halt through lack of new ideas. Since novelty is the quintessence of systems thinking this was indeed serious criticism. In this paper two (at least) new concepts are presented which, by their novelty, might well pull Systems Theory out of the morass. These are the concepts of (1) Unchange, applied to live systems and bureaucracies, and (2) Net reciprocal dependence between members of groups, systems etc. The latter concept leads to alternative percepts of human behaviour within and outside bureaucratic settings. The psychological concept of the ego fits neatly within the model proposed.