Customer Reviews

Designing Social Systems in a Changing World (Contemporary Systems Thinking)

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Imagine an Institute, that draws on a large, international group of practitioners being condensed into a book. This is what Banathy accomplishes in this comprehensive text. In contrast to many texts on systems thinking, which promote a particular approach, and are very self-serving, "Designing Social Systems in a Changing World" adopts a pluralist stance. The benefit to the reader is quick access to a broad overview of very different methods. The book could be thought of as a "travel guide" throughout the world of Social Systems Design. The traveler has the benefit of a guide whom has been on the systems thinking scene for four decades. There are few such people in the world whom can provide the breadth of overview, and historical experience as is accomplished in this work. A mark of distinction of the book is that it is interactive - that is if the reader takes up the challenge to do their own thinking, on applications in their own domain, based on proposed inquiries by the author in each section. The book, in a sense, provides a socratic inquiring system for the reader to engage their own worldviews with respect to a vast array of contemporary systems design practices. As such, it is a useful tool both for the asprirng practitioner as well as the expert of a particular method. By engaging the text in a disciplined fashion, both will expand their collaborative capacity. The author's interest in pedagogy makes this book very accessible, while being very challenging. The style of presentation makes the book very readable. The challenge is in rethinking one's own approach in a structured fashion. The risk is that the reader will not be able to walk away unchanged. Indeed, that's part of the excitement of the journey it takes you on.

Designing Social Systems in a Changing World is a one of a kind book. No other published work integrates general evolutionary insights, systems thinking, creativity, and democractic principles in as powerful and pragmatic a manner. Banathy draws from a very wide base of knowledge (as a glance at the bibliography will reveal), and he seems to cover all the bases. The suggested exercises invite the reader to learn for him or herself, one of several indicators of Banathy's humility and invitation to continuous learning. Another indication of this is the manner in which he describes all of the leading models of various aspects of social systems design. He makes explicit his preferences without suggesting that all others are wrong. Some readers may find themselves getting lost in certain sections which address more intricate and technical aspects of the "design spiral," but this is a small sacrifice to make for what is overall and in most sections an excellent and inspiring resource. I would recommend this book for all social scientists, policy makers, and grass-roots activists.

Dr. Banathy has written a user friendly summary of the systems approach to design. Anyone interested in the fate of the social world and our particular communities will need to pick-up this book and work through its contents. Dr. Banathy has worked with social systems design for decades and has given to the scholar as well as the layman an outstanding synopsis of his life's work.

This book is the compilation of many years of work by a leading systems theorist. It summarizes many thoughts by other systems thinkers, and asks readers to reflect on and apply these to their own contexts. It is the highlights of systems thinking, to-date, applied using the best of educational theory in learning them. It is not a casual book, but worth the effort for those truly interested in social systems design.

This book was not what I expected. Banathy took the writings of several authors on the subject of systemic change and presented their ideas for readers in order to allow them to determine their own definitions of the various topics. The book seemed to be accompanied by a notebook or activity book, because every now and then a passage would be labeled Activity 1 or some such, and the author would say something like, now write in your notebook what you think the definition of social change would be based on the above writings. It read almost like a course textbook. It was interesting and held a lot of references on the topic. A rich resource for social change theory.