Robert J. Gregory – A Framework for Analysis and Social Change
“In working with communities on issues involving social change, a theoretical framework can make a difference in perceiving, analysing, and acting in what is often a complex situation. General systems theory is one such framework, and though well known and highly regarded, the use of this approach remains limited. The following account provides a brief description, with some ideas that may be useful to social change agents.”
“The use of diagrams simplifies these ideas so many audiences can quickly grasp the nature of structure, dynamics, systems, and their components. In fact, that is how and why this author began, in 1968, to draw pictures of social structures and systems for community groups. Since that time, these and related diagrams have been presented to such groups as politicians, lifers in prison, people from other cultures, children, street people, and even academics. All seemed capable of not only following the ideas, but proved able to use similar diagrams to define their own situation within their own social system.”
