From the beginning, the systems research movement has shown a high potential for offering a conceptual framework for the understanding of social systems. Much of this potential has been realized, but a major gap remains with regard to operational investigative aids. Developments of the last ten years with a method ological orientation and emphasis seem finally to be filling this gap. The purpose of this book is to describe the most advanced of these developments and to make them available to a wider audience. The emphasis is on developments that are primarily oriented toward interaction with...

In today's social and behavioral sciences, the complexity of many problems requires the development of a number of highly specialized disciplines. However, the cost of such development is the obscuring of the relationships between these disciplines. This dilemma calls for a "mixed strategy" that combines the advantages of specialization with those of a unified viewpoint. The purpose of this book is to provide the connective tissue that is needed to obtain an overall view. The principles of general system theory naturally lead to a framework that includes many known models and content areas;...