Subject: SD and critical pedagogy

Posted by Ruth Fruland on 9/13/2011
In Reply To:SD and critical pedagogy Posted by Jaimie Cloud on 9/13/2011

Message:

Hi Jaimie,

This is a really interesting question, which has nagged at me, too.

It seems to me that there are cross-cutting systems - systems that intersect with other systems without being an endogenous component within a particular system. Yet, the system could not function without the external system's contribution.

An example in the natural world might be the flow of energy from the sun, definitely an exogenous source of energy, but one that affects the endogenous dynamics of the the various physical and biological earth systems regardless of scale.

An example in human society might be money. It's an external or exogenous source of exchange that operates within every social, economic, and political system. Indeed, as currently configured, they cannot function without it.

[Another source of confusion is the difference between individuals and aggregations of individuals. An individual zebra may get eaten by a lion, but the lion and zebra are parts of larger functional groups that span space and time, and benefit over the long haul regardless of individual losses and gains.]

Nature has endogenous checks and balances expressed, for example, in population dynamics. But, again, there are also exogenous cross-cutting geological and astrological processes and systems shaping the populations, too. Aren't many of the strategies that salmon have evolved to survive in response to catastrophic flooding in their natal rivers across millions of years of glacial and interglacial climate change?

Another cross-cutting example of exogenous systems might be different value systems.

Now, it is possible to argue that if we change the composition of the atmosphere so that the sun's energy interacts differently with it, the 'climate' problem is endogenous, not emanating from the sun. Or you could say that if one part of the money system collapses and impinges on other parts of the money system (funding for Medicare) that is also endogenous...to the money system. The dilemma is what can the component parts within larger systems do in such cases if they only see their role as dealing within the boundaries of their system, and not the cross-cutting system?

George Lakoff has a nice systems analysis of Obama's State of the Union address on the Huffington Post, in case you haven't seen it.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to express and clarify my thoughts about this question!

Ruth