Subject: SD and critical pedagogy

Posted by Karl North on 10/8/2008
In Reply To:SD and critical pedagogy Posted by Eric Stiens on 10/7/2008

Message:

This post raised issues of the uses of ST and SD that I have rarely seen in the SD subculture. I think this is because using systems thinking to do "deep-level questioning of the institutions and structures of society and working towards their transformation" is not what most of the SD training available in the US is about. Much of the training is oriented toward solving management problems of large multinational corporations.
The influence of institutions like the Sloane School of Management at MIT seems to dominate the SD intellectual culture, even among people interested in modeling non-business applications like public health, education, and environmental problems.

Yet, as a long-time student of Marxian methods of inquiry in social science, when I began to study SD I was repeatedly struck by the similarities in the two paradigms and their general methodologies, both of which are big-picture (importance of systemic context) and historical (the dynamics) in focus. But I have encountered little evidence so far of communication between the two schools of thought. One example is Richard Levins of the Harvard School of Public Health, who is equally at home in both. Who in this forum knows of others? Maybe here in a forum dedicated to a potentially broader approach to systems thinking (pedagogy) than in the business world, we can explore what I think is the untapped potential of sharing of insights between the two schools of thought.

Like Eric, I have repeatedly found that when I apply SD to many problems of society, it "encourages a deep and critical questioning of the social/economic/ political structures that are part of the issue being examined", in the same way and for the same reasons as Marxian methodology.

Karl North
Northland Sheep Dairy, Freetown, New York USA

Follow Ups:

SD and critical pedagogy - Eric Stiens 10/8/2008 
SD and critical pedagogy - Ana María Rosón 10/9/2008
SD and critical pedagogy - Eric Stiens 10/10/2008
SD and critical pedagogy - Karl North 10/10/2008
SD and critical pedagogy - John Sterman 10/12/2008
SD and critical pedagogy - Eric Stiens 10/17/2008
SD and critical pedagogy - Jaimie P. Cloud 10/9/2008
SD and critical pedagogy - Richard Turnock 10/19/2008
SD and critical pedagogy - Dexter Chapin 10/23/2008
SD and critical pedagogy - Richard Turnock 10/23/2008
SD and critical pedagogy - Della Robinson 10/26/2008