Systems theories

This chapter considers the nature of child development as explained by thinking across a diverse range of disciplines that basically captures a move away from reductionism to a more holistic way of knowing. Emphasis is on the nature of, and interaction amongst, the parts, the central idea being that the properties of a given system cannot be explained by an examination of the parts alone because the system as a whole plays a significant role in determining how the parts themselves behave. While the emergence of systems thinking is associated with the 20th century, its origins lie in early Hellenistic philosophy. The interconnectedness of all things is also a strong feature of Indigenous perspectives. The chapter outlines the seminal work of Bertalanffy and Prigogine, family therapy and the most influential developmental systems theories: Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory and Esther Thelen’s dynamic systems theory. The notion of ‘complex adaptive systems’ is also gaining prominence.