Abstract
The phenomenon of situational complexity emerges when groups of stakeholders are engaged in addressing wicked problems and/or designing social systems, such as education programs, health plans, transportation networks, etc. World-wide applications of the methodology of Structured Dialogic Design (SDD), with people from all walks of life, have accumulated evidence for the conceptualization of three distinct and overlapping components of situational complexity. These are: (a) objective, which is observer-independent because of its universality, (b) subjective, which is observer-dependent, and (c) intersubjective, which is observer-interdependent. We identify and investigate two critical issues inhibiting the launching of an effective assault on situational complexity: (a) how can we assault the intersubjective component by means of stakeholder inclusion, and (b) how can we adopt and implement inclusive deliberative democracy. Empirical evidence from applications of SDD, indicates that these two issues operate as a vicious cycle. The vicious cycle is responsible for the escalation of the “Global Problematique” as defined in the Club of Rome prospectus, namely of a system of strongly interacting problems, such as climate change, inequities in education, biodiversity reduction, and many more. We employ the Logosofia platform of SDD to simulate the design of a strategy for escaping “the vicious cycle Labyrinth.” We argue that extensive applications of SDD in the educational arena, will enable young and old adults to become co-owners of our Problematique, and co-creators of a strategy for escaping the Labyrinth. As an exemplary application, we present a case study of an assault on the situational complexity emerging from the engagement of deaf and hard of hearing stakeholders in designing an educational program for their school in the state of Michigan, USA.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arnstein, S., & Christakis, A. N. (1976). Perspectives on technology assessment. Israel Press.
Banathy, B. H. (1996). Designing social systems in a changing world. Plenum.
Banathy, B. H. (2000). Guided societal evolution: A systems view. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
Bausch, K., & Christakis, A. N. (2015). With reason and vision: Structured dialogic design. Emergence Publications.
Broome, B. J., & Christakis, A. N. (1988). A culturally sensitive approach to tribal governance issue management. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 12(2), 107–123.
Christakis, A. N. (1973). A new policy science paradigm. Futures, 5(6), 543–558.
Christakis, A. N. (1993). The inevitability of demosophia. In I. Tsivacou (Ed.), A challenge for systems thinking: The Aegean seminar (pp. 187–197). University of the Aegean Press.
Christakis, A. N. (1996). A people science: The CogniScope system approach, systems. Journal of Transdisciplinary Systems Sciences, 1(1), 1–9.
Christakis, A. N. (2006). A retrospective structural inquiry of the predicament of humankind. In J. P. van Gigch & J. McIntyre-Mills (Eds.), Volume 1: Rescuing the enlightenment from itself. Springer.
Christakis, N. A. (2019). Bluprint: The evolutionary origins of a good society. Little, Brown.
Christakis, N. A. (2020). Apollos’ arrow, the profound and enduring impact of coronavirus on the way we live. Little, Brown.
Christakis, A. N., & Bausch, K. C. (2006). Co-laboratories of democracy: How people harness their collective wisdom to create the future. Information Age Publishing.
Christakis, A. N., Dye, K. M. C., & Shearer, W. L. (1999). Collaboration through communicative action: Resolving the systems dilemma through the cogniscope. Systems: journal of transdisciplinary systems science, 4(1–2), 9–32.
Christakis, A. N., & Dye, K. M. (2008). In P. Jenlink & B. H. Banathy (Eds.), CogniScope: Lessons learned in the Arena, chapter: Dialogue, dialogue as a collective means of design conversation (pp. 187–203). Springer.
Christakis, A.N. & Kakoulaki, M. (2021–forthcoming). Objectifying intersubjectivity through inclusion for a scientific [r]evolution (Chapter 35). In J. McIntyre & N. Romm (Eds.), From polarisation to MultiSpecies relationships: Re-generation of the commons in the era of mass extinctions. Springer.
Christakis, A. N., Whitehouse, R., & Conoway, D. (1995). Redesigning the good review practices of the food and drug administration, CWA Ltd Report.
de Zeeuw, G. (1996). Second order organizational research, working papers in systems and information sciences. University of Humberside.
Diedrich, J. (2010). Act beyond borders video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7NSjhZno80
Diedrich, J., & Christakis, A. N. (2021). The Co-Laboratory of Democracy Archetypes: Engaging Stakeholders in Deliberative Democracy to Respond Proactively to Diversity. In From Polarisation to Multispecies Relationships (pp. 451–470). Springer.
Doxiadis, C. A. (1968). Ekistics: An introduction to the science of human settlements (pp. 27–31). Oxford University Press.
Flanagan, T., & Christakis, A. N. (2010). The talking point: Creating an environment for exploring complex meaning. Information Age Publishing.
Flanagan, T. R., & Christakis, A. N. (2021). The Talking Point: Creating an Environment for Exploring Complex Meaning (2nd ed.). IAP.
Flanagan, T., & Lindell, C. (2018). The Coherence factor: Linking emotion and cognition when individuals think in groups. Information Age Publishing.
Flanagan, T., & Post, D., (1998). Eliminating Lymphatic Philariasis by the year 2020, CWA eport for the World Health Organization.
Jones, P. (2014). Systemic design principles for complex social systems. In G. Metcalf (Ed.), Social systems and design (Volume 1 of the Translational systems science series) (pp. 91–128). Springer.
Jones, P. H. (2018). Contexts of co-creation: Designing with system stakeholders. In P. Jones & K. Kijima (Eds.), Systemic design: Theory, methods and practice (Volume 8 in Translational systems sciences series) (pp. 3–52). Springer.
Kakoulaki, M. (2016). Dialogue beyond borders documentary based on interviews Israel, Palestine, Cyprus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKwXw6hFpAA
Kakoulaki, M., & Christakis, A. N. (2018). Demoscopio: A demosensual [r]evolutionary Eutopia. In J. McIntyre & N. Romm (Eds.), Balancing individualism and collectivism for social and environmental justice. Springer.
Kakoulaki, M., Fkanagan, T. R., & Christaksi A. N. (2022–forthcoming). An approach for co-creating visionary anticipations. In G. Midgley & D. Cabrera (Eds.), Routledge volume on systems thinking.
Kuhn, T. (1970). The structure of scientific revolutions. University of Chicago Press.
Laouris, Y., & Michaelides, M. (2018). Structured democratic dialogue: An application of a mathematical problem structuring method to facilitate reforms with local authorities in Cyprus. European Journal of Operational Research, 268(3), 918–931.
Magliocca, L. A., & Christakis, A. N. (2001). Creating transforming leadership for organizational change: the CogniScope System approach. Systems Research and Behavioral Science: The Official Journal of the International Federation for Systems Research, 18(3), 259–277.
McIntyre-Mills, J. (2014). Systemic ethics and non-anthropocentric stewardship. Springer.
McIntyre-Mills, J. J., & Christakis, A. N. (2021). Social and environmental justice. In From Polarisation to Multispecies Relationships (pp. 283–307). Springer.
McIntyre-Mills, J., & Corcoran-Nantes, Y. (2021). From Polarisation to Multispecies Relationships. Springer.
McIntyre-Mills, J., & Romm, N. (Eds.). (2018). Balancing individualism and collectivism for social and environmental justice (Springer Planetary passport). Springer.
McIntyre-Mills, J., & Romm, N. (Eds.). (2021). From polarisation to MultiSpecies relationships: Re-generation of the commons in the era of mass extinctions. Springer.
Meadows, D. H., Meadows, D. H., Randers, J., & Behrens, W. W., III. (1972). The limits to growth: a report to the club of Rome (1972). Google Scholar, 91.
Metcalf, G. S. (2015). A Constructivist Perspective on Banathy’s Conversation Methodology. Constructivist Foundations, 11(1).
Midgley, G., & Rajagopalan, R. (2021). Critical systems thinking. Systemic Intervention, and Beyond.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0370-8_7-1
Ozbekhan, H. (1968). The Triumpf of Technology:> Can< Implies> Ought<, Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (Colonial Press, Inc.) 1968.
Ozbekhan, H. (1970). The predicament of mankind. quest for structured responses to growing world-wide complexities and uncertainties. http://quergeist.net/Christakis/predicament.pdf
Pierce, C. S. (Author) & Buchler, J. (Ed.) (2012). Philosophical writings of peirce. Dover.
Romm, N. (2010). New racism: Revisiting researcher accountabilities. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8728-7
Warfield, J. N. (1976). Societal systems: Planning, policy, and complexity. Wiley.
Warfield, J. N. (1994). A science of generic design (2nd ed.). The Iowa State University Press.
Warfield, J. N., & Cárdenas, A. R. (1994). A handbook of interactive management. The Iowa State University Press.
Warfield, J. N., & Christakis, A. N. (1987). Dimensionality. Systems Research, 4, 127–137.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Christakis, A.N., Diedrich, J. (2022). An Assault on Situational Complexity in the Arena of Education: The Potential of Structured Dialogic Design. In: McIntyre-Mills, J.J., Corcoran-Nantes, Y. (eds) Transformative Education for Regeneration and Wellbeing. Contemporary Systems Thinking. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3258-8_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3258-8_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-19-3257-1
Online ISBN: 978-981-19-3258-8
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)