Synonyms
Systems science; Systems studies
Introduction
Systems theory is a broad theoretical paradigm used to explain the interactions between elements of a system, and the effect those interactions have on the qualities of the elements of the system. From a systems theory perspective, everything is either a system or part of a system – people, buildings, trees, political parties, atoms, and so forth. Systems are comprised of interrelated and interdependent parts that together form a whole with a function that is greater than any one of its parts.
In every field, mathematics, sociology, engineering and so on, there are systems to study. Systems theory attempts to pull together and describe common principles of all systems, in part to unify science, and to better understand and deal with complexity (von Bertalanffy 1950). One theory, however, has not been able to address every type of system or system application. For this reason, the field of systems theory is quite diverse. There are...
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Lou-Barton, G., Davis, S.D. (2019). Systems Theory. In: Lebow, J.L., Chambers, A.L., Breunlin, D.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49425-8_327
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