What is Systems Theory?

Systems theory is an interdisciplinary study of system as they relate to one another within a
larger, more complex system. The key concept of systems theory, regardless of which discipline
it’s being applied to, is that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

What this means is that when holistically examining how smaller systems come together to a ect
the greater complex system, certain characteristics of the whole—the complex system—can not
be easily explained or rationalized when looking singularly at any one of its systems—its parts.

Systems theory seeks to explain and develop hypotheses around characteristics that arise within
complex systems that seemingly could not arise in any single system within the whole. This is
referred to as emergent behavior. If a complex system expresses emergent behavior, that means it
has characteristics its properties do not display on their own.

Applications of Systems Theory

Systems theory is employed in multiple sciences and o ers practical insights to researchers and
workers of various disciplines. Below are some common examples of where systems theory might
be applied.

Psychology
Systems psychology is a facet of psychology that examines human behavior and experiences
within complex systems. Individuals, communities, populations and other groups are considered
to be systems in homeostasis. For insights into human behavior, systems psychology looks at the
greater picture of how these systems and the complex system a ect one another.

Ecology
An interdisciplinary eld of ecology, systems ecology takes the holistic approach of systems
theory to their studies of ecological systems, focusing on ecosystems and interactions between
biological and ecological systems.

Engineering
Systems engineering is another interdisciplinary approach that employs the principles of systems
theory. Systems engineering, when applied in the real world, often looks like a group e ort that
considers all stages of a product or service in the developmental stages from its creation to its
use and disposal.

Chemistry
A great example of the universality of certain scienti c assumptions and principles, systems
chemistry takes systems theory all the way down to the molecular level. These scientists examine
the networks of interacting molecules to create functions from sets of molecules with di erent
emergent properties.

These examples show us that systems theory can o er insight from the molecular level all the way
up to examining how one’s environment a ects behavior and vice versa.

Now that we’ve looked at some of the common applications of systems theory in di erent elds,
let’s dive deeper into how it can be applied to social work.
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