{"id":38731,"date":"2024-10-23T09:00:48","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T16:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=38731"},"modified":"2024-10-21T14:36:41","modified_gmt":"2024-10-21T21:36:41","slug":"systems-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/systems-thinking\/","title":{"rendered":"Systems Thinking"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week, I was introduced to The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time<\/em> by Karl Polanyi. Polanyi was an economic anthropologist and economic sociologist who lived through the collapse of a western society after the nineteenth century. He blames this collapse on the myth of the self-regulating market. While it might be argued that there are many benefits to an unregulated market, Polanyi pulls back the curtain on this widely accepted societal myth.<\/p>\n

Polanyi was a systems thinker who sought to understand how society was affected by the idea a self-regulating market. He writes, \u201cOur thesis is that the idea of a self-adjusting market implied a stark utopia. Such an institution could not exist for any length of time without annihilating the human and natural substance of society; it would have physically destroyed man and transformed his surroundings into a wilderness.\u201d[1]<\/a> One of his primary concepts is that of \u201cembeddedness\u201d. This term means that the economy does not exist outside of society and human relationships but must be subordinated to the other main societal institutions.[2]<\/a> If the economy is seen as being \u201cdisembedded\u201d from society those things that have true worth, such as human beings and land, become commodified in the system. This ultimately degrades humans, destroys relationships, and devastates creation.[3]<\/a> In essence the market no longer serves society for its well-being, but society ends up serving the market. When the market is unrestrained, it wreaks havoc in the system.<\/p>\n

We are all affected by the environment that we live in and must be aware of how we are being impacted by the system. I was reminded of Thinking Systems: A Primer<\/em> by Donella Meadows that I had scanned earlier. She writes, \u201cA system is a set of things\u2014people, cells, molecules, or whatever\u2014interconnected in such a way that they produce their own pattern of behavior over time.\u201d [4]<\/a> In any system, the interconnectedness of its components generates specific behaviors, with each part exerting influence on the others. A failure to comprehend this interconnectedness often leads to unintended consequences. The notion of a self-regulating market, which is \u201cdisembedded\u201d from society, poses significant risks due to its potential to produce unforeseen consequences on the broader interconnected system. Understanding these dynamics is crucial to mitigating adverse outcomes and ensuring the stability and sustainability of the system.<\/p>\n

The idea of living in an interconnected system led me to the work of Edwin Friedman. In\u00a0the book A Failure of Nerve<\/em>, Edwin Friedman discusses the influence of a self-differentiated leader on family systems. Friedman argues that leaders, who are self-differentiated while remaining connected to others, can significantly impact the dynamics within family systems. By not being overly reactive to the anxieties and anxious emotional processes of the group, self-differentiated leaders provide stability and clarity, fostering healthier relational patterns and promoting overall system resilience. This approach contrasts with leaders who succumb to the emotional processes of the system, often leading to less effective leadership and increased systemic dysfunction. A self-differentiated leader is, \u201csomeone who has clarity about his or her own life goals and, therefore someone, who is less likely to become lost in the anxious emotional processes whirling about.\u201d[5]<\/a> The presence of the self-differentiated leader is critical to the flourishing of the system. Friedman writes, \u201cFor it is the integrity of the leader that promotes the integrity or prevents the \u2018dis-integration\u2019 of the system he or she is leading.\u201d[6]<\/a> The leader can either influence the system or be influenced by it. Now that we have looked at this, we turn our attention to the church in an anxious capitalistic society.<\/p>\n

Does the church feed into the anxiety or is it able to influence society toward peace? In examining the contemporary church\u2019s relationship with the broader societal context, we must assess whether the church has self-differentiated from the prevailing cultural and ideological worldviews in a self-regulated market. Dr. Jason Clark suggests that the Evangelical church has, to a significant extent, surrendered to the anxieties intrinsic in a Darwinian worldview. This submission has seemingly led the church to align with a self-regulated market system, thereby compromising its mission to serve the well-being of the community.[7]<\/a> Dr. Clark\u2019s critique suggests that the church\u2019s entanglement with market-driven ideologies has shifted its focus from spiritual and communal welfare to economic self-interest. I couldn’t help by think about my contribution as an evangelical pastor to this through a church growth mindset that measured growing attendance and budgets as a sign of God’s blessing. I confess that I, unwittingly, fed into the prevailing evangelical anxiety.<\/p>\n

This shift raises important questions about the church\u2019s role and identity in a society. He writes, \u201cWe can view Evangelical Christians as actors rationally responding to the challenges of new global capitalist markets, who then unintentionally give over their understanding and priority of social relationship to the ontology of the SRM\u201d[8]<\/a> This has given way to a reversal of influence. Where the church has been intended to be a \u201csalt and light\u201d influence in the world, it has lost its capacity to do so.[9]<\/a> However, not all is loss. Let’s look at how the church might recover by looking at a key element within the system.<\/p>\n

Another key observation that Polanyi had was that within the system there is \u201cdouble movement\u201d. A movement toward a self-regulated market and a resistance to that movement to protect people from its effects. In essence a built-in mechanism to fight back. Herein, I think, lies the opportunity of the church to be a \u201cnon-anxious\u201d presence, in a world wracked with anxiety, so that it leads the world to flourishing. Clark writes, \u201cEvangelicalism was once an initial countermovement par excellence to the dynamics described by Polanyi, but it remains to be seen if it can recover a mode of ongoing countermovement.\u201d[10]<\/a> While, Clark sounds unconvinced, we pray and work toward that end as leaders.<\/p>\n

Regardless of our position as leaders, we invariably operate within interdependent systems, such as families, churches, workplaces, and ultimately, the broader society. Within these systems, we face a choice: we can either be passively shaped by external influences and lose our capacity to lead effectively, or we can engage in a countermovement by becoming self-differentiated. This systems approach not only enhances our leadership effectiveness but also contributes to the overall health and resilience of the systems in which we operate.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time<\/em>, 2nd Beacon Paperback ed (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2001). Kindle.3.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Fred Block, \u201cIntroduction\u201d, to Polanyi, Great Transformation. Kindle.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid. Kindle.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Donella H. Meadows and Diana Wright, Thinking in Systems: A Primer<\/em>, Nachdr. (White River Junction, Vt: Chelsea Green Pub, 2011). Kindle.11.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Edwin H. Friedman, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix<\/em>, ed. Margaret M. Treadwell and Edward W. Beal, 10th anniversary revised edition (New York: Church Publishing, 2017), 15.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Friedman, 21.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Jason Clark, Evangelicalism and Capitalism: A Reparative Account and Diagnosis of Pathogenesis in the Relationship<\/em> (Newberg, n.d.), 135.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Clark, Evangelicalism and Capitalism: A Reparative Account and Diagnosis of Pathogenesis in the Relationship<\/em>.p.153.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> The Holy Bible: New International Version<\/em> (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1979). Matthew 5.14-16<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Clark, Evangelicalism and Capitalism: A Reparative Account and Diagnosis of Pathogenesis in the Relationship<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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