In an original article for NPQ, Ben Manski introduces the origins and trajectory of Next System Studies, and gives readers a glimpse of what this new field is all about:
It’s been said that teaching a subject is a great way to learn it. This is doubly true when you are building a new field. Out of my back-and-forth with students, we have arrived at some preliminary lines of inquiry:
If systemic crises result from dysfunctions that threaten the system’s collapse, scholars must ask, “What are the logics imposed on us by the systemic dysfunctions of these times?”
If large numbers of people work together to bring about systemic change in the economy and elsewhere, scholars must ask, “What do movements seeking system change know?”
If designing new systems requires combining different structures, processes, and practices, scholars must ask, “What kind of system would most likely produce the outcomes we seek?”
If system change is a process that requires a path of transition, scholars must ask, “What are viable paths through which a desirable systemic transformation may occur?”
Read the full article here: https://nonprofitquarterly.org/can-the-academy-meet-the-moment-the-promise-of-next-system-studies/