[Dialogue] Some more context for the Social Process Triangles

[Ken Fisher]

Friends,

Some more context for the Social Process Triangles?

The myth of origin for the social process triangles that I recall is this.  Or maybe it was simply my myth.

In having the  Local Church Experiment, we knew through the RS1 teaching cadres a lot about the Cadre and the Congregation but not very much about the Parish. (another triangle).

To proceed with the LCE, it was decided to blow the bottom out of 'Parish'.  Like Jim, I recall a simple Cul./Pol./Eco. triangle from the CS curriculum.

At the same time as this was going on, the RC Hierarchy in Rome (?) rejected overtures to allow the O:E to be 'Canonically Erected' (read legitimacy) as did the Ecumenical and Denominational establishments in the US and Europe. (?)  And around that time we were 'gifted' with the Kemper Building which also signified having an 'evolved' relation with 5th City.

The 'result' was the Turn to the World.  'Those Who Care' were no longer defined as Christian church renewal types - but were now anyone 'who cared' comprehensively for their neigbourhood (parish) and the world.

While the 'Other World in the midst of This World' was taking form, the social relationships of the EI: Chicago - soon to add ICA to our stationery, were affecting our mission.  My sense from the position of observant 'foot soldier', was that JWM et al, did not move quickly but with some caution in making the Turn to the World.  There was a strong sense that we had gone as far as we could with 'the historical church.'

I must add, that at this stage of my life, I am back at church (multi-racial, gay positive, culturally linked to the LCE of the early 70s) and enjoying a fortnightly house church.

For the past twenty-five years, most of my spiritual nourishment has come from Realistic Living and the Marshalls.

That does not negate my continuing to 'use the methods' and 'being out there' in a social change setting, as I would assume is true for most of the subscribers to this listserv.

Ken






On 2011-01-19, at 1:47 PM, James Wiegel wrote:

From an historical perspective, you would have to look in the archives, I think, in one of the plenary addresses late in the summer of 71.  I have some recollection of Gene Marshall working on this.  The motivation came from wanting to have some sort of a pull together of the research of that summer before everyone left.

Jim Wiegel
Jfwiegel at yahoo.com

On Jan 19, 2011, at 11:34, steve har <stevehar11201 at gmail.com> wrote:

> I believe the imbalance idea likely came from
> General Systems Theory & Kenneth Boulding
> The balancing is a notion in feedback/feed forward loop logic
> 
> For example 
> one side of the teter-totter goes down the other goes up; or
> 
> if you add gas to your car the gas level in the car goes up and the gas level in the gas station goes down.
> 
> The idea is to represent change in a system  not a static model. There are moving parts in systems and "flows"
> 
> At a gas station...there is a pressure point -the valve at the pump - if you change the pressure point change happens and gas flows 
> 
> When you do this the car's gas tank is balanced to a new level when a valve in the gas pump notices the change in pressure.
> 
> Often systems have three [or more] parts for example the hot water heater, the bathtub, the kitchen sink [with related valves]
> 
> So imbalance triangles and pressure points were attempts to visualize ways to make change in a system... to rebalance an imbalance- in a 3 part system. 
> 
> Without pressure points, flows, imbalances  you are left with a static model in which there is no place for change. It seems to me we wanted to represent opportunities to make social change not stasis.
> 
> The establishment process  lives with or is the economic tyrant [to use the rather quaint terms of the time]; 
> 
> The disestablishment is the political ally [like a "loyal" political opposition], 
> 
> The transestablishment or the cultural process is the  meaning making dynamic that tells a new story and "re balances" the social order by changing the system.
> 
> The model is genius design and profound thinking for the 1970s; time marches on. There are tools and simulations that really are dynamic now not artful representations. It is a bit like comparing an old static photo to a new video. 
> 
>  It would be very interesting to update some of the social process triangle work with some of these new software tools like Stella & iThink.
> 
> It would be splendid piece of creative work to upgrade the social process triangles to current times;  something like this video clip where Twyla Tharp takes a dance step from long ago and makes a splendid ballet called "Bakers Dozen". See: http://poss.posterous.com/34574499. 
> 
> I think we could make a splendid "ballet" out of the social process triangles.
> Taking brilliant models from the past and dusting them off for current times seems exactly what a new ICA era should do.
> 
> For a picture of how people seem to be making models like the social process triangles now see:http://www.systems-thinking.org/intst/int.htm
> 
> Thoughts? Steve Harrington
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