Critical Systems Thinking

Within the systems movement, several strands and different sub-movements have developed in the last two or three decades. One of them is the “critical systems approach” which opposes certain assumptions and methodological and practical implications of the so-called hard and soft systems approaches. The most essential characteristics of the approach are its critical standpoint against exclusion or inclusion of factors constituting the problem settings dealt with, and the idea of a utilization of various systems methods depending on the characteristics of the problematic situations encountered.