The Systems Work of Social Change by Cynthia Rayner & François Bonnici

Author:Cynthia Rayner & François Bonnici [Rayner, Cynthia & Bonnici, François]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780192599377
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Published: 2021-09-02T00:00:00+00:00

An Iterative Effort

As Nidan and FEN illustrate, disrupting policies and patterns is an iterative effort. Policies—rules, laws, standards, or guidance—are often needed to create a “small wedge” so that primary actors can gain a seat at the table. From this officially sanctioned position, new patterns—expectations, values, and beliefs—begin to take root. Alternatively, organizations can work in the opposite direction: practicing new patterns internally, within management and governance structures, to experiment with ideas for new policies. For sure, setbacks are inherent when political regimes change or programs reach their end date. Yet, the infinite symphony of social change plays on.

When policies are undone by political upheaval, organizations like FEN which have done pattern work will likely find that their changes endure in subtle yet important ways. Equally, organizations that have created official structures, such as Nidan’s TVCs, will be able to use these policies to deepen their pattern work, pushing against engrained social patterns, such as caste and prejudice. Recent history is rich with examples of this type of iteration between patterns and policies. Legal successes for marriage equality around the world were preceded by cultural demonstrations that brought LGBTQ rights into public view, including parades, television series, and artistic expression.25 The legal right to marry in twenty nations and counting has been followed by further mainstreaming of social norms in the media and public spaces. Similarly, the movement to compel political action against climate change, which has been largely led by youth, has challenged the legality of inaction through formal courts as well as the court of public opinion, using emotional tactics such as shame and guilt to force older generations of leaders toward commitments. The socio-political movement Extinction Rebellion uses cultural theatre to demand greenhouse gas reductions as well as a “Citizen’s Assembly,” a randomly selected body of “ordinary” people who will make recommendations for climate-related issues.

As these initiatives suggest, not all policies and patterns are equal. The aim is to reconfigure power toward greater participation by primary actors in the pursuit of more responsive and representative systems. Two of our colleagues at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, associate professor Warren Nilsson and PhD student Ella Scheepers, have developed a set of questions to explore specific types of power shifts in social systems which we find highly instructive (see fig 7.1).26 While these questions may sound obvious at first, we have found that the answers provoke new thinking about what types of policies and patterns may lead to durable change. Most importantly, the questions are designed to interrogate who is in the driver’s seat of systems, more importantly than what or how systems are designed.

Fig. 7.1 Questions to explore power in systems

Source: Nilsson (2019).

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