| Abstract: | Most approaches to systems theory, group theory and family theory suffer from two major inadequacies. First, they are heavily oriented toward structure (e.g. structure of the system) as opposed to process. Second, because of this bias, such theories overemphasize stability at the expense of change and transformation. In contrast, Ilya Prigogine's concept of “order through fluctuation” demonstrates how systems suddenly organize themselves and, equally suddenly, make discontinuous shifts from one coherent order to another. As a paradigm, “order through fluctuation” constitutes a basic nonequilibrium ordering principle that governs the forming and unforming of systems at all levels. |
