SOCIAL SCIENCE THAT ACTUALLY WORKS
OST, ENVIRONMENTS AND THE FUTURE
July 12, 2023
INTRODUCTION TO THIS SECTION
One of the difficulties in trying to break a comprehensive conceptual framework and body of work such as OST into relatively manageable sections is where to best make the breaks. Because it is so highly internally consistent, most works employ several fundamental concepts and principles and of course, cross disciplinary boundaries. The break points chosen are primarily pragmatic centring on the main purpose of the work.
Limits to Choice Part 1
FRED EMERY COLLECTION - LIMITS TO CHOICE
The social transformation envisaged in the original collection of papers is already well underway in Australia. A close check of those papers has not, however, revealed any need for extensive revision. The problems that were then identified remain as relevant as ever.
July 12, 2023
FUTURES WE'RE IN
This book marked several milestones such as containing the much more fully worked out interrelated theories of active adaptation and of ideals and ideal seeking. Like all knowledge in OST, some parts of it have been superceded by later publications which took that work on ideals and maladaptions further and into their practical applications. However, the new thinking and logic introduced in FWI make it a classic which once again is easy to access.
Merrelyn Emery, November 2020
UPDATED EDITION OF PART I OF SEARCHING, 1982
This is not a revision of the whole of Searching (1982) because Parts II and III were concerned with the conceptual tools for the ‘barefoot social scientist’ and practicing the new paradigm. This latter consisted of the detailed theory and practice of the Search Conference and the Participative Design Workshop as they were developed at that stage and a variety of examples of variations on a theme including a first design of a Search training workshop. Part III concluded with a first draft of an exposition of participative learning as the base for an indirect approach to diffusion. If the reader wants details of any of the examples analyzed, such as the Futures Direction Conference, they can consult the original.
Merrelyn Emery, 1995
REPLAYING RIO FOR A NEW PLANETARY CULTURE: ASSOCIATIVE, JOYFUL AND WISE
The concepts and principles built into OST can be used to design any event so that it is effective and efficient in achieving its purposes. The original Rio conference was supposed to be a turning point in achieving a return to an adaptive relationship with our planet. Unfortunately it failed. This paper explains why, and how we could replay it to actually achieve those purposes. It is not yet too late folks.
Merrelyn Emery, 2003
'BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE': SO WHY IS THE USA SO INSECURE?
This paper was written after some colleagues and I watched Michael Moore's film Bowling for Columbine in Montreal. It analyzes some of the key, and contradictory, forces underlying the USA's character or 'personality' which appears to lead to its outbreaks of violence and unease. Collectively these forces help account for the insurrection on 6 January 2021 when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol.
Fred Emery, 1979
THE RENAISSANCE
This is a talk to engineers as it was given. It deals with the changing nature of the world they are likely to encounter and the implications of that for how they will have to work
Fred Emery, 1984
NOTES ON PARENTS DREAM
This paper was written for the Scanner, an American newspaper. It is primarily concerned with the baby boomers generation and their quite different demands of work. They are no longer satisfied with the old social contract but also demand high quality work that delivers the psychological requirements for productive activity, the '6 criteria" encoded into the Norwegian Work Environment Law.
Fred Emery, 1966
THE RATIONALIZATION OF CONFLIECT: A CASE STUDY
The Rationalization of Conflict is one of those famous papers containing concepts which many have copied under different names. The two dimensions of this realistic approach to conflict have been built into the Search Conference and can be applied in any practical situation.
Merrelyn Emery, 2022
DIRECTIVE CORRELATION FOR PLANNING, EXPLANATION AND PREDICTION
While people can readily understand how to use the concept of directive correlation as a tool for planning, they can find it more difficult to see how it can be used to explain and predict. This little example of family dynamics over time illustrates how it can be done quantitatively and quite precisely.
Merrelyn Emery, 2010
AFTERWARDS
When the ruins of our industrialized society lie scattered across the planet there will be a few picking amongst the rubble, trying to eke out their lives. Inevitably there will be a constant theme running through all the discussions as people collect to shelter at night – that theme will encompass a thousand whys?