Systems Theory vs Specialization in Post-Trump Politics

Systems Theory is what explains the emerging political movements in recent years, including Donald Trump during the campaign. (Short version, full version is below.)

How to look at today’s politics as a dichotomy between Systems Thinking (looking at the whole) vs. Specialization. This framework allows you to see beyond the individual fractures of political party lines and see the deeper divisions that have resulted from technological advancement and economic inequality. Also some recommendations for building coalitions for the political folks out there — Andrew Yang and Marianne Williamson are the two candidates in the 2020 Presidential race that exemplifies the Systems Theory camp the most — is this their breakout moment? #YangGang #TheBigTruth

What is Systems Theory?

Making sense of all of this is hard, but necessary, especially for those in leadership positions.

There’s a lot of complex explanations about Systems Theory/Thinking out there, but the gist of it is that it encourages people to look at problems as “a whole” rather than breaking things down into individual components as it usually done in specialized, institutional environments. People who “wear many hats”, which include entrepreneurs, gig-economists, artists, “generalists” — anyone who looks at problems/issues from more than one angle — are Systems Theorists, whereas someone who has had the same job for most of their life doing very specific things could be described as a Specialist. (Most people exist somewhere in between but many will tend towards one or the other.)

Right now in politics there is a war going on between the leadership styles of Systems Theorists (candidates like Yang and Williamson) and the Specialists (career politicians, political “experts”) which will become the main dividing line in the 2020 elections, both during the primaries and the general. Donald Trump was able to capitalize on this fracture by running his campaign tailored towards the System Theorists but became a Specialist as soon as he won, so the Democrats will have a similar opportunity to turn the tables if they run the right candidate.

The DNC itself basically has no idea that this is going on, so it will be up to the “True Progressives” (Sanders, Gabbard, Williamson, Yang) to whip the party into shape. It will be an uphill battle, but if the Democrats want any chance of taking back the presidency in 2020, they will have to do this sooner than later.

List of Political Dichotomies in Systems Theory vs. Specialization

Andrew Yang and Marianne Williamson were hanging out together way before the debates, folks. (Source: Marianne 2020)

• Digital Media (Internet, Video Games) vs. Traditional Media Networks (Radio, TV, Film)
• Globalization vs. Nationalism
• Outsourcing vs. Protectionism
• “Political Outsiders” vs. Career Politicians
• YIMBY (#SB50) vs. NIMBY (Not In My Backyard, “Local Control”)
• Civic Tech (“Fix the Government”) vs. Government Procurement (Thiel, Musk)
• The Gig-Economy vs. Steady Corporate Job with Benefits
• Millenials vs. Baby Boomers
• True-Capitalists (“Let it Fail”) vs. Crony-Capitalism (“Bail-Outs”)
• Wellness and Holistic Medicine vs. “Big Pharma”
• Radical Centrism vs. Hyper-Partisan Politics
• Technopaganism, Universal Universalism vs. Traditional Religious Sects
• Cryptocurrency/Blockchain Tech vs. Social Media
• Interdisciplinary Studies vs. Specialized Studies (e.g. Grad School, “Bootcamps”)
• Policy-Politics vs. Identity-Politics
• Earnestness vs. Irony
• Universalism vs. Postmodernism

Explanations for the dichotomies above can be found in the Full Video

Link to the Powerpoint here, if interested!

[Ryan is the Online Director at Abundant Housing LA. Views here are mine, not the organization’s. He’s also the founder of the YIMBY Arts Project, which is starting a gaming/political podcast series with Fallout 76 as its backdrop. Support the project by downloading the Brave Browser, using this link!]