At the Edge of Chaos

Abstract

The search for a unified conceptual framework for social work has floundered as the profession has struggled with general systems theory and, most recently, the eco-systems perspective. Social work has also ignored chaos or complex systems theory, which, as the successor to general systems theory, some believe is the third major scientific revolution of the 20th century, following relativity and quantum theories. This article reviews key concepts and applications of chaos theory in the context of general systems theory and concludes that chaos theory shows promise as a solution to many problems posed by the now dated general systems approach.