Gang Violence : The Story Of Jumoke Johnson

Many factors in a child’s life from birth to adulthood can impact how they grow not only cognitively, but socioemotionally. As many children are different, so are their ways in which they react in different non-normative life events. “Non-Normative

A system is a set of interrelated parts. Systems theory assumes that a system must be understood as a whole, rather than in component parts. It is a way of looking at the world where all the objects are interrelated with one another. Many family systems are addressed in the movie Little Miss Sunshine.

Jordan reported not having any friends worth mentioning. He reported his past associates or friends were trouble makers and were on probation supervision. When specifically asked about the people in the car with him on the night of the incident, he reported they were trouble makers and he should not have been associating with them. Jordan denied being in a gang, but reported some of his former associates were gang members. Jordan did not disclose the name of the gang his friends were members of and reported gangs were not positive.

“..the System includes the Situation, but it is more enduring, more widespread, involving extensive networks of people, their expectations, norms, policies, and, perhaps, laws. Over time, Systems come to have a historical foundation and sometimes also a political and economic power structure that governs and directs the behavior of many people within its sphere of influence. Systems are the engines that run situations that create behavioral contexts that influence the human action of those under their control. At some point, the System may become an autonomous entity, independent of those who initially started it or even those in apparent authority within its power structure. Each System

Systems theory is a way of elaborating increasingly complex systems across a continuum that encompasses the person-in-environment (Allen & Friedman, 2011, p. 3). The systems theory enables us to understand the components and dynamics of client systems in order to interpret problems and develop balanced intervention strategies, with the primary goal of enhancing the “goodness of fit” between individuals and their environments (Allen & Friedman, 2011, p. 3). Systems theory helps to identify an organizing conceptual framework or metatheory for understanding (Allen & Friedman, 2011, p. 3). Ludwig von Bertalanffy is credited with being the originator of the form of systems theory used in social work (Allen & Friedman, 2011, p. 3). A system is defined as an organized whole made up of components that interact in a way distinct from their interaction with other entities and which endures over some period of time. Family is considered a system and the way family interact in one setting, may be different from how they act in other settings. Within the systems theory, Urie Bonfenbrenner formulated the ecological systems theory (Allen & Friedman, 2011, p. 3). The ecological systems theory holds that we encounter different environments throughout our lifespan that may influence our behavior in different ways (Ecological Systems Theory, 2008-2016). These systems include the micro system, the mesosystem, the exosystem, the macro system, and the chronosystem (Ecological Systems Theory,

Thus, they don’t have a healthy family environment and support that they need at this early age. Second, we observed the children’s behavior either aggressive or hesitant. They demonstrated very poor social skills with other teachers and kids. Second, there are many children who suffer verbal, mental and physical abuse. Moreover, it is observed that many children do not have enough parental support. Parents of these children often do not have a stable job and some of them live in shelters. They are often reported as drug/alcohol addicts. Additionally, it is observed that these children have more than two siblings on average. Assessing all these factors, we realized the need of change in children’s routine while they are at the

Systems theory: a scientific/philosophical approach and set of concepts, rather than a theory, for the transdisciplinary study of complex phenomena. It was first proposed by the biologist Ludwig von Bertalanffy in the 1940's (anthology: "General Systems Theory", 1968), as a reaction against scientific reductionism*. Rather than reducing a phenomenon (say, the human body) to a collection of elements or parts (say, the organs or cells), systems theory focuses on the relations and interactions between the parts, which connect them into a whole (see holism*). The particular arrangement of

Systems theory is a perspective that places emphasis on understanding how people fit into their environments (Segal, Gerdes, & Sue, 2016). In systems theory if a specific person, let’s call them Greg, has one system that’s not functioning properly, then the rest of their systems will most likely not work as well (Segal, Gerdes, & Sue, 2016). Greg is homeless, and his family won’t

I agree with this statement for the fact that it helped me understand how groups function. Which flows into my example. The example that I understand the most is a family. A family is considered a group stated by Kirst-Ashman (2008). It goes on to say that there are boundaries in a system that “Boundaries, repeatedly occurring patterns that characterize relationships within the group…”(Kirst-Ashman, 2008, p. 53). That being said the system theory can explain the function of a family. The members of the system would be the parents, children,

Ludwig von Bertalanffy's systems theory was not created as a healthcare-specific theory, although Bertalanffy's concepts have been extremely influential in the medical field. Simply put, his theory is that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Von Bertalanffy was not a biologist but he believed that the biological principles of cellular organization could be applied to other systems. "A system is a complex of interacting elements. Von Bertalanffy also noted that they are open to, and interact with their environments. In addition, they can acquire qualitatively new properties through emergence, thus they are in a continual evolution. System thinking is both part-to-whole and whole-to-part thinking about making connections between the various elements so that they fit together in a whole" (Clark 2011). Systems theory is founded upon the "inescapable irreducibility of the interdependence that comes into play as a result of those interactions" (An outline of general system theory, 2008, Emergence: Complexity and Organization). For example, within the healthcare system, it is not enough for merely one aspect of the system to be functional. The system may have high-quality treatments, but if patients do not have access to care (because they live in rural areas, or lack insurance), the system is still dysfunctional.

The family system can have both positive and negative impacts on the development of children. Whether the influence is directly or indirectly affecting the child’s life, it all matters and determine the development of the child. “Children cannot know themselves without some sense of other. Nor can they forge their self-identities without an awareness of their own values” (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015, p. 171). Children are faced with all types of factors that can promote healthy development and can hinder it as well. For example, A child that is exposed to abusive situations whether it be directed toward them or another family member, can cause for the child to be very fearful of others, or they may experience it so much that they feel the behavior is normal and do the same. The family system plays a fundamental role in forming the values of children. The type of treatment children receives during their early years of life affects their ability to handle important issues that may come up throughout their lives.

The sociology of childhood is a theoretical approach that has been increasingly used within the field of childhood research studies. Previously, research about childhood focused largely on telling stories about children, treating them as objects. Conversely, the sociology of childhood involves children as social agents and active contributors to research (Grieshaber, 2007). As stated by Grieshaber (2007), the sociology of childhood is guided by six major tenets. These include that childhood is a social construct, childhood is a variable of social analysis, childhood is closely connected to other variables such as class and gender, children’s relationships and cultures are worthy of study in their own right, children are considered active, rather than passive agents in their daily lives and are competent and knowledgeable about their own lives (p. 871). The fundamental goal of the sociology of childhood is to develop an approach that integrates children’s perspectives with those of their caregivers. Advocates for the sociology of childhood are committed to the view that children are more capable and independent than they may seem, and hope to develop a greater understanding of children’s abilities by researching them as social agents (Albanese, 2009). Because the sociology of childhood is relatively new, there has been little analysis on the six tenets that form the basis of it (Kay, Tisdall, & Punch, 2012). It is also important to note that with an increased amount of research being done with children, rather than to children, will come a number of ethical issues (Christensen & Prout, 2002). Therefore, the sociology of childhood has been used to study some of the ethical responsibilities of involving children in research. For example, it has been used to investigate a range of circumstances such as the power differential between a child research participant and an adult researcher (Dockett & Perry, 2005)

interested in systems in general; family systems theory is an extension of this branch .

Lugwig Von Bertalanffy created the general systems theory in the 1950’s (Hatch and Cunliffe, 2006). The general systems theory was designed to overcome the mistake and possible danger to organisations by disciplinary specialization (Mulej; Potocan; Zenko; Kajzer; Ursic; Knez-Riedl; Lynn; Ovsenik, 2004). Understanding the science of both the natural world and

Von Bertalaffy (1956) defines a system as a complex of interacting elements. Rapaport defines a system as an entity which can maintain some organization in the face of change from within or without. Ryan defines a system as a set of objects or elements in interaction to achieve a specific goal. In 1936, it was first revealed by Ludwig Von Bertalanffy, a biologist. Just because he witnessed them striking parallel to each other he sensed the need for an approach to lead research in several disciplines. He guessed that if several disciplines focus their efforts and research, they would be able to make out rules and regulations which would be implemented on many systems. And that would allow researchers and doctors to