Social marketing and systems science: history, conceptualization and practicality

It has become almost an article of faith among social marketers that the current trend in social marketing lies in the application of more strategic, systemic and holistic approach to social change interventions. It goes without saying that systems thinking, primarily in the form of the general systems theory (GST), has been very beneficial for social marketing and its parent discipline, marketing, both on the level of practical interventions and theoretical research. This has become evident since the introduction of systems thinking to marketing by Wroe Alderson and marketing paradigm broadening. However, it is of great interest to look at the process of integration between social marketing and systems thinking more precisely. What were the periods of this integration? Was the process of the integration steady and non-intermittent? What are the points of conceptual congruence between the two disciplines? Can historical research into this issue be helpful for future practical interventions and for understanding scenarios, prospects and complexities of the integration between two disciplines? Can systems-based macromarketing theories, like Layton’s mechanism, action and structure (MAS) theory, be applied for specific urban projects, for example, for optimization of the cycling transport system in Galway? These questions may pose certain interest for social marketers and other researchers interested in the implementation of more holistic and systems-based approaches. The talk will demonstrate, though possibly with a fair doze of subjectivity, that further integration between the two concepts is inevitable and gaining momentum. It will take the form of further development of multiple group-based modelling strategies oriented at unravelling and mapping value exchange networks, barrier networks, system dynamics and feedback relationships between system elements. This can have practical value for specific urban, sustainability-related and social change projects.

This seminar is one of a series of seminars in the Whitaker Ideas Forum seminar series.  Dmitry Brychkov, a PhD candidate, will be representing the Social Innovation, Participation and Policy research cluster