Understanding Social Systems as an Element of Setting

It is a human tendency to form ourselves into groups. In groups, we meet our most basic needs; we share culture, values, beliefs, and interests; and we satisfy our desire to belong. Some groups overlap, and others come into conflict with one another. Since each one of us is often a member of more than one group, these conflicts can force us to confront difficult choices and dilemmas, especially when the groups to which we belong have a different sense of the common good.

This complex network of intergroup relationships is just one aspect of the social systems that make up our larger society. Each social system is composed of individuals, groups, and institutions. Within each system, everyone has a role to play, which is determined by the expectations society places on that role. The situation can be complicated, since there are often multiple systems operating at the same time: one may give a person a sense of agency in some areas, while another may mean that same person feels powerless elsewhere. Literature can help us to engage with this complexity when we examine how characters understand, interact with, and feel about the social systems they must navigate in the world of the text. 

The following learning experiences help students to analyze social systems as an element of setting and to consider the ways in which individuals may think, feel, and care differently about issues, choices, and actions based on their identity and relationship to these systems, both in literature and in life.

Before using this learning experience, please review the following information to help guide your preparation process.

Introduce: Develop a Working Definition of “System”

1. Use the Concept Maps teaching strategy to have students explore the concept of a system. Because students may have a general understanding of a “system” but struggle to explain it in more detail, model the activity by starting your own concept map on the board. Then divide students into pairs or small groups to create their own system concept maps. Give thought to how you group students to support those for whom abstract concepts are a challenge and your English learners, who can benefit from working with peers who share their home language. 
2. After pairs have finished their maps, have them form groups of four to share their ideas and add to their own maps. Then have each group come up with one question and one comment about the concept of systems to share with the class. ¹
3. Debrief as whole class, adding ideas to the map you started on the board. Then use the following information to lead a systems mini-lesson, pausing after each chunk of information so students can add new ideas to their concept maps and ask clarifying questions. 
   • Systems are made up of different, but interrelated, parts that together form a whole. Societies are made up of social systems, composed of individuals, groups, and institutions. In each social system, there are individuals and groups who have roles to play, and together this forms a coherent whole. 
   • Michael Smith and Jeffrey Wilhelm explain social systems as three concentric circles, with microsystems in the center, then mesosystems, and finally macrosystems. As the circles move outward, each one gets increasingly large and more distant from us as individuals. 
     • Microsystems: Family, friends, peers, neighborhood, local religious institutions
     • Mesosystems: Education system, transportation, government, county, state
     • Macrosystems: Global economy, global climate, current information age ²
   • In literature, as in life, social systems are a component of the setting and can help us understand characterization and the world of the text when we consider characters’ relationships with, feelings about, and interaction with the individuals, groups, and institutions that make up the social system. 

Explore: Deepen Understanding of Social Systems in the Text

1. Use the Parts, People, Interactions thinking routine ³ to help students consider the complexity of a social system in the text. Start by making a list of social systems in the text. Then have students respond to the following questions in their journals:
   • Parts: Choose a social system that interests you. What are the parts of the system? Make a list.
   • People: Who are the characters connected to the system? Make a list.
   • Interactions: How do the characters in the system interact with each other and with the parts of the system? 
   • Affect: How does a change in one element of the system affect the various parts and characters connected to the system?
2. Combine students into small groups based on the social system they chose. Have them discuss the following questions together and as a class, citing evidence from the text to support their thinking:
   • One at a time, share your lists of parts and people. Add new ideas to your own list. 
   • What impact does this social system have on one or more characters’ sense of who they are? What makes you say that? 
   • What impact does this social system have on one or more characters’ opportunities and experiences? What makes you say that? 
   • What do you think the author wants you to think about or understand regarding the relationship between individuals, groups, and institutions in a social system? 
3. In their journals, have students use the Parts, People, Interactions thinking routine to explore a social system in the world today that interests them. They can also respond to discussion questions 2c and 2d (above) for themselves. 

Explore: Explore Characters’ Relationships to a Social System in the Text

1. Use the Think, Feel, Care thinking routine ⁴ to help students deepen their understanding of the relationship between character and setting by considering a character’s relationship to and feelings about a social system in the text. Start by making a list of social systems in the text. Then have students respond to the following questions in their journals:
   • Think: Choose a character and a social system. How does this character understand this system and their role within it? 
   • Feel: What is this character’s emotional response to the system and to their position within it? How do they feel?
   • Care: What are this character’s values, priorities, or motivations with regard to the system? What is important to this character?
2. Combine students into small groups by chosen character. Have them discuss the following questions together and as a class, citing evidence from the text to support their thinking:
   • One at a time, share one idea from your journal responses. 
   • What other characters, if any, do you think understand how your character feels about this system? How does having or not having others who understand them impact your character’s sense of self and belonging in the text? 
   • What responsibility do we have to try to empathize with other individuals—to try to understand what they are feeling, thinking, and experiencing? 
3. In their journals, have students use the Think, Feel, Care thinking routine to explore their own relationship to a social system. They can also respond to discussion questions 2b and 2c (above) for themselves. 

Extend: Reflect on the Relationship between Art and Empathy

Thinking routines like Think, Feel, Care help to foster empathy, the ability to sense other people’s emotions and imagine what they might be thinking and feeling. Invite students to consider the relationship between art and empathy in a piece of reflective writing that explores the following question: When has art—a movie, play, story, song, painting, poem, or another art form—motivated or helped you to feel empathy for someone else?

Extend: Write to Analyze the Relationship between Identity, Belonging, and Agency

Have students choose a character and social system in the text and respond to the following questions in an analytical paragraph that incorporates relevant evidence to develop their thinking: What is your character’s relationship to a social system in the text? How does it impact their identity, relationship with others, and sense of agency?

• 1From Kelly Gallagher, Deeper Reading: Comprehending Challenging Texts, 4–12 (Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers, 2004), 48–49.
• 2From Michael W. Smith and Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Fresh Takes on Literary Elements: How to Teach What Really Matters About Character, Setting, Point of View, and Theme (New York: Scholastic, 2010), 66–69.
• 3“Parts, People, Interactions” is adapted from a thinking routine developed by educators at Harvard University’s Project Zero.
• 4“Think, Feel, Care” is adapted from a thinking routine developed by educators at Harvard University’s Project Zero.