Heute würde John Bowlby, der Begründer der Bindungstheorie, 105 Jahre alt. Gary S. Metcalf,  US-amerikanischer Organisationtheoretiker, Management-Berater und von 2007-2008 Präsident der International Society for the Systems Sciences, hat einen interessanten Aufsatz geschrieben, in dem er John Bowlby als„systems thinker“ portraitiert:„For decades, Bowlby worked and regularly met with some of the most brilliant thinkers of his time. Though he was a psychoanalyst in a child guidance clinic, he drew from theorists in learning, ethology, communications, psychology, sociology, cybernetics, general systems, and so on. He saw and used the connections, but also strived to make his theories accessible to practitioners and policy makers. Bowlby justifies his own work as an extension of Freud’s continuing development of psychoanalytic theory; both were working to further the science of the human psyche and its implications for social functioning. Each step of his work, though, seemed to create more questions about the foundations of prevailing theories, which caused great conflicts with his psychoanalytic colleagues. It is no wonder that many people are still working to understand him. This paper will attempt to reconstruct some of the historical development of Bowlby’s work, and to make more explicit the connections with thinkers and theorists not often found in the child development literature. Especially, this will focus on systems thinkers who may have influenced Bowlby, if not directly through their theories, very possibly through their approaches. It will make the case that in order to truly understand Bowlby’s ideas you need also to understand this way of thinking“
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