These answers draw in part from “Expanding Applications of BSA: Systems of Oppression & Violence” by Candace Fay, Ph.D., BCBA, LBA (BehaviorLive), and extend it with peer-reviewed research from our library of 27,900+ ABA research articles. Clinical framing, BACB ethics code references, and cross-links below are synthesized by Behaviorist Book Club.
View the original presentation →Behavioral systems analysis (BSA) is a framework that applies behavior-analytic principles to the analysis of systems, including organizations, institutions, and communities. BSA examines how interlocking contingencies, the reciprocal behavioral relationships between individuals within a system, produce aggregate outcomes. Originally developed for organizational performance improvement, BSA can be applied to any system in which individual behaviors combine to produce systemic outcomes, including systems of oppression and inequality.
Systems of oppression are maintained through interlocking contingencies that operate across individuals, institutions, and historical periods. No single individual or action maintains the system. Instead, the aggregate effect of countless individual behaviors, institutional practices, and cultural norms produces patterns of inequality. These patterns persist because the contingency structures that maintain them are deeply embedded in social institutions and are reinforced by the outcomes they produce for those who benefit from them.
Systems analysis enhances clinical practice by broadening your understanding of the variables that affect your clients' behavior and outcomes. When you recognize that systemic factors such as poverty, discrimination, and institutional barriers are contributing to your client's challenges, you can develop more comprehensive and realistic intervention plans. You can also identify opportunities to advocate for systemic changes that would improve conditions for your clients and others in similar circumstances.
Interlocking contingencies describe situations in which the behavior of one individual serves as an antecedent, consequence, or motivating operation for the behavior of another individual. In organizational and social systems, these reciprocal relationships create patterns that are more than the sum of individual behaviors. For example, a teacher's behavior toward a student is shaped by administrative policies, which are shaped by district priorities, which are shaped by funding decisions, creating chains of interlocking contingencies that produce systemic outcomes.
Behavior analysts have the conceptual tools to analyze systems of oppression and the ethical obligation to consider how systemic factors affect their clients. The specific actions that behavior analysts take will vary based on their role, competence, and sphere of influence. Some behavior analysts may contribute through research, others through policy advocacy, and others through applying systems thinking to their clinical practice and organizational leadership. All behavior analysts can begin by examining how systems of oppression affect the populations they serve.
Skinner argued that behavior analysts have both the capability and the responsibility to apply their science to improve society at scale. He recognized that individual behavior change, while important, is insufficient to address the large-scale challenges facing humanity. This course extends Skinner's argument by demonstrating how contemporary behavioral frameworks, particularly BSA, can be applied to one of the most pressing societal challenges: systemic oppression. It represents the field's ongoing effort to fulfill Skinner's vision of a behavioral science that serves humanity.
Historical context is essential because current systems of oppression are products of historical contingencies. Contemporary patterns of racial inequality, for example, are shaped by centuries of policies and practices that produced structural arrangements still in effect today. A behavioral analysis that ignores history risks treating systemic outcomes as if they were caused by current individual behaviors alone, missing the deeper contingency structures that maintain them. Understanding history provides the context needed for accurate functional analysis at the systems level.
Start by mapping the interlocking contingencies within your organization. Who does what, in response to what antecedents, and with what consequences? Then evaluate whether these contingencies are aligned with the organization's stated values. For example, if the organization values diversity but its hiring practices consistently produce a homogeneous workforce, there is a misalignment between values and contingencies. Identify the specific contingencies that maintain the problematic outcomes and develop targeted interventions to change them.
From a behavioral perspective, individual racism involves discriminatory behaviors by specific individuals, maintained by individual learning histories and immediate contingencies. Systemic racism involves patterns of discriminatory outcomes produced by interlocking contingencies across institutions and systems, regardless of the intentions of the individuals within those systems. A person who holds no racist attitudes can participate in a system that produces racist outcomes. Addressing systemic racism requires changing the contingency structures of institutions, not just the behavior of individuals.
Most behavior analysts will not abandon direct clinical work to focus exclusively on systems-level change. The goal is to integrate systems awareness into your existing practice. This means considering systemic factors in your clinical assessments, advocating for your clients within the systems that serve them, contributing to organizational improvements within your workplace, and engaging in policy advocacy when opportunities arise. Even small actions, such as attending a school board meeting, mentoring a colleague from an underrepresented background, or examining your own practice for bias, contribute to systemic change.
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Expanding Applications of BSA: Systems of Oppression & Violence — Candace Fay · 1 BACB Ethics CEUs · $35
Take This Course →We extended these answers with research from our library — dig into the peer-reviewed studies behind the topic, in plain-English summaries written for BCBAs.
279 research articles with practitioner takeaways
258 research articles with practitioner takeaways
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1 BACB Ethics CEUs · $35 · BehaviorLive
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All behavior-analytic intervention is individualized. The information on this page is for educational purposes and does not constitute clinical advice. Treatment decisions should be informed by the best available published research, individualized assessment, and obtained with the informed consent of the client or their legal guardian. Behavior analysts are responsible for practicing within the boundaries of their competence and adhering to the BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts.