Multi-level research into the social: An old wine in an old forgotten bottle?

This essay provides a cursory discussion on the issue of how to conceptualise social phenomena in terms of the multiple levels that characterise it. It recognises the nested nature of different levels and the challenges of integrating or aligning different levels, whether it be from a qualitative of a quantitative perspective. In response it is proposed that a complexity approach, whereby the complexity of a situation is unfolded to reveal multiple levels offers a useful approach for handling multi-level perspectives. In doing so, it draws upon an old model which has perhaps been in the main, forgotten: the Viable System Model (VSM) developed by Stafford Beer.