Abstract

The notion of autonomy has been a problematique, both conceptually and socio-morally to the mankind, particularly over the last two hundred years. A perusal of the literature produces a proliferation of divergent propositions concerning the definition of autonomy, which adds ambiguity to its exact meaning. ;This study attempted to deal with such ill-defined notion of autonomy from the human/social systems perspective developed by Russell L. Ackoff and Hasan Ozbekhan, examining the possibility and differences of autonomy according to different types of systems. It came to define autonomy of human/social systems as "a competence of a purposeful system to increase the effectiveness with which it serves its own purpose, the purpose of its parts, and the purpose of the supersystem of which it is part." ;Based on such conceptualization, this study attempted to find out "the erosion of local autonomy" in Pennsylvania county governments in response to the increase of federal and state aid and grants. Employing both statistical analysis of the compiled data and questionnaire survey on the county chief clerks, this study found out that the current practice of focusing on fiscal reliance was an insufficient method in measuring local autonomy, the local actors were indifferent to the concept of local autonomy, let alone recognition of its problem, and the existence of external aid from higher level governments had less effects on local actors' spending behaviors than the passage of time and the past behavior in addition to some unidentified variables. ;This study concluded that autonomy can be defined operationally in a useful way if we regard it in the light of purpose and system, there is a possibility of more than one theory or model of understanding reality, and, the problem of local autonomy should be examined with more data by employing an interactive design of research that is the core of the new paradigm of inquiry