Final answer:
The claim that system theorists believed loneliness is caused by both the environment and the individual is true, as supported by theories like social disorganization theory, and the ideas of Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Anthony Giddens regarding systemic influences on personal experiences.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement that the system theorists believed loneliness was caused by the environment and the individual is true. System theorists, such as those from the social disorganization theory developed at the University of Chicago, argue that broad social factors like weak social ties and
an absence of social control in a community contribute significantly to personal outcomes, including feelings of loneliness or alienation. These theories suggest that both the environment that an individual is in as well as their interactions within that environment can affect their experience of isolation.
Karl Marx's concept of alienation, as mentioned, reflects this understanding as well. He argued that workers do not feel connected to their work or to one another, which leads to a sense of alienation in modern society. Marx and other theorists like Max Weber and Anthony Giddens have contributed to our understanding of how systemic structures influence individual agency and personal feelings, such as loneliness or alienation.