Morphogenesis versus Structuration: On Combining ... - Moodle

Morphogenesis versus structuration 473
embedded in the time-space dimensions of social systems . . . I shall
refer to such structural elements as structural principles. Structural
principles govern the basic institutional alignments in a society'.S7
They may operate at all of the three levels of system integration:
homeostasis, feed-back or reflexive self-regulation.58 Difficulties in
this 'parts-whole' account surround both the identification of the
two key concepts and their interrelationship.
The 'structural principles' are abstractions, manifesting themselves
as institutionalized connections governing the reproduction of a
particular social system or type of society. How then can they be
grasped unequivocally In practice Giddens advances two different
procedures, though they are not clearly distinguished as such:
(a) The first method turns on his distinction between 'primary
principles' and 'secondary' or derivative ones. 'Primary principles', he
argues, can be identified as being fundamentally and inextricably
involved in systemic reproduction because they enter into the very
structuring of what that system is. In other words they can be detected
directly by virtue of their centrality. However when practical examples
are adduced, the procedure appears to lead to considerable equivocation.
For instance he claims that in Marx's characterization of early
capitalism the 'forces/relations of production scheme may be read as
asserting the universal primacy of allocation over authorization', but
in what Giddens calls 'class-divided societies' (where accumulation is
not dominated by private capital), the principle is reversed, authorization
having primacy over allocation, as in the early civilizations.S9
Not only are such 'principles' far from self-evident, they are incapable
of commanding public assent. Indeed the whole 'industrial society'
debate is precisely about what its central principles are, the various
terms used providing a good indication of divergence over what is
considered to be central-'technological society', 'affluent society',
'consumer society', 'welfare society', 'managerial society' or 'new
industrial state'.
The distinction between 'primary' and 'secondary' principles is
open to the same objection (and has fuelled the above debate, a major
aspect of which is whether we should talk about industrial economies
or are justified in speaking more extensively about industrial societies).
In other words all such 'structural principles' are in fact contested.
Their ultimate status is that of hypotheses advanced by investigators
and not that of structural elements integral to societies.
(b) However Giddens's work does contain an alternative method for
the identification of 'structural principles', namely by interpolation
of the 'modalities' which will reveal the most deeply embedded
structural elements, as the earlier quotation stated. Here the 'structural
principles' are not identified (at the macro-level) by inspecting the
system itself, as in (a), but rather indirect identification takes place