Morphogenesis versus Structuration: On Combining ... - Moodle

Morphogenesis versus structuration 483
or peripheric ones. The same arguments
hold for processes of social change.
'Even if there were no problems of
identifying core elements of a system,
there would still be a problem of
distinguishing basic from superficial
changes. This is important for the
following reason: even if one identifies
factor A as strategic in relation to B, C,
D and E, this does not mean that these
other, non-core features do not change
at all without an initial change in A,
nor does it mean that changes in them
have no effect at all on changes in A
. . . The crucial question is: do changes
in A produce radical changes in B, C,
D or E, while changes in B, C, D and
E produce only superficial changes in
A And if the answer to this question
is affirmative, does one have some
measure for distinguishing radical
changes from superficial ones And, if
one does have such a measure, when
does one apply it For the short-run
effect of B on A might be superficial,
while the long-run effect might be
radical! The gist of all this discussion
is that one can only know ex post
facto whether a particular change was
or was not a change in a acore" feature
of the social structure.' (Modern Social
Theory, op. cit., p. 177 (see 176-8).)
68. E. Gellner, 'Holism vs. Individualism',
op. cit., p. 267.
69. Giddens, Central Problems in
Social Theory, op. cit., p. 106.
70. An ambitious attempt, which
nevertheless manifests this defect, to
unify the concepts used in all the social
sciences by translating them into the
terminology of systems theory is
Alfred Kuhn, The Logic of Social
Systems, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco,
1976.
71. Walter Buckley, Sociology and
Afodern Systems Theory, op. cit.,
p. 206.
72. Giddens, Central Problems in
Social Theory, op. cit., p. 4.
73. Ibid.,p.251.
74. Ibid., p. 18.
75. Ibid., p. 47.
76. Ibid., p. 48.
77. Ernest Gellner, Thought and
Change, Weidenfeld & Nicolson,
London, 1964, pp. 184 ff.
78. Eco cited by Giddens, Cen tral
Problems in Social Theory, op. cit.,
p. 106.
79. Walter Buckley, Sociology and
Modern Systems Theory, op. cit.,
p. 137.