Morphogenesis and social change

Abstract

As a prelude to the rest of the book, this chapter examines what morphogenesis has so far meant in sociological theory. So far, morphogenesis has been explained as a meta-theoretical rather than a theoretical concept. As such, morphogenesis does not directly explain anything. Instead, it constitutes the ineluctable framework for any theoretically effective explanation of social change. Accordingly, this chapter shows (i) how the morphogenetic approach underlies a variety of different explanations of social change and (ii) how those sociological approaches that eschew the morphogenetic approach consequently fail to account effectively for social change. The chapter ends with some questions as Archer now speculates about morphogenesis as not just a meta-theoretical concept but as also a specific societal category at the level of theory.