Why Don’t Things Change? The Matter of Morphostasis

Abstract

In a series of volumes on morphogenesis, it is also important to reflect on morphostasis and the mechanisms that account for it. Not everything is changing or changing as quickly as we would expect. Why not? This chapter addresses this question. To do so, it reflects on several specific cases: Why the U.S. public for so long allowed its government to support repressive regimes in Central America; why the U.S. even now continues to resist national health care; and why not enough is being done to confront either global warming or world poverty. As will be seen, the mechanisms that account for stasis in these cases range from individual choice through culture and social structure, in other words, factors collected under the acronym Margaret Archer has labeled SAC.