Realist social theory : the morphogenetic approach
TL;DR: The Morphogenetic Cycle: the basis of the morphogenetic approach 7. Structural and cultural conditioning 8. The morphogenesis of agency 9. Social elaboration.
Abstract: Building on her seminal contribution to social theory in Culture and Agency, in this 1995 book Margaret Archer develops her morphogenetic approach, applying it to the problem of structure and agency. Since structure and agency constitute different levels of stratified social reality, each possesses distinctive emergent properties which are real and causally efficacious but irreducible to one another. The problem, therefore, is shown to be how to link the two rather than conflate them, as has been common theoretical practice. Realist Social Theory: The Morphogenetic Approach not only rejects methodological individualism and holism, but argues that the debate between them has been replaced by a new one, between elisionary theorising and emergentist theories based on a realist ontology of the social world. The morphogenetic approach is the sociological complement of transcendental realism, and together they provide a basis for non-conflationary theorizing which is also of direct utility to the practising social analyst.
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TL;DR: It is suggested that the sociology of health inequalities in Britain lacks an analysis of agency, and that such an analysis is crucial.
Abstract: Few sociologists dissent from the notion that the mid- to late 1970s witnessed a shift in capitalism’s modus operandi. Its association with a rapid increase of social and material inequality is beyond dispute. This article opens with a brief summation of contemporary British trends in economic inequalities, and finds an echo of these trends in health inequalities. It is suggested that the sociology of health inequalities in Britain lacks an analysis of agency, and that such an analysis is crucial. A case is made that the recent critical realist contribution of Margaret Archer on ‘internal conversations’ lends itself to an understanding of agency that is salient here. The article develops her typology of internal conversations to present characterizations of the ‘focused autonomous reflexives’ whose mind-sets are causally efficacious for producing and reproducing inequalities, and the ‘dedicated meta-reflexives’ whose casts of mind might yet predispose them to mobilize resistance to inequalities.
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TL;DR: The authors analyzed the link between media representations of Korean nationalism and celebrity blackfacing by analyzing recent blog and website debates on the phenomenon and argued a direct correlation to a form of Korean nouveau-riche nationalism.
Abstract: Growing internet exposure of Korean media and popular culture has highlighted a phenomenon common to Korea for more than 30 years: media celebrities ‘acting black’ for public consumption, while denying accusations of racism. This paper analyses the link between media representations of Korean nationalism and celebrity blackfacing by analysing recent blog and website debates on the phenomenon and argues a direct correlation to a form of Korean nouveau-riche nationalism. It looks at public commentary – both Korean and international – produced over blackfacing acts by ‘K-Pop’ groups such as Girls' Generation, Beast and Bubble Sisters, which debate reasons for the media idols' expressions of racism, ethnocentrism and attitudes towards the others, and whether these attitudes are expressed (un)knowingly, and with/without malice. Historically, Korean media has included such negative depictions of African-Americans for more than 30 years, with the depictions generally taken at face-value and as ‘normal’ comedy by...
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TL;DR: System dynamics and ideas from contemporary social theory help to show that even the most complex social systems are, in principle, subject to human influence.
Abstract: Relating system dynamics to the broad systems movement, the key notion is that reinforcing loops deserve no less attention than balancing loops. Three specific propositions follow. First, since reinforcing loops arise in surprising places, investigations of complex systems must consider their possible existence and potential impact. Second, because the strength of reinforcing loops can be misinferred - we include an example from the field of servomechanisms - computer simulation can be essential. Be it project management, corporate growth or inventory oscillation, simulation helps to assess consequences of reinforcing loops and options for interventions. Third, in social systems the consequences of reinforcing loops are not inevitable. Examples concerning globalization illustrate how difficult it might be to challenge such assumptions. However, system dynamics and ideas from contemporary social theory help to show that even the most complex social systems are, in principle, subject to human influence. In conclusion, by employing these ideas, by attending to reinforcing as well as balancing loops, system dynamics work can improve the understanding of social systems and illuminate our choices when attempting to steer them.
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TL;DR: This paper argued that society is the product of complex, often contradictory combinations of many different structures and mechanisms, where each element has its own dynamics and emergent powers, and that society can be best understood through critical realist conceptions of stratification, emergence, transformation, and overdetermination.
Abstract: This article seeks to develop the Marxist conception of social structure by incorporating developments within critical realist philosophy. It rejects forms of economic determinism such as the base-superstructure model and those reconstructions—like Cohen’s—that attribute primacy to productive forces in explaining history and society. It argues instead that society is the product of complex, often contradictory combinations of many different structures and mechanisms. They form a structural ensemble, hierarchically arranged, but where each element has its own dynamics and emergent powers. It concludes that society is best understood through critical realist conceptions of stratification, emergence, transformation, and overdetermination.
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyze how hosts' public narratives of tourism have changed over time, analyzing any common and opposing points of their argumentation as they may change over time.
Abstract: The current research on hosts’ perceptions of tourism has focused on survey-based studies, proving their heterogeneity at the moment of the study, but lacking to present any evolution over time. This paper aims to show if, and how, hosts’ public narratives of tourism have changed in the particular case of the city of Barcelona (Spain) from 2004 to 2015, analyzing any common and opposing points of their argumentation as they may change over time. These narratives represent the perspectives of two opposing groups of hosts: residents and destination management organizations (DMOs). We used thematic analysis to portray their public discourse, as expressed in the residents’ magazine Carrer, and the annual reports of Turisme de Barcelona. Through the analysis of common and opposing points of their argumentation, our findings show a clear division between the residents’ tourism-phobic perception and the DMO’s tourism-philic one, which appears to change their structure over time, going from complete oppos...
38 citations