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Approach not only rejects methodological individualism and holism, but argues that the debate between them has been replaced by a new one, between elisionary theorising and emergentist theories based on a realist ontology of the social world.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.
Citations
More filters
TL;DR: It is argued that the historical development of the urban bourgeoisie was especially significant for the historical destiny of this cultural model: the social and political strength of theurban bourgeoisie had central societal importance in the imposition of the housewife model of the male breadwinner family as the dominant family form in a given society.
Abstract: It is often assumed that in the historical transformation to modern industrial society, the integration of women into the economy occurred everywhere as a three-phase process: in pre-modern societies, the extensive integration of women into societal production; then, their wide exclusion with the shift to industrial society; and finally, their re-integration into paid work during the further course of modernization. Results from the author's own international comparative study of the historical development of the family and the economic integration of women have shown that this was decidedly not the case even for western Europe.
Hence the question arises: why is there such historical variation in the development and importance of the housewife model of the male breadwinner family? In the article, an explanation is presented. It is argued that the historical development of the urban bourgeoisie was especially significant for the historical destiny of this cultural model: the social and political strength of the urban bourgeoisie had central societal importance in the imposition of the housewife model of the male breadwinner family as the dominant family form in a given society. In this, it is necessary to distinguish between the imposition of the breadwinner marriage at the cultural level on the one hand, and at the level of social practice in the family on the other.
212 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the degree of formalisation of informal care is determined by the degree to which welfare states support gender equality and the labour market integration of women.
Abstract: In many European welfare states in the last decades, the state provision of social care services has increased, in part even in spite of retrenchment policies in other areas of state welfare policies. Informal childcare has, however, survived everywhere in Europe, until today a substantial proportion of care is provided informally in the family. The degree to which informal care has been formalised, and the social rights and state provision in relation to formal and informal care, differ substantially in comparison of European societies. In comparative social policy analyses, the explanatory framework is often based on a kind of evolutionary approach. According to this argument, the degree of formalisation of informal care is determined by the degree to which welfare states support gender equality and the labour market integration of women. It is argued here that such explanatory framework is not sufficient. It is not taken into consideration that informal care has itself been modernised: and that the pro...
212 citations
TL;DR: The authors explored the difficulties with both the theoretical content and application of the concept of path dependence in political studies, but suggests that, by combining it with insights from morphogenetic social theory, they can provide a coherent framework for its use.
Abstract: This article explores the difficulties with both the theoretical content and application of the concept of ‘path dependence’ in political studies, but suggests that, by combining it with insights from morphogenetic social theory, we can provide a coherent framework for its use. After providing a brief survey of the literature on path dependence, it presents a summary of the most significant criticisms made of the approach. The article then moves on to examine morphogenetic social theory and its potential to meet these criticisms before concluding by characterising the elements of a path-dependent system incorporating insights from both new institutionalism and morphogenetic social theory.
211 citations
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: The authors provide a personalised overview of theories of international migration, divided into the following sections: push-pull theory and the neoclassical approach; migration and development transitions; historical-structural and political economy models; the role of systems and networks; the new economics of migration; and finally approaches based on the transnational turn in migration studies.
Abstract: Whilst the literature on international migration expands at a seemingly exponential rate, significant statements about the theorisation of migration are much less common; probably they are hindered by the increasing diversification of types of migration. This paper first reviews the various types of migration, and emphasises the need for an interdisciplinary approach to the study and theorisation of migration. In the main part of the paper I provide a personalised overview of theories of international migration, divided into the following sections: push-pull theory and the neoclassical approach; migration and development transitions; historical-structural and political economy models; the role of systems and networks; the ‘new economics’ of migration; and finally approaches based on the ‘transnational turn’ in migration studies. In the conclusion I point up some future challenges to theorising migration: the need to embed the study of migration within global processes of social, economic and political transformation and within the biographies of migrants’ lifecourses; the importance of also explaining why people do not migrate, and the notion of access to mobility as a differentiating factor of class and inequality; and the relevance of existential and emotional dimensions of migration. The paper is explicitly aimed at a student audience and is intended as a primer to understanding some of the complexities and challenges of theorising migration.
209 citations
TL;DR: Tura T. and Harmaakorpi V. as discussed by the authors analyzed the relation between social capital and innovation capability and proposed a new concept of social capital, defined as a field-specific social resource of an actor.
Abstract: Tura T. and Harmaakorpi V. (2005) Social capital in building regional innovative capability, Regional Studies 39 , 1111–1125. The paper focuses on the relation of social capital and regional innovative capability. It examines the social nature of the innovative processes placing demands on the regional innovation environment and underlining the importance of social capital. The paper analyses the concept of social capital and problems connected to it. It introduces a conception of social capital defining it functionally as a field‐specific social resource of an actor. This conception is applied to analyse social capital as a central element in enhancing regional innovative capability. The relation between social capital and innovation capability is not, however, without problems. This still controversial relation is discussed.
207 citations