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Approach not only rejects methodological individualism and holism, but argues that the debate between them has been replaced by a new one, between elisionary theorising and emergentist theories based on a realist ontology of the social world.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: Reflecting developments in consumer culture, the politics of social movements, public health policy, and medical technologies, the body has since the early 1980s become one of the most popular and...
Abstract: Reflecting developments in consumer culture, the politics of social movements, public health policy, and medical technologies, the body has since the early 1980s become one of the most popular and ...
148 citations
TL;DR: Whether the notions entailed in sociomateriality, individually and collectively, offer a distinctive and coherent account of the relationship between the social and the material that may be useful in Information Systems research is explored.
Abstract: Sociomateriality has been attracting growing attention in the Organization Studies and Information Systems literatures since 2007, with more than 140 journal articles now referring to the concept. Over 80 percent of these articles have been published since January 2011 and almost all cite the work of Orlikowski (2007, 2010; Orlikowski and Scott 2008) as the source of the concept. Only a few, however, address all of the notions that Orlikowski suggests are entailed in sociomateriality, namely materiality, inseparability, relationality, performativity, and practices, with many employing the concept quite selectively. The contribution of sociomateriality to these literatures is, therefore, still unclear. Drawing on evidence from an ongoing study of the adoption of a computer-based clinical information system in a hospital critical care unit, this paper explores whether the notions, individually and collectively, offer a distinctive and coherent account of the relationship between the social and the material that may be useful in Information Systems research. It is argued that if sociomateriality is to be more than simply a label for research employing a number of loosely related existing theoretical approaches, then studies employing the concept need to pay greater attention to the notions entailed in it and to differences in their interpretation.
148 citations
TL;DR: In the workplace, job insecurity and social support are important determinants, but greater decision authority increases the risk of psychological distress, and workplace constraints-resources are not moderated either by the other structures of daily life or by agent personality.
Abstract: This study analyses the relationship between occupation, work conditions and the experience of psychological distress within a model encompassing the stress promoted by constraints-resources embedded in macrosocial structures (occupational structure), structures of daily life (workplace, family, social networks outside the workplace) and agent personality (demography, physical health, psychological traits, life habits, stressful childhood events). Longitudinal data were derived from Statistics Canada's National Population Health Survey and comprised 6,359 workers nested in 471 occupations, followed four times between 1994-1995 and 2000-2001. Discrete time survival multilevel regressions were conducted on first and repeated episodes of psychological distress. Results showed that 42.9 per cent of workers had reported one episode of psychological distress and 18.7 per cent had done so more than once. Data supported the model and challenged the results of previous studies. The individual's position in the occupational structure plays a limited role when the structures of daily life and agent personality are accounted for. In the workplace, job insecurity and social support are important determinants, but greater decision authority increases the risk of psychological distress. Workplace constraints-resources are not moderated either by the other structures of daily life or by agent personality.
148 citations
TL;DR: The agent-structure debate has been a hot topic in International Relations for some time now as discussed by the authors.Within an initial wave of debate, this revolved around proposing various ''solutions' to the problem of...
Abstract: The agent-structure debate has proceeded in International Relations for some time now. Within an initial `first wave' of debate, this revolved around proposing various `solutions' to the problem of...
147 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that recent advances in computational modeling offer tools to explore the emergence of social forms in the Simmelian tradition, and they focus on how to model dynamic social networks and emergent actor configurations.
Abstract: Building on Simmel’s theoretical foundations, sociological process theorists continue to challenge mainstream social theory. So far, however, they have rarely relied on formal modeling. The author argues that recent advances in computational modeling offer tools to explore the emergence of social forms in the Simmelian tradition. Thanks to common foundations in both epistemology and ontology, these two fields can benefit from drawing more explicitly on each other. The process‐theoretic tradition in social theory and contemporary agent‐based models shift theorizing from nomothetic to generative explanations of social forms, and from variable‐based to configurative ontologies. In order to formalize sociational theory, the author focuses on how to model dynamic social networks and emergent actor configurations.
146 citations