Abstract
This chapter introduces the main theses, argument and approach of the volume. In the first place, it lays out the two guiding insights that constitute the underlying common thread of the book, namely the hypothesis of an emergent morphogenic society and the idea of the closure of the world. Then the theoretical approach is briefly introduced, explaining the basic meaning of social morphogenesis in the context of this work. The chapter goes on to illustrate the general aim of the volume, which lies in both substantive and formal theory. On the one hand, it provides a unified interpretive key to many social phenomena that characterize global society, exploring the social mechanisms at work to produce deep change and the emergent structures that might result. On the other hand, the morphogenetic approach deployed to such a task is further developed, through an open dialogue with other paradigms and the test of its capacity to produce useful insights about social change. The Introduction closes with an outline of the chapters and a brief discussion of the main problems involved in the chosen approach and research fields.
“The full blown Morphogenic Society would be one in which the production, exploration and exploitation of ‘contingent compatibilities’ constitutes novel opportunities (jobs, roles, modus vivendi ) whose take-up follows a situational logic of opportunity (the new being found more attractively advantageous than the old) and meets with little opposition because no vested interests have yet been consolidated on this novel terrain”.
Archer (2017: 10).
“A total metamorphosis of history has taken place. The essential fact is: There is no longer anything outside. The world is closed. The unity of the earth has arrived. New perils and new opportunities are revealed”.
Jaspers (1953: 127).
“One aspect of globalization is intrinsically transformative: human actions expand until they fill up the earth and rebound back on us. This is a boomerang effect whereby actions launched by human beings hit up against the limits of the earth and then return to hit them hard and change them”
Mann (2013: 3).
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- 1.
Of course, reference goes to Margaret Archer’s ‘morphogenetic approach’ to social theory. In this volume, it will often be called the ‘M/M’ approach, to emphasize the principled equivalence of morphogenesis and morphostasis. See Archer (1995, 2011) for an analytic illustration of the explanatory model. On these I draw in the present discussion.
- 2.
- 3.
The question may be raised about the possible relation of both the approach and the MS thesis with the classical Marxian contribution—or with some recent Marxist perspective. This question is surely important, but would require a longer treatment than I can possibly offer here. One short answer would be to assert that the M/M approach is far from any conceptual frame revolving around the distinction between (economic) structure and (symbolical) infrastructure. In this respect, it could be labelled as a ‘non-Marxist critical theory’. The volatility and combinatorial complexity of the MS, in turn, does not depend solely or mainly on the economic system—although capitalism is obviously a case in point. But I readily admit that the issue should be covered in more detail.
- 4.
Bauman’s well-known idea of a ‘liquid’ society also fits into this mould, as well as John Urry’s theory of ‘mobilities’. These themes will be taken up again in chapter three.
- 5.
Mercer Lake is a subglacial lake in Antarctica, which is covered by an ice sheet about 3500 ft thick. It has been regarded as one of the most uncontaminated places on the planet. On 28 December 2018, the Subglacial Antarctic Lakes Scientific Access (SALSA) team announced they had reached Mercer Lake. Its waters are now being filtered and studied for the analysis of micro-organisms and other features of scientific interest.
- 6.
I only cautiously thread around this concept, because the formal meaning it has in Spencer Brown’s work (1969)—and then in Luhmann’s systems theory—must not be hastily coupled with the trend I am describing, although it certainly resonates with it. This connection must be developed further.
- 7.
Not only for modernity, of course. For a nice literary example about antiquity, see Purves (2006) on Odysseus’s journey. The new situation is also revealed in the shifting meanings of ‘adventure’, and in the thought and practices of those who dedicate their life to it—explorers, alpinists, all sorts of travellers. The empirical study of these forms of life makes an interesting piece of cultural sociology.
- 8.
More on this in Chap. 7.
- 9.
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Maccarini, A.M. (2019). Introduction: Unbound Morphogenesis in a Closed World. In: Deep Change and Emergent Structures in Global Society. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13624-6_1
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