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12 - Continuous (Trans)formation

Producing Social Continuity and Social Change

from Part III (A) - Differentiation and Continuous (Trans)Formation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 October 2023

Jack Donnelly
Affiliation:
University of Denver
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Summary

In a world of pre-given substances (or static relations) change needs to be explained. In a processual world, though, change, not stasis, is the norm. Persistence therefore demands explanation. Living and social systems are far-from-thermodynamic-equilibrium systems that, by taking in and creatively utilizing matter or energy, temporarily stave off the inexorable physical progression of entropy (movement towards greater disorder; decay). Social continuities no less than social transformations are socially produced. (A state, for example, can be kept in the far-from-thermodynamic-equilibrium state of statehood only through extensive and complex processes of (re)production.) And both continuities and transformations arise from similar processes that operate continuously. The chapter illustrates what I call continuous (trans)formation with the case of the development of modern militaries and introduces both John Padgett and Walter Powell’s framing of transposition and re-functionality and William Sewell’s framing of eventful history.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • Continuous (Trans)formation
  • Jack Donnelly, University of Denver
  • Book: Systems, Relations, and the Structures of International Societies
  • Online publication: 19 October 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009355193.016
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  • Continuous (Trans)formation
  • Jack Donnelly, University of Denver
  • Book: Systems, Relations, and the Structures of International Societies
  • Online publication: 19 October 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009355193.016
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Continuous (Trans)formation
  • Jack Donnelly, University of Denver
  • Book: Systems, Relations, and the Structures of International Societies
  • Online publication: 19 October 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009355193.016
Available formats
×