Abstract
This book argues in favor of a cognitive-systems-theory, constructivist view of social structure and social organization that clearly separates the conceptual apparatuses employed in structural studies in sociology from that centered upon individual actors in the social-psychological sense or upon the relationship of the individual to society in the sense of social stratification. The objective has been to allow the structure of society to stand out as a distinct reality from the population of actors who people that structure and execute the transpiring events that constitute society as an emergent behavioral phenomenon. The point has been made repeatedly that to see any of these “realities,” it is necessary for the observer to use an organized cognitive system to construct a cognitively comprehensible model. This means that an approach that uses self-referential systems theory and a structural strategy will construct a different reality than that produced by symbolic interactionism or by the Marxian stratification perspective.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bates, F.L. (1997). Epilogue. In: Sociopolitical Ecology. Contemporary Systems Thinking. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0251-1_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0251-1_12
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-0253-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-0251-1
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive