DOCSLIB.ORG

Download (2055Kb)

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Download (2055Kb) University of Warwick institutional repository: http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap/65258 This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. Becoming Who We Are: Personal Morphogenesis and Social Change by Mark Alex Carrigan A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology University of Warwick, Department of Sociology March 2014 Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................... 4 Chapter 1. Personhood and Social Change .......................................... 5 Late Modernity and the Post-Traditional Order ......................................... 10 Globalisation and Psychic Life ................................................................... 20 Why Ontology Matters ................................................................................. 24 Conceptualising Social Change .................................................................... 34 Social Change and Personal Change ........................................................... 37 Chapter 2. Biography and Reflexivity .............................................. 40 The Realist Account of Reflexivity ............................................................... 42 Biography and Relationships ....................................................................... 49 Biography and Ideas .................................................................................... 54 Chapter 3. Analysing Biographical Change ....................................... 62 Reflexivity and the Life Span ....................................................................... 63 Reflexivity and Character ........................................................................... 68 Possible Selves ............................................................................................. 73 Fateful Moments .......................................................................................... 78 Psychobiography .......................................................................................... 87 Personal Morphogenesis ............................................................................. 91 The Broader Project .................................................................................... 98 Chapter 4. Research Methods and Research Design.......................... 99 Epistemological Considerations .................................................................. 99 Methodological Considerations ................................................................. 105 Sampling .................................................................................................... 110 Interview Design ........................................................................................ 116 Data Analysis ..............................................................................................121 Ethical Considerations ............................................................................... 124 Chapter 5. Trajectories into Higher Education ............................... 126 Choosing to go to University ..................................................................... 127 The Influence of Family and School .......................................................... 143 Relational Reflexivity and Personal Morphogenesis ................................ 157 Chapter 6. Case Studies ................................................................... 161 Communicative Reflexivity ........................................................................ 161 Autonomous Reflexivity ............................................................................ 177 Meta -Reflexivity ........................................................................................ 185 Fractured Reflexivity ................................................................................ 204 Personal Morphogenesis and Conflation .................................................. 214 Chapter 7. Personal Morphogenesis ................................................ 219 Critical Realism and Biography ................................................................ 220 Personal Morphogenesis and Biography ................................................... 225 The Conditioning ‘Me’ ............................................................................... 227 Between the ‘I’ and the ‘We’....................................................................... 231 The Future ‘You’ ........................................................................................ 248 Becoming Who We Are ............................................................................. 250 Conclusion ....................................................................................... 253 Bibliography .................................................................................... 261 2 Declaration This thesis is submitted to the University of Warwick in support of my application for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. It has been composed by myself and has not been submitted in any previous application for any degree. Initial formulations of some ideas contained in this thesis have previously been presented on my personal web blog (http://www.markcarrigan.net) and in Carrigan, M. (2010) ‘Realism, Reflexivity, Conflation, and Individualism’ Journal of Critical Realism 9(3): 384-96. 3 Abstract This thesis investigates the relationship between personal change and social change, in order to theorise the former in a way amenable to better understanding the latter. It initially proceeds through a detailed critical engagement with the work of Antony Giddens on late modernity, arguing that in spite of its popularity and influence this account suffers from defects which only become apparent when the ideas offered are used to make sense of research data. Grounded in this critical analysis, the present project develops an account of ‘personal morphogenesis’: an analytical framework for studying processes of personal change in a sociological manner. This is developed and refined through a longitudinal case study which followed a varied cohort of undergraduate students through their first two years at university. 4 Chapter 1. Personhood and Social Change What is a person? Such a question is often assumed to fall outside the remit of sociology, instead being a matter of philosophy, anthropology or natural science. Yet any sociological claim, in so far as it unavoidably includes persons amongst its object referents, entails assumptions about the characteristics of those persons. Therefore, as Christian Smith puts it, ‘the better we understand the human, the better we should explain the social’ (Smith 2010). However sociological discussion of ‘persons’ remains contentious for reasons which could easily constitute a thesis in their own right1. Nonetheless, something analogous to the person is a recurrent meta- categorical feature of sociological discourse; explaining away the putative causal powers of the person necessitates recognition of the category itself, perhaps going some way to explaining the tendency for the properties and powers so trenchantly denied to creep back in (Archer 2000: 1-50)2. An ontological defence of personhood would, as with the intellectual history of disputes surrounding it, represent a different project from that undertaken here3. The issue addressed in this thesis is paradoxically more specific and yet more general: what are the implications of how we conceptualise ‘persons’4 for how we study social change? To this end it takes the 1 Such an investigation would be a matter for the history of ideas, considering how sociology served to demarcate itself from psychology in its initial intellectual and social context, the politics of humanism/anti-humanism and the centrality of the category to methodological individualism/holism debates. These themes are explored further in the final chapter of this thesis. Archer (1995, 2000), Sayer (2011) and Smith (2010) all contribute, in slightly different ways, to the position being taken in relation to this underlying intellectual context. 2 This tendency of matters theoretically repudiated to return via the backdoor is not unique to this issue, as adroitly demonstrated in Mouzelis (1995). 3 Moreover it would be one which Archer (2000) and Smith (2010) have each already completed. 4 The term will be used without scare quotes from this point onwards. As shall become clear, the position adopted in this project is a relational realist one (Archer 2012, Donati 2010) but it is important to signpost the fact that the meta-theoretical analysis of the meta-category of 5 work on late modernity by Giddens (1990, 1991, 1992) as its foil, treating it as emblematic of a broader trend within contemporary social theory5. Metaphors abound readily within this now canonical literature (Archer 2013a, Outwaite 2009) as all manner of empirical phenomena are incorporated into a dazzlingly panoramic frame of reference and presented as manifestations of the leading edge of social change. However for all its preoccupation with the new, there is something oddly dated about such work, with its apparent
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Facing an Unequal World: Challenges for a Global Sociology1
    Facing an Unequal World 3 Facing an Unequal World: Challenges for a 1 Global Sociology Michael Burawoy, University of California, Berkeley, USA2 Yuan-Tseh Lee, former president of Academia Sinica and Nobel Prize Winner, opened the second conference of the Council of National Asso- ciations with a call to scientists the world-over to come together and con- front ever-deepening global problems. Some of the most serious chal- lenges facing mankind -- climate change, energy crisis, and disease – stem from processes that transcend national boundaries and social divi- sions, yet the tools to tackle them are still largely locked within national boundaries and controlled by powerful, vested interests. The problem, Dr. Lee insisted, is not so much globalization but its incompleteness. Devel- oping global communities along with global governance is necessary for tackling global problems. We can no longer retreat back to an insular lo- calism, so we must move forward to realize the potentials of a more com- plete and complex globalization. He posed the challenge to sociology: how did we respond? As sociologists we specialize in studying the downside of globaliza- tion, the obstacles to a globalization that will benefit humanity. We are experts in the ways inequality and domination present the deepest barriers to tackling the daunting challenges of our epoch. We postulate conditions for overcoming such barriers while criticizing false solutions that redis- tribute rather than diminish the ill-effects incomplete globalization. It is the presumption of this conference that for sociologists to address the exclusion and oppression underlying poverty and war, disease and envi- ronmental degradation on a global scale, our scientific community must itself first assume a global character ruled by dialogue and accountability We gathered together in Taipei, therefore, to examine our own discipline through the bifocal lens of domination and inequality – a risky but neces- sary project -- so as to create and embrace a global sociology that is equal to the global tasks we face.
    [Show full text]
  • The Morphogenetic Approach and Immanent Causality: a Spinozian Perspective*
    Received: 4 October 2017 Revised: 10 June 2018 Accepted: 18 June 2018 DOI: 10.1111/jtsb.12181 ORIGINAL ARTICLE The morphogenetic approach and immanent causality: A spinozian perspective* Karim Knio Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Erasmus Abstract University Rotterdam, The Netherlands The morphogenetic approach as powered by analytical Correspondence dualism offers an appealing account of the processes Karim Knio, Institute of Social Studies – – (ISS), Erasmus University Rotterdam, The whereby people through their reflexivities reflect Netherlands. back on structures and cultures during the double Email: [email protected] and triple morphogenesis of agency. However, in order to further specify an account of social change, this paper argues that it would be helpful to provide an account of what occurs in the other direction as well: from the direction of structures and cultures, between each other and towards people, also at the points of double and triple morphogenesis of agency. This article is therefore a theoretical piece that proposes a reading of the morphogenetic model imbued with an enlightened understanding of immanent causality, driven by the Spinozian doctrine of parallelism and operationalized by his understanding of the two expressive roles of ideas. KEYWORDS analytical dualism, dispositions (capabilities), immanent causality, role of ideas, structure/agency debate Margaret Archer's morphogenetic approach is currently one of the most eminent and highly esteemed accounts of structure and agency in the social sciences. By referring to the concept of *I would like to thank Professor Archer for commenting on an earlier draft of this article. I also would like to thank Aleksandra Piletic for her assistance in preparing this article.
    [Show full text]
  • Margaret S. Archer Editor Morphogenesis and the Crisis of Normativity Morphogenesis and the Crisis of Normativity
    Social Morphogenesis Margaret S. Archer Editor Morphogenesis and the Crisis of Normativity Morphogenesis and the Crisis of Normativity [email protected] Social Morphogenesis Series Editor: MARGARET S. ARCHER Centre for Social Ontology, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK Aims and scope: To focus upon ‘social morphogenesis’ as a general process of change is very different from examining its particular results over the last quarter of a century. This series ventures what the generative mechanisms are that produce such intense change and discusses how this differs from late modernity. Contributors examine if an intensification of morphogenesis (positive feedback that results in a change in social form) and a corresponding reduction in morphostasis (negative feedback that restores or reproduces the form of the social order) best captures the process involved. The series consists of 5 volumes derived from the Centre for Social Ontology’s annual workshops “From Modernity to Morphogenesis” at the University of Lausanne, headed by Margaret Archer. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/11959 [email protected] Margaret S. Archer Editor Morphogenesis and the Crisis of Normativity 123 [email protected] Editor Margaret S. Archer Centre for Social Ontology University of Warwick Coventry, UK This volume IV follows the book “Social Morphogenesis”, edited by Margaret S. Archer, which was the first book in the series published in 2013 http://www.springer.com/social+ sciences/book/978-94-007-6127-8, the volume “Late Modernity”, edited by Margaret S. Archer, published in 2014 and the volume “Generative Mechanisms Transforming the Social Order”, edited by Margaret S.
    [Show full text]
  • Advancing a Morphogenetic Understanding of Organisational Behaviour
    ADVANCING A MORPHOGENETIC UNDERSTANDING OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR An Investigation into the Psychological Mechanisms and Organisational Behavioural Tendencies of Autonomous Reflexivity By Royston Francis Meriton Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds Leeds University Business School September 2016 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his/her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. ©2016 “The University of Leeds” Royston Francis Meriton Acknowledgement “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery None but ourselves can free our mind…” Bob Marley (1945 – 1981) RIP To Thierry and Keisha Nicky and Mark thank you for your patience and confidence showed in me. I cannot express enough in words how much your guidance has been valued. Granny, you have been my rock, you may never know how much your influence runs deep in this work. I thank Professor Ann Cunliffe for her comments on an earlier draft and Dr Andy Brown for lending a listening ear. Without her confidence and understanding this work would not have been possible, a special mention goes to Professor Margaret Archer for her informal guidance, you are an inspiration to many. A special mention also goes to Maha, a friend I have shared many a thought with, you have the ability to inspire even without trying. All of this would have been but a fleeting illusion without Richard, thank you.
    [Show full text]
  • Mouzelis, Archer and the Concept of Social Structure
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Crossref SOCIOLOGY Vol. 32 No. 3 August 1998 509–522 CONCEPTUALISING CONSTRAINT: MOUZELIS, ARCHER AND THE CONCEPT OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE KIERAN HEALY Abstract This paper outlines and evaluates recent contributions by Nicos Mouzelis and Margaret Archer to the structure–agency debate. Mouzelis offers an internal reconstruction of Giddens’s structuration theory; Archer an external alternative. I show that, although representing an advance on Giddens’s position, Mouzelis’s account fails because he relies on the former’s definition of structure as comprising rules and resources. I then examine Archer’s solution to the problem. I argue that her definition of activity-dependence makes her account of the relationship between agents and structures unclear. I outline an alternative account in terms of super- venience, and argue that it contains the minimum ontological claim necessary for a realist understanding of the structure–agent relationship. Key words: Archer, Mouzelis, social ontology, social structure, supervenience. This paper evaluates two recent attempts to prune the hardy perennial of structure and agency. In their recent writing, both Nicos Mouzelis and Margaret Archer offer alternatives to Anthony Giddens’s structuration theory (Mouzelis 1995, 1996; Archer 1995, 1996b). The renewed attention paid to older writing in this field, and particularly to the work of David Lockwood, has caused McLennan (1995:117) to note ‘a loose but noticeable neo- traditionalist revival’ in sociological theory. The two authors exemplify this trend in different ways. Mouzelis says we should go ‘back to sociological theory,’ whereas Archer sees Lockwood as a forebear but explicitly tries to formulate a new research paradigm.
    [Show full text]
  • Margaret Archer and a Morphogenetic Take on Strategy Abstract The
    Margaret Archer and a morphogenetic take on strategy Abstract The morphogenetic framework developed by the social theorist Margaret Archer is outlined in order to suggest what it might bring to the study of strategy. It is contrasted to practice-based approaches, notably those associated with the work of Richard Whittington and the domain of strategy as practice. Archer’s work provides a non-deterministic approach which enables the situating of moments of strategic practice in a wider context. Its stress on agential reflexivity opens up interesting lines of inquiry, not least on the language of strategizing facilitated and encouraged by the multinational corporation. The approach needs to pay more attention to practices, notably organizational routines, but it offers rich resources to the student of organizational strategy. Keywords Margaret Archer; critical realism; strategy; structure; agency; reflexivity 1. Introduction Margaret Archer is a major figure in the world of social theory and sociology. Starting as a sociologist of education she has developed a distinctive approach to the study of society through her engagement with the philosophical tradition of critical realism. Through a critique of how these ideas have been applied in the social domain, she has progressively developed and refined a view of what she terms the ‘morphogenesis’ of society. This view, recognising that society is activity dependent and is changed and reproduced through the activities of human agents who operate in conditions not of their choosing, has had increasing traction in many domains of 1 inquiry, not least in the field of organization studies. Her body of work is extensive and complex.
    [Show full text]
  • The Emotionalisation of Reflexivity
    Edinburgh Research Explorer The Emotionalization of Reflexivity Citation for published version: Holmes, M 2010, 'The Emotionalization of Reflexivity', Sociology, vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 139-154. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038509351616 Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 10.1177/0038038509351616 Link: Link to publication record in Edinburgh Research Explorer Document Version: Peer reviewed version Published In: Sociology General rights Copyright for the publications made accessible via the Edinburgh Research Explorer is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Take down policy The University of Edinburgh has made every reasonable effort to ensure that Edinburgh Research Explorer content complies with UK legislation. If you believe that the public display of this file breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 01. Oct. 2021 The Emotionalization of Reflexivity Mary Holmes Department of Sociology Flinders University [email protected] Biography: Mary Holmes is a senior lecturer in sociology at Flinders University in Australia. She has published various articles relating to her empirical work on distance relationships and to her other research interests in the sociology of the body and in social movements and emotions. She has recently published The Representation of Feminists as Political Actors (VDM, 2008) What is Gender?(Sage, 2008) and Gender in Everyday Life (Routledge, 2007). 1 The Emotionalization of Reflexivity Abstract Reflexivity refers to the practices of altering one’s life as a response to knowledge about one’s circumstances.
    [Show full text]
  • Isa Bulletin NO 19 (PRINTEMPS 1979) NO
    isa bulletin NO 19 (PRINTEMPS 1979) NO. 19 (SPRING 1979) EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 1978-1982 PRESIDENT: lnst. of Philosophy & Sociology Juan Linz Ulf Himmelstrand Nowy Swiat 72 Guido Martinotti Sociological Institute 00-330 Warszawa Kh. N. Momdjian Sturegatan 2 B POLAND Stefan Nowak S-752 23 Uppsala Pamela Roby SWEDEN VICE-PRES. & CHAIRPERSON, Alexander Szalai PROGRAM COMMITTEE: Francisco Zapata VICE-PRES. & CHAIRPERSON, Ralph Turner MEMBERSHIP & FINANCE Department of Sociology COMMITTEE: University of California EXECUTlVE SECRETARIES: Fernando Henrique Cardoso Los Angeles, Ca. 90024 Céline Saint-Pierre CEBRAP U.S.A. Kurt Jonassohn Alameda Campinas, 463-13° 01404 Sao Paulo, SP MEMBERS: BRAZIL Akinsola Akiwowo ISA SECRETARIAT: Joseph Ben-David C.P. 719, Succursale "A" VICE-PRES. & CHAIRPERSON, Jacques Dofny Montréal, Qué. H3C 2V2 RESEARCH COUNCIL: Leela Dube CANADA Magdalena Sokolowska Anne-Marie Guillemard Tel:(514) 282-4634 Polish Academy of Sciences Shogo Koyano Cable - ISAGRAM MONTREAL SUB-COMMITTEES RESEARCH COORDINATlNG Shogo Koyano Margaret Archer COMMITTEE: Alexander Szalai Andrée Michel Magdalena Sokolowska, Chairperson Francisco Zapata Else ~yen Leela Dube Tom Bottomore Akinsola Akiwowo PROGRAM COMMITTEE: Katy Brooks Joseph Ben-David Ralph Turner, Chairperson (one additional member remains to be Anne-Marie Guillemard (members to be elected) elected) Enzo Mingione Stefan Nowak Else Oyen PUBLICATlONS COMMITTEE: STA TUTES REVISION COMMITTEE: Pamela Roby Jacques Dofny, Chairperson Ulf Himmelstrand, Chairperson Guido Martinotti Albert Cherns MEMBERSHIP & FINANCE COMMITTEE: Arthu: Meier Juan Linz Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Chairperson Gennadi Osipov Alexander Szalai CONTENTS Report on the Meeting of the Publications Calendar of Future Meelings ..........•...... p.13 Committee . ....... ...... p.2 Journals p.15 Report on the Meeting of the Statutes Revision Commitlee p.2 Olher Informalion p.15 ISA Grants lo Research Committees .....•..
    [Show full text]
  • Margaret Archer
    From Margaret Scotford Archer, Realist Social Theory: The Morphogenetic Approach. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 1995. Pages 59-61. Elisionism Margaret Archer PDF generated using the open source mwlib toolkit. See http://code.pediapress.com/ for more information. PDF generated at: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 20:00:02 UTC Contents Articles Margaret Archer 1 Elisionism 2 Holism 3 Atomism 10 Emergentism 19 Morphogenesis 24 References Article Sources and Contributors 27 Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 28 Article Licenses License 29 Margaret Archer 1 Margaret Archer Margaret Scotford Archer (born 20 January 1943) spent most of her academic career at the University of Warwick, UK, where she was for many years Professor of Sociology. She is now a professor at l'Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland. She is best known for coining the term elisionism in her 1995 book Realist Social Theory: The Morphogenetic Approach. She studied at the University of London, graduating B.Sc. in 1964 and Ph.D. in 1967 with a thesis on The Educational Aspirations of English Working Class Parents. She was a lecturer at the University of Reading from 1966 to 1973. She is one of the most influential theorists in the critical realist tradition. At the 12th World Congress of Sociology, she was elected as the first woman President of the International Sociological Association, is a founder member of both the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences and the Academy of Learned Societies in the Social Sciences. She is a Trustee of the Centre for Critical Realism. She has supervised many PhD students, many of whom have gone on to contribute towards the substantive development of critical realism in the social sciences.
    [Show full text]
  • Re-Addressing the Cultural System: Problems and Solutions in Margaret Archer’S Theory of Culture
    Re-Addressing the Cultural System: Problems and Solutions in Margaret Archer’s Theory of Culture Paper to the Political Studies Conference 2017 Jack Newman (PhD Student at the University of Leeds) Abstract Margaret Archer’s morphogenetic model (1995) has had a significant and lasting impact on both the structure-agency debate and the critical realist approach to social science. Consequently, it has also had a growing influence on political analysis through advocates such as Stuart McAnulla (2002, 2005, 2006) and critics such as Colin Hay (1995, 2002, 2010). However, Archer’s particular treatment of culture (1996) has not only been less influential in political analysis and the social sciences as a whole but has also received a number of criticisms that present problematic challenges to her analytical dualism between culture and agency. This paper seeks to reassert Archer’s notion of culture in a partial acquiescence to critics, by (1) expanding the theoretical foundation of her approach, (2) exploring the role of discourse and (3) proposing a model of interaction between the cultural and structural realms. Archer’s theoretical foundation derives partly from Roy Bhaskar’s work on critical realism (especially 1975 and 1979) and partly from David Lockwood’s work on systems theory (1964), but it is a further engagement with Bhaskar’s work in particular that allows a strengthening of this foundation and of the justification for using Archer’s approach. The structural-cultural interaction and the role of discourse are developed in this paper using the work of Norman Fairclough, who is best known as the central theorist of Critical Discourse Analysis.
    [Show full text]
  • Social Sciences $€ £ ¥
    social sciences $€ £ ¥ Article Reflexivity and Structural Positions: The Effects of Generation, Gender and Education Tea Golob 1 and Matej Makaroviˇc 1,2,* 1 School of Advanced Social Studies in Nova Gorica, Institute for Social Transformations, Gregorˇciˇceva19, SI-5000 Nova Gorica, Slovenia 2 Faculty of Information Studies, Ljubljanska 31a, SI-8000 Novo Mesto, Slovenia * Correspondence: [email protected] Received: 5 June 2019; Accepted: 21 August 2019; Published: 27 August 2019 Abstract: This article examines how reflexivity, as understood by Margaret Archer, is affected by the structural settings in the context of morphogenetic social and cultural transformations. It draws on the Slovenian national case as an example of swift structural and cultural shifts towards late modernity. For that purpose, we apply a new measurement tool developed through our previous research, which upgrades Archer’s existing ICONI model by distinguishing between the intensity and the concurrent practicing of the reflexivity modes within the inner dialogue. Based on a general national sample, we confirm not only the reflexivity changes from the older to the younger generations but also the role of education and gender in reflexivity levels and modes. We refer to the problem of deprivation and the importance of linking fractured reflexivity to the challenges, women are facing nowadays. Thus, the article confirms some of the critics of Archer’s work, demonstrating—despite significant individual differences—the clear impact of the individual’s background and her/his position in the social structure. Keywords: reflexivity; Margaret Archer; structure; Slovenia; morphogenetic transformation 1. Introduction The purpose of this article is to provide an empirical observation on how individuals’ reflexivity is affected by their positions in the social structure.
    [Show full text]
  • Habitus and Reflexivity in Tandem? Insights from Postcolonial Sri Lanka
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Heriot Watt Pure Habitus and Reflexivity in Tandem? Insights from Postcolonial Sri Lanka Abstract This paper contributes to the unresolved concern about the relationship between habitus and reflexivity. Using Sri Lanka, a postcolonial social-context as the research ground, the paper provides a contemporary interpretation of individuals’ reflexive and habitual behaviour that displaces Bourdieu’s concept of habitus as inappropriate for the representation of 21st century social dynamics. While Sri Lanka is often labelled a traditional society, where habitual, routine, pre-reflexive action is thought to be more common, studies that question this generalised view appear to be largely absent. Therefore, based on a critical realist morphogenetic perspective that renders the analytical possibility of both routine and conscious action, this paper investigates the role of habitus and reflexivity through seventy- five work and life histories gathered from Sri Lanka. The findings suggest that even the reproduction of traditional practices have increasingly become a reflexive task; thus, this work supports the position that habitus fails to provide reliable guidance to understand social-action, even within a society labelled as traditional. Key Words: Critical Realism, Habitus, Morphogenetic Approach, Reflexivity, Sri Lanka 1 Introduction This paper contributes to the unresolved sociological debate on reflexivity and habitus and demonstrates that the concept of reflexivity is more viable than routinised, habitual behaviour in understanding contemporary social-action. Reflexivity is the non-routine, creative individual action that responds to social influence upon their lives, transcending existing relations between structure, culture and agency (Brock, Carrigan and Scambler, 2017).
    [Show full text]