that shape their mind-sets and limit their scope of action. Karl Marx summarized
this patterned freedom with the critical eye for which he is famous:
Men [sic] make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make
it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and
transmitted from the past. The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on
the brains of the living (ibid. 1852: 5).
No one is asked to share Marx’s interpretation of the past as an inevitable
nightmare. But everyone is invited to acknowledge the ideational background of
what we call reality today. Once we do this we see that of course reality cannot be
replaced by simply thinking differently. Humans live in structured freedom. Reality
does influence how humans imagine what is possible, right or just for the future.
But at the same time the way we think, believe and act today will shape future
reality. History becomes an open-ended process—the status quo determined not by
any human or social laws but created by sense-making and purposefully acting
humans.
Civilization did not cease to evolve after the first Enlightenment and modernity.
Sense-making, learning and purposeful acting continues. The quantification and
marketization of our world might be an incredibly strong trend now, but does not
mark ‘the end of history.’ Human freedom lies exactly in becoming literate in
deconstructing the emergence and perpetuation processes and patterns behind the
trend toward economic totalitarianism and in starting to change it. Ideas and beliefs
play an instrumental role in these reflection processes. They are the elements of
inspiration, rationalization and argumentation and hence function on the individual
as well as societal level.
The reflexive ontologies applied by most transformation researchers track the
co-evolutionary interplay between actors and the structures that surround them.
Some might explore behavior changes while others go deeper into analyzing
changes in peoples’ values and identity. The latter is what, for example, figuration
or process sociology—a term often associated with Norbert Elias (1897–1990)—
stands for. The German sociologist wrote about the connection between social
developments and human psychology. His book, The Civilizing Process (also
published under the title On the Process of Civilization), explores the relationship
over time between power, behavior, emotion and knowledge and became one of the
most influential sociology books of the twentieth century. In Elias’ theory, status
quo or circumstances are not portrayed as phenomena that occur and which humans
encounter. He sees them instead as manifestations of changing human relationships.
His term ‘sociogenesis’ thus describes the emergence of social practices, norms,
rules, procedures and institutions over time. Elias links it with the process of
‘psychogenesis’ to capture the molding effects that prevailing circumstances have
on individual learning and identity formation. The latter, explains Harald Welzer, a
contemporary German sociologist in Elias’ tradition, is the prerequisite of identity,
of being in control of one’s own fate. It carries values, habits and aspirations alike
(Welzer 2011: 15).
2.2 Summary: Paradigm Shifts and Large System Change …
45
this patterned freedom with the critical eye for which he is famous:
Men [sic] make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make
it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and
transmitted from the past. The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on
the brains of the living (ibid. 1852: 5).
No one is asked to share Marx’s interpretation of the past as an inevitable
nightmare. But everyone is invited to acknowledge the ideational background of
what we call reality today. Once we do this we see that of course reality cannot be
replaced by simply thinking differently. Humans live in structured freedom. Reality
does influence how humans imagine what is possible, right or just for the future.
But at the same time the way we think, believe and act today will shape future
reality. History becomes an open-ended process—the status quo determined not by
any human or social laws but created by sense-making and purposefully acting
humans.
Civilization did not cease to evolve after the first Enlightenment and modernity.
Sense-making, learning and purposeful acting continues. The quantification and
marketization of our world might be an incredibly strong trend now, but does not
mark ‘the end of history.’ Human freedom lies exactly in becoming literate in
deconstructing the emergence and perpetuation processes and patterns behind the
trend toward economic totalitarianism and in starting to change it. Ideas and beliefs
play an instrumental role in these reflection processes. They are the elements of
inspiration, rationalization and argumentation and hence function on the individual
as well as societal level.
The reflexive ontologies applied by most transformation researchers track the
co-evolutionary interplay between actors and the structures that surround them.
Some might explore behavior changes while others go deeper into analyzing
changes in peoples’ values and identity. The latter is what, for example, figuration
or process sociology—a term often associated with Norbert Elias (1897–1990)—
stands for. The German sociologist wrote about the connection between social
developments and human psychology. His book, The Civilizing Process (also
published under the title On the Process of Civilization), explores the relationship
over time between power, behavior, emotion and knowledge and became one of the
most influential sociology books of the twentieth century. In Elias’ theory, status
quo or circumstances are not portrayed as phenomena that occur and which humans
encounter. He sees them instead as manifestations of changing human relationships.
His term ‘sociogenesis’ thus describes the emergence of social practices, norms,
rules, procedures and institutions over time. Elias links it with the process of
‘psychogenesis’ to capture the molding effects that prevailing circumstances have
on individual learning and identity formation. The latter, explains Harald Welzer, a
contemporary German sociologist in Elias’ tradition, is the prerequisite of identity,
of being in control of one’s own fate. It carries values, habits and aspirations alike
(Welzer 2011: 15).
2.2 Summary: Paradigm Shifts and Large System Change …
45