Sociological studies of diffusion

Is History Relevant

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4237679
AutoresMarie‐laure Djelic (École Supérieure des Sciences Économiques et Commerciales, autor de correspondencia)
Año2008
Volumen6
Número3
Páginas538-557
Fecha de publicación2008-04-15
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSocio-Economic Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1475-1461 • E-ISSN: 1475-147X
EditorialOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/ser/mwn008
OpenAlexW2095533514
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas13
Referencias citadas28

The question of increasing similarity of forms and ideas is an important one in the social sciences in general. There are two main - and strikingly different - ways to account for increasing social similarity. The first is through an evolutionary or modernization type of argument, where increasing similarity reveals parallel but\ndiscrete processes of fit and adaptation. The second is through a diffusionist kind of argument, where forms and ideas circulate and spread across many different kinds of borders. Comparing three variants of the diffusionist argument, this article explores the different notions of time and history that these three variants\nreveal and express. While history always seems relevant, the way in which it is understood and plays out clearly varies across types. In conclusion, we suggest that recent developments in sociological studies of diffusion call, beyond history, to genealogical or archaeological research strategies

Adaptation (eye · Argument (complex analysis · Biology · Epistemology · Genealogy · Modernization theory · Political science · Positive economics · Similarity (geometry · Social science · Sociology · Variation (astronomy · Computer Science · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Culture, Economy, and Development Studies · History · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Sociology and Norbert Elias · World Systems and Global Transformations · Artificial Intelligence