Functional differentiation makes social structures contingent and permanently revisable

Evidence

A basic dualism … pervades the fundamental form of all sociation. The dualism consists in the fact that a relation, which is a fluctuating, constantly developing life-process, nevertheless receives a relatively stable external form. The sociological forms of reciprocal behavior, of unification, of presentation toward the outside, cannot follow, with any precise adaptation, the changes of their inside, that is, of the processes that occur in the individual in regard to the other. These two layers, relation and form, have different tempi of development; or it often is the nature of the external form not to develop properly at all. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 778 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Social relations crystallize into fixed external forms that cannot keep pace with inner life — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 778; Socially constructed action categories generate increased social complexity; Mass-society theory evolved by reconciling homogeneity with differentiation — Ernesto Laclau, On Populist Reason, 156 (+1 more)

Related

• Social relations crystallize into fixed external forms that cannot keep pace with inner life (similarity 0.86)
• Relational qualities can harden into intrinsic traits of an element (similarity 0.84)
• Mass-society theory evolved by reconciling homogeneity with differentiation (similarity 0.83)
• Societies require a mix of discord and harmony to take determinate shape (similarity 0.83)
• Belief that existing arrangements are natural blocks real social change. (similarity 0.82)
• Real social unities must be conceptually dissolved into dualities that never fully capture them (similarity 0.79)
• Functional differentiation frees individuals from role-dictated behavior (similarity 0.79)
• Social formations form complex unities structured in dominance rather than expressive identities. (similarity 0.78)
• Human essence is the ensemble of social relations, not an individual abstraction (similarity 0.78)
• Each mode of production is driven forward by overcoming its own contradictions (similarity 0.78)
• The individual’s inner mental relations mirror social relations among persons (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Social relations crystallize into fixed external forms that cannot keep pace with inner life #corroborates (0.75) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 778
• Socially constructed action categories generate increased social complexity #corroborates (0.72)