Ben,
You might check out Stan Salthe's hierarchy theory: intentional and
extensional hierarchies. He's designed it for analysis of bioecological
issues, but it can with some imagination be used to analyse political
economic and social issues.
http://www.nbi.dk/~natphil/salthe/natphilecol.2001.html
http://www.nbi.dk/~natphil/salthe/hierarchy_th.html Also
http://www.isss.org/hierarchy.htm
www.library.utoronto.ca/see/pages/hierarchydef.html If you find those
interesting you can search through the google files on hierarchy theory:
some 1,460,000 entries. The most interesting and relevant of these concern
biosemiology. (Note. Amost interesting feature of Salthe's hierarchy theory
is that his concept of the "intentional hierarchy" is virtually the same as
the Hegelean dialectical method).
Victor
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ben Kirshner" <kirshner@stanford.edu>
To: <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
Sent: Thursday, October 16, 2003 8:01 PM
Subject: timescale question
> Dear xmca,
>
> I have a theoretical question about timescales, and wondering if anyone
> could refer me to articles on the subject, or offer some thoughts...
>
> As I analyze 2 years of data from a youth organization that is part of my
> dissertation research, I'm trying to make sense of two distinct, but
> ultimately complementary, analytic lenses:
>
> *On one hand, I can observe and find evidence for significant change over
> time in the social organization of the group (i.e., the distribution of
> roles, levels of responsibility taken by youth, etc.). This I take to be
a
> diachronic, developmental view.
>
> *On the other hand, I see recurring patterns that are not reducible to a
> linear, diachronic view. For example, certain non-time related variables
> (e.g., the subject being discussed, the people involved) influence social
> interactions in systematic, predictable ways across time. Would this
> second analytic frame be accurately called "synchronic?" Could you
suggest
> theoretically-oriented articles that offer clarity on how to weave these
> two analytic lenses together?
>
> Note: I feel some familiarity with distinctions that are drawn among
levels
> of time--microgenetic, ontogenetic, mesogenetic, phylogenetic--but wonder
> if all of these still refer to variations on change over time, whereas my
> question is really about patterns that are cyclical or recurring or stable
> over time.
>
> Thanks for any thoughts on the subject,
>
> Ben
>
> ____________________________________
> Ben Kirshner
> Doctoral Candidate
> Child and Adolescent Development
> Stanford University School of Education
>
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