Re: Merging WST and complexity science

In a message dated 6/12/2003 11:32:54 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
bstremli@binghamton.edu writes:

> What is to be gained by
> forcing people to chose between civilization singular and civilizations
> plural?  Why not have both?  In fact, the very statement of the problem in
> these terms only perpetuates the dichotomies and their 
> enforcement.

Yes, the one of the weakest aspects of Wallerstein's thought--quite present in 
the civilizations quote I posted yesterday--is the idea that if one social 
system is operating in some geographical area, it is the only one.  Urging that 
civilizations not be reified, Wallerstein reifies social system.  In fact, 
social systems are much more fluid and overlapping than he indicates, in that 
quote or in many other places. Furthermore 'geocultures' do not have life spans 
coterminus with the systems that spawn them, which is why so many people in the 
world live in mental landscapes of Christianity, Islam, etc despite the fact 
that these belief systems were developed to order behavior in systems long gone.

Steven Sherman