Predecessor-Successor Transitions in Institutional and Interpersonal Contexts. On the Development of a Theory of the Transfer of Personal Objects

Abstract

This article outlines development of a theory of predecessor-successor transitions in social contexts using a grounded theory approach. The theory can be applied to such diverse phenomena as transfer of family businesses to next generation, university chair succession, passing on of parental roles (for example in case of adoption or remarriage), and organ transplantation. The core conceptual category that emerged was the transfer of personal objects. This concept refers to transfer of power of disposal over objects that are fundamental to identity and identification of owner. A number of theoretical dimensions of category were identified. Methodologically speaking, theory generated can be classified as a formal grounded theory. In other words, comparison of different empirical fields and cases using hermeneutical analysis yielded a transdisciplinary social science category that can be employed to conceptualise dynamics of development of interpersonal, social, or institutional structures, especially with regard to links and interplay between material and symbolic components, between individual and social, and past and present. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1102165