The contemporary civilizational crisis from the perspective of critical realism

Abstract

ABSTRACT I begin this article by arguing that it is justified to believe in the real presence of a civilizational crisis in the contemporary world; and that this crisis is a real, emergent phenomenon. In so doing, I attempt to define the notions of ‘civilization’ and ‘crisis’. I also attempt to describe and explain this contemporary civilizational crisis in terms of morphogenetic and morphostatic categories. This attempt is founded upon the theory of social order, and it shows, in a most synthetic way, in a nutshell, key transformation processes that may be observed in the contemporary world. I present these processes in terms of both their social structure and culture; and in terms of their institutional, economic and demographic order. The theoretical basis for this purpose is the idea of critical realism and morphogenesis by Margaret S. Archer and Roy Bhaskar.