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Varieties and Variations of Functional Differentiation

  • Boris Holzer

    Boris Holzer is Professor of General Sociology and Macrosociology at the University of Konstanz. He has published on globalization and modernization theory, social networks and conflicts between protest groups and transnational corporations. His current research focuses on political and economic sociology, social networks and globalization. Recent book publications include: From Globalization to World Society (ed. with F. Kastner and T. Werron, Routledge 2015), Schlüsselwerke der Netzwerkforschung (ed. with Ch. Stegbauer, Springer VS 2019) and Politische Soziologie (2nd edition, Nomos 2020).

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From the journal Soziale Systeme

Abstract

Functional differentiation is associated with two salient features of globalization: First, societal subsystems such as the economy, science, religion and politics have become increasingly global in terms of the interconnectedness of their operations across the world. Second, they exhibit global structural similarities, for instance regarding functionally specific role relationships and corresponding formal organizations. However, functional differentiation entails not only more interconnectedness and homogenization but also considerable structural and institutional diversity. In this paper, I distinguish and examine two forms of diversity that emerge as consequences of functional differentiation: Varieties of institutional structures that concern different ways of addressing functionally specific problems, on the one hand, and on the other, the variation of forms of structural coupling among subsystems within a particular local or regional context.

About the author

Prof. Boris Holzer Ph.D.

Boris Holzer is Professor of General Sociology and Macrosociology at the University of Konstanz. He has published on globalization and modernization theory, social networks and conflicts between protest groups and transnational corporations. His current research focuses on political and economic sociology, social networks and globalization. Recent book publications include: From Globalization to World Society (ed. with F. Kastner and T. Werron, Routledge 2015), Schlüsselwerke der Netzwerkforschung (ed. with Ch. Stegbauer, Springer VS 2019) and Politische Soziologie (2nd edition, Nomos 2020).

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Published Online: 2021-06-11
Published in Print: 2021-06-26

© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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