Morphogenetic Régulation (MR) is a (meta)theoretical and methodological framework that studies complex systemic transformations and their persistence within contemporary capitalism situated across four key and interrelated ontological debates: individual-group, structure-agency, material-ideational, and transcendence-immanence. This line of research appeared across a series of papers, the first of which was Knio’s (Citation2018) introduction of the Immanent Causality Morphogenetic Approach (ICMA) – augmenting Margaret Archer’s (Citation1995) Morphogenetic Analysis of structure and agency with Spinoza's concept of immanent causality. While the ICMA fully agrees with the tenets of Archer's analytical dualism when it comes to the group-individual and structure-agency debates, it problematizes and modifies it with respect to the material-ideational and transcendental-immanent debates.
Since its appearance in 2018, this intellectual endeavour has flourished into a series of papers, each extending the boundaries of ICMA and contributing to its conceptual and methodological repertoire. This trajectory continued in 2020 with the application of ICMA to the French Régulation (FR) approach, subsequently evolving into what we now recognize as MR. This work did not only ground ICMA within the context of analysing contemporary capitalist transformations, but it also showcased the necessity to advocate a problématique of institutional hierarchy and crisis along ontologically stratified and emergentist lines of research Knio (Citation2020).
Two further problématiques followed: the problématique of calibration and perseverance. The problématique of calibration (Knio Citation2023) shows on one hand why complex systems need to be based on trans-immanent objects and specifies on the other how non-linear causal mechanisms link complex system reproduction within their own environment. Building on these insights, the problématique of perseverance (Knio Citation2024) employs the Spinozian concept of the conatus to illuminate the motivation of action within a complex system. In so doing, it offers a nuanced theory of interest formation and construction while providing a CR understanding of the temporality between endometabolism and hybridization in the FR lexicon. This burgeoning field research has now extended its reach into various empirical themes, spanning the emergence of Web3 and AI, neo-liberalization processes in Palestine, and inclusive governance (Dryhurst, Sloman, and Zahda Citation2023).
This is a call for papers to contribute to a Special Issue on Morphogenetic Régulation (MR). We invite and welcome contributions that seek to situate and apply MR across an array of themes and disciplines in social sciences.
Timeline for submissions
Submission of full papers to the Journal of Critical Realism will open on 1 April 2024 and close on 31 September 2024. Abstracts (350 words max) can be sent to Associate Editor Karim Kniou [email protected] before submission of the full paper for an initial assessment of relevance.
All papers will be subject to peer review. Feedback period: November 2024.
Final decisions by 15 January 2025.
Final papers are required by 15 February 2025.
References
- Archer, M. 1995. Realist Social Theory: The Morphogenetic Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Dryhurst, A., D. Z. Sloman, and Y. Zahda. 2023. “Morphogenetic Régulation in Action: Understanding Inclusive Governance, Neoliberalizing Processes in Palestine, and the Political Economy of the Contemporary Internet.” Journal of Critical Realism 22 (5): 813–839. https://doi.org/10.1080/14767430.2023.2279950.
- Knio, K. 2018. “The Morphogenetic Approach and Immanent Causality: A Spinozian Perspective.” Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 48 (4): 398–415. https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12181.
- Knio, K. 2020. “Critical Realist Encounters: Morphogenizing the French Régulation Approach.’” Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 50 (4): 462–489. https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12253.
- Knio, K. 2023. “Complexity, Trans-Immanent Systems and Morphogenetic Régulation: Towards a Problématique of Calibration.’” Journal of Critical Realism 22 (5): 790–812. https://doi.org/10.1080/14767430.2023.2264139.
- Knio, K. 2024. “Calibrating the Conatus in Morphogenetic Régulation: Towards a Problématique of Perseverance.” Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour. https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12408.