ABSTRACT
A central conclusion to this book is the proposal for a redirection of the sociology of global complexity and its interest in such things as networks or complex human interactions towards a foundational ontology of complexity. The difference lies in the reliance of the former on the sui-generis thesis, despite the readiness of globalisation theory, unlike post-structuralism, to admit that humans are ‘also’ networked with non-human phemomena (Urry 2003; Castells 1997; Latour 1993; etc.), including technological relations to ‘materials’. From the standpoint of a foundational ontology of complex emergence, a specific chronology and history must be emphasised. The sociology of complexity constantly recognises this; indeed it must do to the extent that Prigogine’s influence is felt or so far as complex systems theory is assimilated into its corpus of knowledge.
