WHY IS IT SO HARD TO CHANGE THE WORLD?

Abstract

At the centre of modern social thought there is a well-known theoretical puzzle. The social world is constructed by ongoing social activities, and if not continuously reproduced by our ongoing practices, it would immediately cease to exist. How come, then, that we nevertheless experience this universe of ongoing practices and practical results as some external opaque reality, even as such an unbending force? A typological distinction between several forms of social externality might help to resolve the puzzle: we are ruled, governed, controlled, constrained (as well as helped along) by the material results of past activities; by the symbolic products of our imaginations and activities; by rules and procedures; by other people with authority and power; and finally, by anonymous social mechanisms.