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C. Fuchs:
"Some Implications of Pierre Bourdieu’s Works for a Theory of Social Self-Organisation";
accepted for publication in European Journal of Social Theory 6 (2003), 4; 387 - 408.

The philosophical implications of the sciences of complexity suggest that complex systems (such as society) function according to a dialectic of chance and necessity, multidimensionality, non-linearity and circular causality. It is argued that one could employ aspects of Pierre Bourdieu’s theory in order to establish a consistent theory of social self-organisation. Bourdieu describes society in epistemological terms as consisting of mutual relationships of subjectivity/objectivity, individual/society, homogeneity/diversity, freedom/necessity, externalisation of internality/internalisation of externality, embodiment/objectification, modus operandi/opus operatum. The concept of the habitus is a means of explaining the re-creation/self-organisation of social systems in terms of human beings as permanent creators and permanently created results of society.