Publications

Journal Article

In social theory, emergence is the process of novelty (1) creation, (2) growth, and (3) formation into a recognizable social object, process, or structure. Emergence is recognized as important for the existence of novel features of society such as new organizations, new practices, or new relations between actors.

In this introduction to the volume on emergence, the authors introduce a framework for examining emergence processes and theories that have been applied or can be applied to each of the three stages. The authors also review each volume chapter and discuss their relation to each other.

Finally, the authors make suggestions on the future of research on social emergence processes.