The Context of Hierarchical Complexity

Metamodern sociologist Daniel Görtz joins Brendan Graham Dempsey to dig deeper into the nuances of developmental theory and how it can be applied at the individual and collective levels. Are individuals "at" a stage of development, or do they occupy a range of complexity? With all the distributional ranges involved in individual development, how can we make assessments about entire cultural worldviews? Daniel digs into the nuances of the Model of Hierarchical Complexity, exploring unpublished theories and ideas of Michael Commons and himself as they relate to thinking about conceptual complexification for people and societies.

0:00 Introduction

Part I: Individual Development

2:28 Are People "at" a Stage or Thinking/Behaving Across a Distribution?

5:12 The MHC vs. Holistic, Whole-Person Models

10:11 Transjective Behavioral Complexity: Context and Scaffolding

25:17 Cognitive Ranges, Cognitive Ceilings

30:22 Piaget and Beyond

Part II: Cultural Development

33:04 Are Ideas "at" a Stage?

42:16 Are Cultural Worldviews "at" a Stage?

56:44 The Dynamics of Cultural Evolution

1:20:36 Pattern and Medium

1:32:16 Problems and Progress: Nothing for Granted