Homology: Sensemaking Revisited

Ascribed coherence tries to avoid the tension between process and structure by identifying processes after the fact. In real time, this reification does not work; only ex post facto can one define processes as if they were structures. Ascribed coherence avoids the preconscious, nonverbal, and not-yet-defined quality of emergence. It also abandons the present, the experiential, and the living. Ascription does not share in emergence or fully reflect social complexity. In emergence, there is no closed or predetermined causality. Relationship takes over, the course of activity is open, and can be unexpected. Change can be out of all proportionality to cause. In emergence, there is process or dynamic change and identity as well as structure. Emergent circumstances can involve people, organizations, and states of affairs. Emergent identities are nonlinear and (seemingly) self-organizing.