Download or read book Understanding Change written by Andreas Wimmer and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past two decades, new models and methodologies for understanding processes of change have been developed in the natural sciences, economics and the social sciences: chaos theory and new evolutionary theory, path dependency and neo-institutional economics, the theories of multilinear modernization and historical institutionalism. All six paradigms contain notions of non-linearity, partial determination, and irreversibility. What can the different disciplines learn from each other in better grasping and explaining complex forms of change in the contemporary natural, economic and social world? How far can models, methodologies and metaphors that have been used successfully in one disciplinary field be "exported" and meaningfully applied in others fields? Each model is here presented by a main article and then discussed by representatives of the other two disciplinary fields exploring the possibilities of cross-disciplinary borrowing and exchange. This highly integrated volume represents a rare example of a successful cross-disciplinary dialogue, with a stellar list of authors directly addressing each others' contributions.