4. Theorizing Meta-Organizations and Social Orders

In this chapter, I delve into the development of a more integrated approach based on decisions. Drawing on decisionalism, social order analysis and meta-organizations, I propose five dimensions of an overarching theory: infra-organizationality, structural organizationality, entitative organizationality, contextual organizationality and meta-organizationality. So infra-organizationality basically describes the foundational and underlying parameters of social orders that affect their nature and dynamics. Infra-organizationality includes ontology, determination, changeability, acceptance and density. Next comes structural organizationality, which has to do with structure or organizational components. Then entitative organizationality deals with various dimensions of the system or processual entity: interconnected decision-making, actorhood and collective identity. Contextual organizationality is about temporality, territoriality and professionality. Finally, meta-organizationality addresses specific attributes resulting from the nesting of social orders in meta-organizations (or meta-meta- and more): multi-referentiality, layering, dialectical actorhood and multi-level decidedness.