Cohesion and social order: limitations and epistemological alternatives in risk contexts. The case of the emergency neighborhoods in Atacama, Chile
Abstract
A central concept in the social sciences is that of social cohesion. Its importance lies in its ability to provide a theoretical response to the problem of the construction of social order, as well as tools for the design of public policies. However, in the context of contemporary society, the concept presents some challenges. There is consensus in the literature that it is an ambiguous concept that does not answer the question of how social order is produced and how it operates. Using the idea of risk as a general orientation, in this article we discuss the use of the concept of social cohesion to describe social order and guide public policies in the context of the construction of transitional neighborhoods after socio-environmental disasters. We use the case of the transitional neighborhoods in Atacama built after the 2015 alluviums as an example to illustrate the practical scope of this reflection. In conclusion, we argue that the concept of social cohesion operates as an epistemological obstacle with theoretical and practical limitations that can be overcome by using approaches from systems theory and cybernetics as tools to rethink the social order under the perspective of its self-organization.Keywords:
social cohesion , risk , social systems , self-organization , epistemological obstaclesReferences
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