Definitions

Personal civilisation

The historically formed configuration, existing at a particular moment, of concep­tions and assumptions about reality, norms and values, behavioural repertoires, goals and ideals through which an individual interprets and evaluates the world in different situations and acts within it.

Explanation. A personal civilisation is largely learned, but is not necessarily fully con­scious, logically consistent or unchanging. It is formed and modified throughout life by, among other things, upbringing, education, relationships, experiences, media, institu­tions and participation in different social circles. The same part of a personal civilisation is not operative in every situation. The sphere and social circle in which a person acts in­fluence which conceptions, norms and behavioural repertoires come to the fore.

Consciousness

The civilisation elements that are consciously accessible or unconsciously operative for an individual at a particular moment and through which that individual inter­prets and evaluates the world, forms goals and directs conduct, insofar as these ele­ments can in principle be made empirically ascertainable and measurable for the application of the theory.

Explanation. Within this theory, accessibility does not mean exclusively that an individ­ual can consciously name or report a civilisation element. Unconsciously operative civili­sation elements may also be included in consciousness in this technical sense, insofar as they can be reconstructed empirically from statements, choices, judgements, conduct, responses or other observable indicators. A presumed civilisation element that cannot in principle be made empirically ascertainable or measurable cannot perform a descriptive or explanatory function within this theory.

Circle civilisation

The sufficiently shared and socially operative elements of the personal civilisations of the members of a social circle, insofar as they make common expectations, judgement, cooperation and cohesion possible within that circle.

Explanation. A circle civilisation presupposes neither a collective consciousness nor complete agreement. Members need only agree on, or recognise as valid, sufficient rele­vant elements to make predictable cooperation possible. Elements of a circle civilisation may find expression in language, customs, expectations of conduct, rules, functions, sto­ries and institutions.

Dominant circle civilisation

The elements of a circle civilisation that, within a social circle at a particular mo­ment, provide the principal standards for what counts as true or credible, good or justified, normal or appropriate, and worth pursuing.

Explanation. Dominance does not mean that every member fully endorses these ele­ments internally. An element may be dominant because it is widely shared, recognised as valid, or institutionally embedded to such a degree that it directs actual conduct and judgement within the circle.

Social circle

A concrete and recognisable social association of individuals who are connected through more or less enduring mutual relations and are therefore interdependent.

Explanation. Examples include a family, circle of friends, enterprise, university, associa­tion, political party and state. An individual may simultaneously be a member of several social circles. The concept denotes the concrete association itself, not the social category to which such an association belongs. The latter is referred to as a sphere.

Group

A collection of individuals who are designated collectively for a particular descrip­tion, without necessarily presupposing an enduring mutual social association or a shared circle civilisation.

Explanation. Every social circle consists of a group of people, but not every group of people constitutes a social circle. The distinction prevents accidental or exclusively ana­lytical groupings from automatically being attributed the properties of an enduring social association.

Social relations

Relatively enduring relations between individuals or social circles in which their mu­tual positions, dependencies, expectations and possibilities for action are partly formed by operative civilisation elements.

Explanation. Social relations describe how individuals and social circles relate to one another in actual conduct. They include differences in position, dependency, expectations and possibilities for action. Operative civilisation elements help shape these relations, but social relations may also be influenced by formal powers, material circumstances and actual power differentials. Changes in social relations may in turn affect personal and circle civilisations.

Sphere

A category of social circles with a corresponding social function and associated characteristic relations, roles and expectations.

Explanation. Families, enterprises, universities, courts and states operate in different spheres of social life. Different social circles within the same sphere may differ greatly from one another, but remain recognisable as the same type of social association. The concept is functionally related to Kuyper’s thought concerning life circles and spheres, but is used here analytically without adopting the normative or worldview-based compo­nents of his system.

Civilisation element

An analytically distinguishable component of a personal or circle civilisation be­longing to one of four categories: conceptions and assumptions about reality, norms and values, behavioural repertoires, or goals and ideals.

Explanation. The four categories are analytical distinctions. In actual thought and con­duct they are closely intertwined. Together, these elements may be understood as the ideas that give content to a civilisation. Civilisation elements can be distinguished ana­lytically, but often operate in combination within personal and circle civilisations. The boundaries between individual elements are therefore determined by the purpose and level of detail of the analysis.

Conceptions and assumptions about reality

Civilisation elements concerning what an individual or social circle holds to be true, probable or credible, including conceptions of what exists or has occurred, causes and consequences, reliable sources, expertise, authority and convincing forms of evidence.

Explanation. For the explanation of conduct, it is relevant not only how reality actually is, but also how someone believes it to be. A conception may be correct, partly correct, uncertain, outdated or false and nevertheless direct conduct.

Norms and values

Civilisation elements through which conduct, persons, institutions and social condi­tions or outcomes are judged as right or wrong, permissible or impermissible, or de­sirable or undesirable.

Explanation. Because norms and values can also evaluate conditions or outcomes as de­sirable or undesirable, they can provide standards for formulating goals worth pursuing. Values express more general evaluations; norms translate these partly into concrete ex­pectations concerning conduct. Norms and values need not be mutually consistent within a single individual or social circle. In concrete situations, values may conflict and the rela­tive significance attributed to them may differ by sphere or social circle.

Behavioural repertoires

Civilisation elements consisting of often sequential and interrelated possibilities for action from which an individual may choose in different social situations and which help direct how that individual acts in practice.

Explanation. A behavioural repertoire is not the same as actual conduct. What someone ultimately does is also influenced by circumstances, interests, emotions, dependencies, coercion and personality characteristics.

Goals and ideals

Civilisation elements consisting of representations of personal or social conditions, relations or outcomes that an individual or social circle considers worth pursuing.

Explanation. Goals may be concrete and temporary; ideals are generally broader and more directive. This category is essential for political analysis because it reveals which future condition individuals and social circles seek to realise. Goals may partly arise from norms and values through which possible conditions or outcomes are evaluated as desir­able or undesirable.

Actor

An individual or social circle that, in a particular situation, can be regarded as a unit that chooses or acts purposively.

Explanation. Not every individual or social circle acts as an actor in every situation. The concept is used when an individual or social circle chooses or acts purposively in the situ­ation under investigation.

Support base

The individuals and social circles that support an actor’s goals or purposive con­duct to a sufficient degree to contribute to that actor’s capacity to act and exert influence.

Explanation. A following presupposes neither complete agreement with all of an actor’s goals or civilisation elements nor formal membership of an organisation. Support may take many forms, including assent, voting, participation, cooperation, funding, dissemi­nation of ideas, or the performance and support of activities.
Individuals or social circles are more likely to belong to an actor’s following when, from their own personal or circle civilisation, they experience the actor’s assessment of situa­tions, goals and courses of action as recognisable, justified or desirable. Systems of ideas and narratives may contribute to the coherence, recognisability and legitimation of the actor’s purposive conduct.
The size, social position, resources and actual cooperation of a following may constitute a power base for the actor. A following is not the same as power: it contributes to an ac­tor’s capacity only insofar as the support can become socially operative in the situation concerned.

Civilising

The continuous process through which civilisation elements are formed, transmit­ted, internalised, maintained, interpreted, modified, strengthened, weakened or rejected, and through which personal and circle civilisations arise, continue and change.

Explanation. Civilising is not synonymous with moral improvement. The process is sub­stantively neutral: it may promote freedom, cooperation and restraint, but may also nor­malise obedience, exclusion, enemy images or oppression. Civilising begins in upbring­ing, is later extended through substantive formation and social participation, and re­mains operative throughout life. Trust in persons and institutions strongly influences which ideas are adopted and internalised.

Idea

Transmissible mental content concerning how reality is understood, what is re­garded as right or desirable, which courses of action are appropriate or available, or which goals and ideals are pursued. In this theory, civilisation elements are col­lectively described as the ideas that give content to a civilisation.

Explanation. Idea is therefore an overarching concept and not a fifth category alongside the four types of civilisation element. The phrase ‘how ideas become power’ refers to the process through which such ideas become socially operative by means of civilising, the formation of social circles and institutionalisation.

System of ideas

A coherent set of ideas about reality, norms and values, appropriate courses of action, and goals and ideals to be pursued.

Explanation. Separate ideas may coexist without together forming a usable alternative to an existing order. A system of ideas provides sufficient coherence to explain and evalu­ate a situation and connect it with a desired direction of action. In ordinary lan­guage, a central, directive idea within a system of ideas may be called a principle. Within this theory, principle is not used as a separate technical concept.

Narrative

The coherent and transmissible representation through which a system of ideas is explained and legitimated so that others can understand, evaluate and internalise it.

Explanation. A narrative is not the same as a system of ideas. The system of ideas is the substantive coherence; the narrative is the form in which that coherence is made com­prehensible, recognisable and transmissible. Ideology is therefore not used as a syn­onym. In ordinary language, ideology often carries a normative or propagandistic conno­tation, whereas narrative performs an analytical function here. For purposes of transmis­sion, a narrative may gain strength when its content is expressed as simply as possible without losing the necessary coherence of the system of ideas.

Institution

An enduring system of roles, rules, norms and expectations in which elements of a circle civilisation are socially embedded and thereby made less dependent on particular persons.

Explanation. An institution need not be a formal organisation. Marriage, property, or the generally shared expectation that agreements will be honoured may also function as institutions. Organisations may be bearers of institutions, but organisation and institu­tion are not the same concept.

Institutionalisation

The process through which shared civilisation elements are durably embedded in institutions and thereby made less dependent on their original bearers.

Explanation. Institutionalisation may arise without planning, without anyone having de­signed or pursued the eventual result, but it may also be promoted purposively.
Through institutionalisation, ideas may persist longer than the persons who originally formulated them and may be repeated and transmitted through roles, rules, procedures, customs and organisations.

Internalisation

The process through which externally presented civilisation elements become part of an individual’s personal civilisation and thereby help direct that individual’s think­ing, judgement and conduct.

Explanation. Internalisation goes beyond knowledge or outward conformity. An individ­ual may obey a rule for fear of a sanction without endorsing the norm itself. Internalisa­tion occurs when the presented content begins to function as the individual’s own stan­dard for thinking, judgement or conduct. What is initially experienced as an external ex­pectation or constraint may thereby become part of self-regulation.

Rationalisation

The process through which an individual explains or reinterprets a perceived con­tradiction between civilisation elements, or between civilisation elements and con­duct, in such a way that they once again become compatible with the existing personal civilisation.

Explanation. Rationalisation may cause apparently contradictory conceptions, norms or conduct to be experienced by the individual as compatible after all. The concept is used descriptively here and not as a synonym for deliberate deception or reasoning according to rational rules.

Power

An actor’s capacity to influence, constrain or direct the thinking, judgement or conduct of other individuals or social circles.

Explanation. Power is a capacity and is not the same as the influence exercised through it. It may exist without being actively employed at a particular moment. An actor’s power rests on one or more power bases, such as property, position, knowledge, prestige, rights, numbers or other resources. By employing that power, the actor may exert influ­ence on the thinking, judgement or conduct of individuals or social circles. The actual change or effect produced in others is distinguished as influence.

Power base

A property, position, resource, relation of dependency or circumstance on which an actor’s capacity to influence, constrain or direct the thinking, judgement or conduct of other individuals or social circles partly rests.

Explanation. Possible power bases include property, formal position, knowledge, exper­tise, prestige, rights, numbers, access to resources or relations of dependency. The inter­nal cohesion of a social circle, its degree of organisation, and the capacity of its members to exercise collective control over one another may also function as power bases. The significance of a power base is not the same in every situation, but depends partly on the circle civilisation, institutions, social relations, and the ways in which other individuals or social circles respond to it.

Influence

The effect that an actor’s conduct or the presence of that actor’s power has on the thinking, judgement or conduct of an individual or social circle.

Explanation. Influence is the realised effect of power and must be distinguished from it analytically. Power may exist without influence being exerted at a particular moment; in­fluence may result from a concrete exercise of power, but also when individuals or social circles anticipate the power available to an actor.

Politics

The struggle between competing actors to achieve goals.

Explanation. Politics is thereby distinguished from undirected or unplanned change and from conduct in which there is no struggle between competing actors. Competing actors are actors who, in a particular situation, pursue outcomes that cannot simply be realised simultaneously. A difference of opinion, preference or interest does not in itself consti­tute political struggle. Political struggle arises when actors oppose one another and at­tempt to influence the outcome in the direction of their own goals. Competing actors are thus actors whose goals, desired outcomes, positions, ideas or chosen means are not sim­ply compatible in the situation concerned.The goals pursued in political struggle may vary greatly. They may concern changing, maintaining or ending conceptions, norms, rules, relations, institutions or other condi­tions. Institutionalisation and the creation of collectively binding rules may be means or goals, but are not necessary characteristics of politics.The definition does not confine politics to the state, elections, political parties or formal state bodies. Political struggle may occur within any social circle or between social cir­cles, for example within a family, organisation, association, church, enterprise or state, or between states. Ideas and systems of ideas may help determine the content and direc­tion of political goals, but political struggle may also concern interests, positions, re­sources or other desired outcomes.

Legitimacy

The justification of a norm, conduct, institution or claim to power as recognised within a civilisation.

Explanation. In this theory, legitimacy is a social and civilisational phenomenon. The recognition of a claim to power as legitimate does not in itself mean that the claim is morally right or factually justified according to an external criterion of evaluation.

Social sanctioning

The application of informal or formal responses through which a social circle pro­motes conforming conduct and discourages or punishes deviant conduct.

Explanation. Social sanctioning ranges from approval, disapproval and avoidance to for­mal disciplinary measures or legal coercion. Not every sanction produces internalisation; it may also result only in outward conformity.

Pathologisation

The process through which deviant conceptions or conduct are not assessed pri­marily on their content, but are treated as indications of a cognitive, moral, psy­chological or social deficiency in the person who holds or displays them.

Explanation. Pathologisation is a particular form of person-directed delegitimation. The concept is used sociologically and does not denote a medical or psychiatric diagnosis. Within a social circle, pathologisation may help legitimate the social sanctioning or ex­clusion of fundamental deviation.

Legitimising civilisation loop

The self-reinforcing process through which a circle civilisation produces institutions that acquire authority and subsequently use that authority to confirm the premises and legitimacy of the same civilisation.

Explanation. The loop explains how institutions that arose from a civilisation can subse­quently function as authoritative sources for judging what is true, right or legitimate. It thereby reinforces the authority of the civilisation from which it arose. The legitimising civilisation loop must be distinguished from the reproductive civilisation loop: the former primarily concerns institutional confirmation and legitimation, whereas the latter con­cerns social transmission and reproduction.

Reproductive civilisation loop

The self-reinforcing process through which a circle civilisation contributes, by means of civilising, to the internalisation of its elements by individuals, whose think­ing, judgement and conduct subsequently contribute to the reproduction of that circle civilisation and its institutions.

Explanation. This loop explains how a circle civilisation can persist while individual members disappear or are replaced. New members and generations encounter an al­ready formed environment, are civilised within it, and subsequently contribute to its con­tinued existence. Reproduction does not mean that a civilisation is copied without change. During transmission, elements may be modified, interpreted differently, strengthened, weakened or replaced.

Elite

The individuals within a social circle who possess, to a particular degree, the power to direct that circle’s goals, organisation, norms and conduct.

Explanation. Elite is used here as an analytical and not necessarily normative concept. An elite need not constitute a formal governing body and need not act as a single, united actor. Elites are themselves civilised and operate within existing institutions, dependen­cies and expectations of legitimacy.

Governing elite

The individuals who occupy positions within the institutions of the state that give them, to a particular degree, the power to influence, constrain or direct collec­tively binding decisions, institutional standards and the narrative of the state.

Explanation. The governing elite may strongly influence the state narrative and institu­tional conduct, but it does not possess unlimited freedom. It too operates within existing institutions, circle civilisations and expectations of legitimacy.

State

A territorial social circle whose social order is embedded in institutions that claim the ultimate authority to establish collectively binding rules within the territory and, where necessary, to enforce them through legitimate and exclusive means.

Explanation. The state is thus understood not as a single institution, but as a particular territorial social circle whose order is embedded in institutions. The definition describes this position without thereby making a normative judgement about its desirability or jus­tification. According to the theory, the enduring power of a state rests not only on means of coercion, but also on the extent to which the legitimacy of the state forms part of per­sonal and circle civilisations and is reproduced through institutional conduct.

Movement

An enduring constellation of individuals, social circles, organisations, means of communication, practices and institutions connected by sufficiently shared civilisa­tion elements, within which a shared or developing system of ideas and narrative are formed, interpreted, disseminated and reproduced, and within which a purpo­sive striving for social change may arise.

Explanation. A movement need not itself form a single social circle or formal organisa­tion, nor need it have been purposively founded at an identifiable moment. It may arise gradually from enduring relationships organised around shared conceptions, tensions, goals or desired changes. Within an established movement, purposive political action may come to occupy an increasingly important place.
The degree of organisation, coordination and leadership may vary greatly and change over time. Because participants do not fully share the same personal and circle civilisa­tions, different interpretations, tendencies and priorities may arise within a movement. This may lead to internal conflict, organisational separation or new movements.
Sources, media, meetings, symbols, rituals, education, training, organisations and insti­tutions may jointly perform a civilising function within a movement. They may preserve and develop ideas, repeatedly expose participants to the same civilisation elements, and make transmission less dependent on individual initiators or founders.
As a movement becomes socially recognisable, a name or designation generally emerges through which participants and outsiders can recognise it, identify with it or define themselves against it. When its civilisation elements are also internalised and institution­alised outside the movement, its civilising effect may spread through society and contrib­ute to changes in circle civilisations, institutions and power relations.