Emergence is attracting growing interest in the sciences. This paper argues understanding emergence in social science requires different approaches than in the physical sciences. The argument makes use of contributions by Elizabeth Fox Keller, Thomas Kuhn, Jane Jacobs, Michael Polanyi, and F. A. Hayek. As a subset of emergent phenomena, spontaneous orders have complex relations with one another and with emergent processes in civil society and nature. This includes areas of conflict as well as the symbiosis usually discussed. Conflicts include commodification, alienation, inequalities of power, tensions with organizations within them and ecological and social degradation. This new paradigm promises to enrich the social sciences and their interrelation with the biological sciences.
To read more, see the article here.