Theoretical Study of Social Hybridity Possibilities for Social Change Theory in the Age of Globalisation

The purpose of this paper is to show the new directions for reconstruction of the concept of society made possible by another concept – that of hybridity. First we shall argue that in the era of globalisation, the conventional view perceiving society as a self-fulfilling entity is no longer valid. Next, we will critically review the spatial and temporal frameworks, which have served as the basis for the concept of society so far, basing our analysis on the recent theories of space and time. We shall then focus on the concept of hybridity, showing that it can serve as a pivot providing us with the clue for reconstruction of society making the latter valid again. Although ‘hybridity’ is a term predominantly used in cultural research, here we shall try to look at it from a sociological perspective. We shall demonstrate that ‘social hybridity’ presents a new way to see society as a complex entity made of various interactions both within and across borders. Lastly, in order to show how this theory can be applied in empirical research, we shall introduce the concept of ‘zones of interactivity’. We will show that the ‘social hybridity’ approach built around a core of the ‘zone’ concept makes it possible to resurrect ‘society’ helping us to see the present social change from a completely new perspective.