England's Seventeenth Century Difficulty of Double Contingency
Functional Differentiation as Separation of Powers
Because the characteristics of the primary differentiation in each period of human history do not disappear in the passage to more highly evolved forms of governance, it is possible to continue to closely observe the ideal types [of societies in terms of their differentiations] in general terms while focusing on significant recent developments — England’s breakthrough to functional differentiation in the seventeenth century, and the twenty-first century malfunctions of functional differentiation in some anglosphere countries. Comparative illustrations of individual, segmental, centre-periphery, and status differentiation will enter logically into my examination of the early modern English experience when tracing its historical trajectory in contrast with Europe and China where functional differentiation happened later or not at all.
Modernity commences with functional differentiation, with the transition from organisation to system. Fun…