This chapter focuses on the last of the four propositions which are explored throughout Part II:

1. (i) There are logical relationships between components of the Cultural System (CS).

2. (ii) There are causal influences exerted by the CS on the Socio Cultural(S-C) level.

3. (iii) There are causal relationships between groups and individuals at the S- C level.

4. (iv) There is elaboration of the CS due to the S-C level modifying current logical relationships and introducing new ones.

The last stage of the morphogenetic cycle has now been reached. Chapter 7 ended with the derivation of two cultural innovations from the interplay between Cultural System conditioning and Socio-Cultural interaction. It remains to examine these derivations as elaborations of the CS, that is in terms of being:

Since it has never been maintained that ‘derivation’ is the only source of these elaborated features (the last chapter touched briefly upon how they could arise independently), then what is being proffered here is a theoretical account of the sufficient rather than the necessary conditions for cultural morphogenesis. Nevertheless, even if the two elaborated properties do have independent origins, they share the features listed above and thus there is no call for separate treatment.

With the introduction of these innovations – the competitive contradiction and the contingent complementarity – a more complete and more recognizable picture of the cultural domain should immediately emerge.