Attribute of a
behavior that is in certain crucial respects incomprehensible through observation either for lack of repetition, e.g., by involving only
transient states which are unique, or for lack of stabilities, e.g., when transition probabilities (
see probabilities ) are so variable that there are not enough observations available to ascertain them.
evolution and social processes involving structural changes are inherently non-ergodic. To understand non-ergodic behavior requires either reference to the underlying
organization of the
system exhibiting it or the study of a large sample of systems of the same kind (
see ergodic ). (
Krippendorff )
