the process in complex system-environment exchanges that tends to serve or maintain a system's given form, organization, or state. Examples are
homeostat ic processes in organisms, and ritual in socio-cultural systems.
The process of retaining a
structure, organization or form. Morphostasis may be actively pursued as in the goal of perfect
adaptation or simply characterize a
state of structural
stability . E.g., in sociology, "efforts to retain the status quo" refers to morphostatic forces which admit only those changes that do not threaten existing structures. Similarly, in the
regulation of room temperature, the wiring of a thermostat with the furnace remains unaltered while interaction achieves a
correlation of heating efforts and external temperature fluctuations (
see morphogenesis, homeostasis ). (
Krippendorff )
