The reason for this is the circularity of social knowledge, which affects in the first instance the social rather than the natural world. In conditions of modernity, the social world can never form a stable environment in terms of the input of new knowledge about its character and functioning. New knowledge (concepts, theories, findings) does not simply render the social world more transparent, but alters its nature, spinning it off in novel directions. The impact of this phenomenon is fundamental to the juggernaut-like quality of modernity and affects socialised nature as well as social institutions themselves.

XREF: Connects to the broader reflexive modernization literature and to themes of self-fulfilling/self-negating predictions in social science.

Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Moderni…, loc. 363