Future behaviour
has to be studied for a long series of phases, each time making an informed
guess of behaviour in period x1, taking behaviour in period x, x1, and
so on into account. The theory about social behaviour sketched above is a
‘meta-theory’. It is ‘empty’, because it does not refer to any specific kind of
behaviour. In the course of this chapter, we will present an application of
an empty theory that is related to specific social processes. Other examples
of the application of this theory are also found in environmental policy,
economic policy and social policy in relation to racial discrimination.