Constructing useful connections? A matter of metaphor or reality?

Eiser (1996) proposes a set of unifying principles which integrate the social and the individual and acknowledge the role of social reality. Yet he uses a connectionist model. This paper argues that his approach is neither new nor consistent and suggests that by confounding the metaphor of a system with the reality of neutral networks, Eiser's model is inherently incapable of achieving its aims and both maintains the psyche / social divide and privileges physical reality. It concludes that Eiser leaves us with a model which is neither metaphorically creative nor empirically useful.