An Introduction to the Theory of Oppositional Process

Abstract

For our harmonious common life, conflict is harmful in itself. Although various regulations to the conflict situations have been adopted and accumulated since ancient times, this conflict problem has become increasingly a complex and deep-seated one today.In our theoretical heritage, Social Evolutionism, Historical materialism, German Formalistic Sociology and American Psycho-Sociology have all approached this serious problem.But contemporary sociological theory lacks in the evaluation, acceptance and development of that heritage.Thus this paper places stress on the point that we must deal with a vital whole of social life both in form and move. If it is desirable that we sociologists approach not only to the pattern of social actions, social relations and social groups but also to the moving process in which they become, develop, re-form and strand, we must take account of “social process” and then “oppositional process” as our analytical apparatus.Primarily the social reality is a complex whole of both cooperation and opposition. Therefore, we designate the equilibrating state of these principal processes and other secondary processes as our analytical starting point. That is the social system. Its probability of order is called a structure and its dynamism is called a process.The concept of social structure (not necessarily social structure) or social process (also not necessarily societal process) is an analytical tool in our “theoretical model”. It is most important, anyway, that a social system is able to exist as an equilibriate process or a stable structure comprising its internal contradictions and oppositions.