PROLEGOMENA TO A THEORY OF SOCIAL CHANGEa

Abstract

SUMMARY Prolegomena to a Theory of Social Change. The formulation of a general theory of the processes of change of social systems is one of the chief tasks of sociology; none of the models of society currently in vogue provides an adequate basis on which such a theory could be built. The structural‐functional analysis of social interaction systems is capable of understanding the majority of the various processes which go under the name of “social change” as processes within a (major) social system whose boundaries may be theoretically determined at will. On the other hand a working definition of a sociology of “social change” is suggested, in which the term will primarily refer to processes of transition from one social system to another.An obstacle to a “dynamic” sociology of this kind appears in the form of the conception of social systems in equilibrium. The inadequacy of functionalism lies in its ontological postulate that the final end of a social system is its own existence, which is derived from a false analogy with the biological law of the preservation of the species. This analogy holds good only for one social system in “Society” as a whole; the functionalist approach does not suffice to explain the existence of any particular social system or type of system as a particular case among any number of possible arrangements, each of which may equally well satisfy the basic needs of man.The criteria for the transition from one social system to another must be sought in the change of social structure. Since the notion of dynamic equilibrium always implies processes changing the relative position of units within the structure, “social change” must be viewed as the changing of changing structures with regard to the essential properties of particular structures. The change of power structure in the form of the substitution of one social stratum through another one as the ruling element has inescapable consequences for the structural arrangement of the total system. To a certain extent Marxian sociology offers univocal criteria which permit identification of social change, but the alternation of ruling classes is not the only significant change of social structure one could think of.Social change should above all be viewed independently of culture change. Both concepts refer to the same total reality, but at different levels of abstraction. The problem of determining the boundaries of cultural units is not solved by identifying any particular culture with the behaviour patterns and/or norm systems of given social groups. The concept of an “integrated culture” is as much a theoretical model as a social system in equilibrium. The essential property of cultural unity consists in a definite, existentially coloured hierarchy of values, the “Weltanschauung”, whose change is the criterion of cultural change. One possibility of correlating social and cultural change arises from the consideration of the underlying world view as one among many essential properties of social systems.