The social sciences have been examining the concept of social change since the early days of their existence. This does not mean that there is a universal theory of social change. There are numerous theories or perspectives of social change. But social change theories can all be classified into one of three perspectives: cyclical, evolutionary, and dialectical theories. The common characteristic of these theories is their relationship to the concept of progress. Cyclical theories emphasize the inevitable stagnation after a period of rise, growth, and progress. Evolutionary theories, in turn, are based on the belief in a steady and permanent development towards progress, while dialectical theories see progress as a result of ‘conflict’.
The differences between these three theories can be described as follows. Cyclical theories are related to the perspective of equilibrium. Processes of social change are seen as processes in which disruption is temporary and does not threaten the existence of the whole social system itself. Evolutionary theories are related to the prospect of development. The basic assumption of this perspective is the evolution of living organisms: organisms must undergo a natural process of growth: their young bodies will in time mature. Finally, dialectical theories are related to the idea of antithesis. They are probably the most well-known since the history of mankind is full of wars between tribes, nations, races, etc. Our history seems to be dominated by conflicts and tensions which unfortunately lead to violent explosions (wars, etc.)
Equilibrium theories of social change
The equilibrium theories of social change rely heavily on the concept of social stability, harmony and equilibrium itself. Therefore, it is not surprising that the theories of equilibrium have been greatly criticized. Nevertheless, these theories were worthwhile because they introduced the concept of system to the social sciences. The social reality is a very complex reality, and the use of system models is aimed at acquiring a better insight into that complex reality. An inevitable consequence of the use of models is that the social reality must be simplified.
This simplification of the reality is very useful because reality can be seen as a continuous flow in information which is too large to incorporate in the human mind. By filtering the relevant and the non-relevant information, a clear set of goals can be identified and the next step becomes the construction of a model with respect to the study of social change. Because social change is such a complex phenomenon, it is quite logical that systems thinking and consequently the use of models should be very appealing. In order to gain a better understanding of these complex phenomena, it is necessary and wise to apply models. The best known equilibrium theories of social change are undoubtedly functionalism, system theory, and cybernetics.
Evolutionary theories of social change
In 1859, Charles Darwin published his famous and monumental work: “On the origin of species by means of natural selection, on the preservation of favored races in the struggle for life.” The central theme of this book was in fact evolution. The church was naturally strongly opposed to the concept of evolution sine all living creatures and man himself have been created by God. The scientific value of Darwin’s work, was however, enormous, because the idea of evolution already existed in the world of scientists, but no laymen knew this. Thanks to Darwin, the concept of evolution became a widespread idea, and it was not a nonsensical theory.
During the period between 1831 and 1836, Darwin undertook his famous journey with The Beagle to Brazil, the west coast of South America and to the islands of the Pacific Ocean. He was able to collect a tremendous amount of material on this journey, and this material formed the basis of his book. It can be stated that Darwin proved his theory of evolution by the presentation of data which were systematically and scientifically studied.
His work had a strong impact on 19th century social sciences, but Darwin himself was also strongly influenced by social scientists like Malthus who developed a demographic evolution theory. According to Malthus, poverty is caused by rapid population growth. This growth creates an imbalance because there is not enough food to feed a larger amount of people. So, Malthus discussed the importance of preventive checks, such as disease and famine, in maintaining the population in equilibrium with its environment. Another English social scientist who had a strong influence on Darwin was Spencer, who discussed the concept of social evolution long before Darwin published his work.
Dialectical theories of social change
Daily life seems to consist of only conflicts, wars, tensions, violent confrontations between groups and individuals. It was impossible to imagine the disappearance or solution of the causes of this conflict. This gave rise to the formulation or approaches (theories) which were primarily based on conflict. Naturally, it is not realistic to ignore the existence of conflict in the history of the human race, but an important and very influential group of social scientists had tried to analyze history in light of the fact that history is solely caused by conflicts. It was of course Marx who can be identified as the father of conflict theory
According to Marx, man is in every respect intertwined with the world in which he lives. Man’s existence is related to the social context and by production man can continue living. Furthermore, he stated that man’s world of existence is a world full of conflicting interest. The reason for these conflicting interests is that the material means of life are in the hands of a small group: the capitalists. Marx has influenced a group of social thinkers which became known as the Frankfurt School. Another famous German social thinker, Max Weber, also influenced a second branch of conflicts theorists who believe that a conflict perspective is necessary for the development of an objective sociology.
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